//On The Inside Looking Out
It is my growing personal opinion that the end-result of prolonged introspection is depression. Maybe that explains the angst that is the daily fodder of many blogs.
How often do we fail to live up to our own internal, predetermined expectations? The reality is life seldom turns out as we imagined it would in our youth.
The irony of this opinion is not lost on me. I’m blogging too… about my life no less. So is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black? Am I not just as guilty?
Probably. But I can’t help wondering, if I spend my time looking inward - and by extension backwards - (I’m preaching to the choir now) what becomes of today?
Introspection has a purpose. You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been but it’s a slippery slope from introspection to self absorption.
The key, as with most things in life, is moderation. I also think it short-sighted to assume that introspection is the primary tool available to the blogger.
What if we were to look at and write of our lives more in terms of its external rather than its internal impact? In terms of the people in it than of ourselves.
There is a famous quote by John Donne that illustrates my point. No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
Our lives are, and our blogs could be, as much about impact and influence - no matter how insignificant we consider our existence - as it is about anything else.
All I’m trying to say is focusing on the world we live in and the people that occupy it not only gives us perspective but provides a truer picture of who we are.
(via Who I Was Then)
//4 years ago