WhiteEyebrows vs. His Own Blog

I’ve been trying to figure out lately why I no longer blog like I used to.  Several theories have been advanced:

1. Marriage and children have scrambled my brains and exhausted my powers of thought.

I DO feel more tired, and I certainly have fewer hours in the day.  I’m waking up at 6am and going to bed at 10pm or 11pm or sometimes 8:30pm.  I have few precious, peaceful hours which aren’t work hours – and  I just have other things to do with them than think of something interesting and blog about it.  I used to think in the car and in the shower, but now I use that time to just not think, since I seem to be doing thinking most of the rest of my day.

2. My universe has shrunk so much that I have little external stimulation to prompt blog topics.

One of the themes of my blog since I got engaged 3 years ago was that I could feel my world shrinking.

You know, they say, throughout your young adulthood that “the world is your oyster.”  You can become anything you want.  You can go wherever opportunity takes you.  You can sieze the moment.  You are free.

However, marriage, family, career, and church have brought all those vast horizons down to a very local circle of concern.  I interact with, on average, the same 25-50 people every week.  If it weren’t for Facebook and other online communications, I would have very little contact with friends from earlier in my life.

I think this change has been slightly numbing.  Dont’ get me wrong – I’m very happy and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.  I love my wife and my son – they are the most important things in my life – and I’m so blessed to have such a great job and feel a part of a church community – but living in these chosen parameters has shrunken my exposure to expansive thoughts, new experiences, and groundbreaking changes in my life.  I’m solidly anchored with the full hand of cards I’ve been dealt, and it’s gonna take a while to play this hand out.

So since I feel very little change in my life (based on where I thought I’d go or do or be), I just don’t find much novelty to blog about.

3. I’ve grown bored with even my own rhetoric.

This one is scary, but I think I’ve grown too comfortable with how I think.  I’m no longer astounded when people don’t think like I do or agree with me, and it’s harder for me to get bent out of shape when things don’t go my way.  I don’t exercise my thought processes or challenge my own assumptions often enough to create any kind of epiphany or discovery in my own thinking.  (This is kind of sad now that I’ve typed it and read it, but I think it’s at least 80% honest and accurate)

4.  I don’t find it blog-worthy that my kid just figured out how to unroll the entire toilet paper roll onto the floor while I was in the shower this morning.

A cuter, “hip parent” version of me would take pictures of him in the mess, add it to his scrap book, and write him a letter about the event he could read later on – all awesome things, don’t get me wrong.  Me?  I’m just in ornery parent mode.  I just kind of cuss under my breath and clean it up rather than post it online and revel in the new discoveries.  The goal of my blogging was always to have larger appeal than just grandparents (though they’re probably the only ones reading this now – Hi Mom, Hi Dad.), but maybe I’m wrong here.  Maybe those types of discoveries are the flavor of life my blog has been lacking?

5.  I have to go to the bathroom more often.

As one ages, it becomes more important to have close proximity to a working restroom.  Twice during this post, I’ve had to visit the lavatory, and twice I’ve completely lost my train of thought by doing so.

Little reasons like this surely add up to why this blog isn’t quite as successful as it used to be.

6. I no longer obsess over TV shows.

American Idol was fun while it lasted, but it took a serious nose dive in Simon’s last season.  Deep down I will still love the talent-show-on-TV format and I will be opinionated and critical to the core, but I’m just not feeling like it’s worth following and critiquing any of those yahoos much anymore.

7. I’m not sure who my blog audience is anymore.

I think it’s mostly just family reading this blog now.  In my blogging heyday I had all kinds of strangers (friends of friends) reading this blog, too.  Heck, I had all kinds of hits from around the world.  Granted, most of them were from my top-ranked google keyword searches to posts like “top 10 most painful things” and “private island” and “wigwam song”.  (Don’t ask me why people are searching for a wigwam song online!)

So – I’m not sure what you people want to hear about, either.  Do you want me to bloviate about politics and national issues?  Do you want me to just share pictures and stories about our family vacations and funny things WEJr does?  Or do you want me to post more of my deep philosophies that I reserve the right to change at any time?  Should I go back to challenging topics and wrestling with the large issues of the universe?  Or do you not really care at all and you’ll commit to reading anything I post like some kind of blog-reading slave?  Or should I just close the blog and move on?

Post your comments and I’ll try to figure out a strategy moving forward…

13 thoughts on “WhiteEyebrows vs. His Own Blog”

  1. Don’t close the blog! I like hearing about your new adventures in marriage and parenthood. I would have loved to see WEJr all wrapped up in the toilet paper. Just keep spitting out the things that are going on in your head, because it’s interesting stuff. You’re aiming to please too much, but sometimes it doesn’t matter if it’s entertaining. The ones that will really appreciate this web log (later on) are your kids. I consider mine sort of a history. “Family history, I am doing it, my family history…” sort of.

  2. Blog whatever you want to blog, and don’t be upset if you’ve temporarily lost your ‘blogging mojo’. (I was going to shorten that, but it sounded dirty.) There’s a presidential campaign going on, you have an adorable child, observations on marriage, the holidays – just write what you want, when you want. We’re all listening when you’re ready!

  3. Ditto to A1- especially to seeing WEJr all wrapped in toilet paper. Some of us are sitting around all day, just waiting for that post 🙂 Remember your blog is our connection to you, outside of “our little world”.

  4. #5 LOL.

    Don’t close the blog!

    I think you should just blog whatever you want. Pictures of your cute little man are wonderful…deep philosophical commentaries are great too. Write what you feel. Write in the present.

    While my blog is more of an online ‘family scrapbook’…I like that my kids will be able to look back and see what was going on throughout the years.

    I think you’re leaving a legacy that your posterity will enjoy throughout your life and after your gone.

    You will continue to change and progress. It makes sense that your blog will follow suit.

    P.S. Your wife is awesome.

  5. Please don’t close your blog:)! I stay connected with you guys via these blogs and FB. I check almost every day to see if there is something new. I also have a request: May I bring my computer with me next week and have you see if there are some settings I can’t figure out so I’ll be able to post on the private blog, i.e. “cookies” or whatever you talked about?:)! I’m so looking forward to seeing ya’ll for Christmas.

  6. #1… Children??? Aren’t you ahead of yourself?

    You’ve said it before – that WEjr and I scramble your brain. It reminds me of the old “this is your brain on drugs” commercials. But I don’t buy that theory. Scramble no, fry maybe 😉

    I stay stop worrying about a strategy and just stop once in a awhile to write something. Don’t be so hard on yourself and just enjoy your shrinking little universe

  7. Ditto to the above. I find your blog appealing because I enjoy the way your write. I’d probably find enjoyment in your review of the latest Merriam-Webster Dictionary, too. 🙂

    I’ve experienced my own blogging slump, so I know what it feels like. You’re obviously welcome to make your own decisions even if that means you stop blogging for now. But if you keep going, I’ll keep reading.

  8. I would love to see more of you and your family. I am with everyone else on the toilet paper pictures but I am sure you knew that I would be!

  9. Personally, I write my Notes on FB as a way to work through my responses to experiences. You could think of your blog the same way, as a thought process rather than a publication. Share your responses to marriage, kid, church, career. We all learn so much from the stories we share.

  10. These are all reasons why I’ve stopped blogging too, minus the kids. Of course, i have 23 students, so that’s kind of like kids, right? Anyway, I think I’m getting more interested in writing down my thoughts for myself and not the general public. If you figure it all out, do let me know…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.