When I decided to start blogging again I asked myself two important questions:
- Am I ready to do the work?
Keeping up with a public blog can go one of two ways: first, you can choose to inform your public, or self, a number of times throughout the week and really make it part of your professional routine; second, you can remember to update the social medium every so often to engage the population that society says you should be reaching out to. I want this work to actually benefit me, and at the ripe age of 26 I have learned that you must in fact put something in to get something out. Some people benefit from a life of doing nothing, but I will step outside the straight line i walk for a second and say that they are paying for "doing nothing" in some way, shape, or form that our society chooses to overlook...if I have lost you, I am talking about their sense of self. There is always a choice to be made in life, and always a result that could have been more or less meaningful. Ponder that.
Back to it. Since I would like to benefit from this work, I will have to make time to research and discover subject matter that benefits my mission and therefore my audience. I have to work to remain present in intentions. I have to pat myself on the back, and kick myself in the butt. This is really more of a pep talk for me since I have yet to secure a reader.
- Does this one actually mean anything?
I have blogged before, once upon a time in 2003 when the social websites began to explode. Much to my disappointment, i was too immature to have that blog actually mean a thing to anyone but me, and it became more of a passive aggressive way for me to discover things i don't like about myself, than to actually record something meaningful to someone else.
In a society of social networking, is it worth it for me to maintain a number of media sites on behalf of something that is not yet an actual reality? In my 10year plan, there are many things that I want to do: go back to school for a PhD, become professionally licensed to add face value to my name, create a scholarship fund in the name of my organization (yet to be determined), begin work on actually creating this dream of a non-profit wellness center for children and families. I am not sure if this blog will actually benefit anyone, or if I will even be using it this time next year. I will say though that right now it seems like it could be a good idea, and the thought of developing the early phases of my future brand is motivation enough to at least play around for the rest of the days until I am employed. (The first step in reaching many of the above goals)
Without having done any research today, I would like to post the inspiration for the theme of this blog. It is a poem by Jane Taylor. For those who know me personally, the reference to the violet makes sense for other reasons than given here. But for those who know me only as the girl who writes that blog, the words speak for themselves and provide a bit of insight into my "sense of self". Information about the author can be found here http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=81234
The Violet by Jane Taylor
Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew,
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head,
As if to hide from view.
And yet it was a lovely flower,
Its colours bright and fair;
It might have graced a rosy bower,
Instead of hiding there,
Yet there it was content to bloom,
In modest tints arrayed;
And there diffused its sweet perfume,
Within the silent shade.
Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flower to see;
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility.
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