Vitamin Live

I have taken a huge break from blogging (curse the word and all its greasy connotations!) for several key reasons.

1. I find it difficult to blog and be fully human, simultaneously. Honest bloggers will admit the same struggle. For example: A new friend recently submitted herself to her maiden encounter with the Lord of the Rings movies in their extended-version glory. This was not due to real interest, but because, as she said while enduring a genre she didn't enjoy, "At least I can blog about it later." Why do that? Why experience something unlovely-to-you in order to scribble it down for your fans to peruse? It seems artifical, contrived, and really, no fun at all.

2. On the same note, I am busy, and blogging takes time. I enjoy writing as much as the next person, but frankly, given the choice between writing and playing Uno with my kids, I know, in the long run, I'll regret missing Uno the most.

But, these two reasons stated, let me take the flip side and explain why I'm gingerly trying to end my hiatus.

1. If it's used wisely, blogging can help a person be fully human. Take my friend and her Lord of the Rings experience. She could have stayed home. It would have been safer, albeit more boring. But because her blogging desire prompted her to at least try out the movies, she encountered something about which she can now speak knowledgably, with a genuine opinion - not just to her cyber acquaintances, but to flesh-and-blood members of her culture, for whome LOTR is an integral part of their paradigm and lexicon.

2. It is true: I'd regret not playing Uno more than missing a chance to update my blog. But sometimes, Uno wins by a very thin margin. This tells me that even if there were no blogs, writing for an audience (even if the audience is only myself) really does matter to me, after all. I've missed word-smithing. I've been in a cave. Perhaps writing again will lighten the cave, making it easier for others to find me and for me to find my way out a little more often, too. We'll see. For now, I'm just happy to be alive, learning to balance these various pulls in my life, and having a few minutes to jot down my thoughts. Life is good!