Friday, February 23, 2007

525,600 minutes

It's been a year since I first cracked my knuckles and hammered out a self-conscious, slightly ridiculous post. There have been over 200 since then, and things for me have (appropriately enough) changed.

I've used this blog as a kind of narrative therapy: not a therapeutic intervention that has been measured for this purpose ever before (to my knowledge), but an amazingly effective one from my experience nonetheless. My counseling visits were a good start, and I still endorse counseling, but this has given me a much more thorough method with which to explore my ideas, receive feedback, and deliberately shake down my issues. And I have the permanent records of the journey rather than someone whose relationship with me will be temporary. I've thought all along that if I force myself to read relevant books and really think about what they say, I might be getting better therapy than if I were sitting in an office rehearsing my life details to someone who doesn't know me. I'm ultimately in favor of a combo approach for now--counseling and blogging.

However, I can't unreservedly recommend blogging as narrative therapy because there are certain risks involved. I've been subjected to some harassment, minor really, and a smidgen of humiliation and misunderstanding now and then. It's a risk, I suppose, exposing one's thoughts to public scrutiny where all manner of anonymous nay-sayers get a full opportunity to scoff and scurry away.

The other risk I've noticed is less applicable to me (since I'm remotely located and anonymous), but ought to be mentioned just the same. While I've made many friends online (some of whom have become more conventional friends over time), I've also heard of folks who have gotten into trouble with other bloggers. I suppose there's something to be said for the value of choosing good influences online and being cautiously judicious just as we should elsewhere.

But overall the enterprise has been a successful one, I think. If a year is measured in love, it has been a red letter year for me. Past that, this blog has been themed with change. So, I suppose I ought to give an accounting of where I've been and where I want to go. I'm more knowledgeable, sensitive, and self-aware than I was a year ago. I'm more faithful too, somewhat surprisingly.

This year I need to continue some of the projects I've started--like the 12 step program posts and book club. Oh, and I should probably go back and label all those old posts from before the new blogger! Finally, I probably need to economize a bit in terms of how I spend my online time, so I apologize if I comment less.

Anyway, here's to my one year blogiversary and positive change!

9 comments:

Rebecca said...

Woo-hoo! Congratulations! Go team!

Scot said...

Wow, L, happy anniversary!

Thanks for giving me a couple of those 525,600 minutes... and then some. And I look forward to a couple more.

Chris said...

Happy anniversary. I arrived on the scene just about the same time you did. It's been quite a year!

Michael said...

Happy "Blogiversary" to you! I, for one, want to sincerely and publicly thank you for your work here. You've influenced more lives than you know.

Kengo Biddles said...

Many congratulations, and many more posts to come I'm sure we all hope!

Beck said...

I, for one, am very grateful that you are out there and that your blog exists. You have brought me so much strength and have checked my attitude in numerous and appropriate ways. I check your site as it is the key to all others of this little "neighborhood". Without you, there wouldn't be a sense of community.

Thank you so very much for being there and encouraging us all to do better and be better!

Max Power said...

Thanks for hammering out all these thoughts. It's been a great read.

Samantha said...

Felicitations, congratulation, many happy returns!

Forgive me if I don't notice that you comment less in the future. Based on the amount you comment on my blog now...well...it just won't register...what's less than never????

playasinmar said...

Salud! Here's to 200 more!