Awhile back I was having a bad time of it and reached out to Richard Dansky. I think just posting the conversation here (with permission and cutting out the 2 hours of talking about sasquatches afterward) explains it best.
Minerva Zimmerman: Does the sense that you’re sending words out into a vacuum really ever end?
Richard Dansky: No
MZ: That’s good to know.
RD: Nobody wants them until suddenly everybody wants them but the words that weren’t specifically asked for still feel like paper boats on a very large river.
MZ: Thanks. That helps.
RD: It’s the truth
MZ: That’s easier to deal with than believing it will change.
And it’s true. It does help to know it continues to feel like that, it means I don’t have to worry about it. That I feel like that all the time and so does everyone else makes me less likely to obsess about it. It was originally (way back when I was a disillusioned teen) BBS systems that made me feel less alone. Then it was when I first entered the workforce and had a large group of peers outside of a school environment. Eventually it was internet message boards, ICQ, and blogs. It’s only relatively recently that social media has taken on that role. Prior to social media, my social interaction was dependent on me going TO it, rather than being an interactive observer. Social media has allowed me to be less mindful of my social interaction… at the same time it has led me to many MANY wonderful things. I am trying very hard to be more mindful of my life and my actions this year. It doesn’t matter what I do so much as it matters that I CHOOSE to do it.
Anthropological Concept of the Day:
Dunbar’s Number – suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships.
Are you consciously or unconsciously choosing the people you maintain ties with?
MINERVA ZIMMERMAN 