Being In The (Virtual) World

I had a friend many years ago who used to say half the battle in life was about "showing up". Thanks to the discipline of this blog, I have a slightly better understanding what she meant by that.

Almost every day, I post words in this virtual world. On some of those days I'm less confident about what I write than others but I'm holding myself accountable for being in the virtual world, regardless. That is, I'm showing up. This is not always easy for a few reasons.

First is the inner critic I've alluded to in an earlier post. Next is the challenge of saying at least one thing in each post that is really mine. By now, anyone who has read this blog even a few times knows how much I enjoy reading. When I write here (unlike my private journal where I can plagiarize to my heart's content), I'm hyper-conscious about claiming only what is truly mine as mine. As recently as two nights ago, while listening to Emerson's essay on "Self-Reliance", several ideas I had for future blogs went out the window - way too close to things Emerson has already covered. And, the last reason is very basic - what difference would it make if I didn't show up?

No difference I guess, except my own sense of being in the world.