The Agony and the Ecstasy of Blogging

This is a long and philosophical post. Let me apologize now.

Life Changing

So I've been blogging for quite some time now. It has taken over a large chunk of my life and I give all the credit to my friends CJ and Nathaniel for getting me started. I always thought keeping a journal would be an extraordinary thing, but something I would never have time for. Now here I am keeping one and exposing it to the world.

Exposing is the key word. People really show themselves in blogs, they can't help but do so. They tell us about themselves, both in what they write, and what they don't write.

Wondering if someone is listening...

Sometimes I write stuff that seems inconsequential to me and I am pleasantly surprised by the quantity of comments I get. Sometimes I write stuff I believe is rather good, that I value and I get... nothing back. That's quite painful, though I may not show it.

It has lead me to believe how important it is to leave comments on other blogs. Just that little extra effort to respond to another blog has introduced me to some really great people and from their blogs I have discovered many exciting new things such as getting inspired to take pictures and signing up for Flickr to finding a nifty free 3D animation software called Blender.

An unfinished book

One definition of love is: to be willing to educate the other about who you really are. Deliberately or not, that's what's happening in blogs. And no, I'm not saying all we need is love. I am standing up for the extraordinary value of people sharing their experiences. I really enjoy reading about other peoples' lives. For me reading about someone I don't even know is like reading a story, but in this case they are real people and it's a collection of stories from their lives that will take you on a never ending rollercoaster of climaxes. Some bloggers don't reveal their personal lives, but through their writing style and of what they post about you still get to know them far better than you ever would know them in the flesh. Take for example my friend CJ. From his blog he seems like a very knowledgable person but in real life:

Haha :-) I'm just kidding CJ! Maybe that's Mr. Mosty!?! I can never distinguish between the two of you.

My true nature

I reveal a lot about myself at the Sea of Steve and it has taken me a while to find out what I'm actually all about and how much of me I will reveal (Which is a lot considering any stalker can look at my google map and find where my hometown is :-O). This blog reveals so much about me that it often scares me.

In the real world I'm not so revealing. I'm a quiet person that many don't really know because I'm not the typical college student that parties, drinks, or takes part in the R rated sorts of things. It's always been my sort of nature. So be glad that you get to know me here and for those of you that I know outside of this blog, you must be a wonderful person because I choose my friends carefully.

There's something to be said for vulnerability

Please don't read this as an admonishment to post more comments to my blog or anyone else's (though don't let me stop you). For me, there is great value in recording my thoughts for myself, whether or not anyone else reads them. I'd just like to share that though this blogging may look easy, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes I worry myself with what people might think about me when I write a post or even when I leave a comment on someone else's blog. I could worry myself right now with what you may think of this entry. ("Good gracious, what's gotten into Steve? Why can't he get back to good, solid, unphilosophical posts with more pictures?")

If that angst is the "agony" part of being vulnerable, there is also the "ecstasy" side. I've been emailing a fellow blogger for quite some time now. From the moment we started emailing it was a great, touching conversation that I look forward to each day. And in those moments I realise the huge value of taking risks and saying what I think in here - because we only met because of our blogs, and we only connected with the openness that we did because of it. (You know who you are and I thank you)

Next week, I'm off to college and I hope that I will be able to continue this blog there. If my posts become shorter and come further apart, let me know! Give me a swift kick in the butt by commenting and tell me you want to hear from me. I may not have much of anything interesting to post about but surely I can find something.

Take a look back at the history of my blogging career:
My first blog on MSN Spaces. I didn't like MSN Spaces. Everything was too concrete, nothing could be changed. I eventually moved to Blogger

A look at the old www.seaofsteve.blogspot.com Back then this site was entitled "No Answers.......Just Better Questions" until I realized that title had nothing to do with my posting style and I reverted back to "Sea of Steve." (Look at how bland my site used to be before I learned how to change things using HTML)

And voilà you're now looking at the current "Sea of Steve" with much better graphics. I hope you enjoy and.....

Thanks to all my readers!