Other Things That Matter

Many things are happening here in my world. We have a new kitten, Claddagh, who has come to live with us. I have taken many a picture. Alas, he never holds still, so all the pictures are a mess. Maybe he'll fall asleep soon, and I'll show you his cuteness. He's had a hard start, so he's a little sick and a little scrawny. We will fix this.

But that's not even what I wanted to talk about. It has come to my attention that my personal space and my professional space are blending (or colliding, I suppose) in peculiar ways, in part because of this blog. I've said this before and I'll probably say it again. Only a numbskull has a blog and yet expects it to be private, and I am surely no numbskull. Moreover, I see no need to pretend that I am completely defined by my professional self. A fully professional person can have -MUST have- a personal life. So.... again, and to a different group, welcome. I mean that. All gentle souls are welcome here.

With Socrates, I believe that the unexamined life is not worth living. Of course, the examined life may not be much better, and he forgot to talk about that, but I'll go with Socrates as far as he went on that point. I need to examine all the pieces of my life. The purely professional argument might be that one could examine a life and also refrain from splattering that process across the internet. OK, three points (point-like remarks, anyway.) If I need to write to authentically reflect, and if the comments and assistance of the like-minded gentlefolk who accompany me on this journey are helpful, then.... pish-posh. A blog is a useful tool. And secondly, my blog has 50 readers a day. If I had them, which of course I don't, I could probably post the nuclear launch codes, and it wouldn't matter. So, really, perspective if you please. And finally, we have to think about boundaries. Certainly, some are healthy. Yet, boundaries can be both too diffuse and too rigid. Too rigid boundaries regarding what one shares create an illusion of self-sufficiency that is not sustainable. The universe will provide the needed lesson, and it's a whopper. Of course, I'm in no danger of having too rigid boundaries. I get that ;) But the alternative elliptically being suggested -that one can publicly reveal only one's professional persona- seems truncating and entirely too rigid.

That said, though, it IS time to do something else with this space. I feel no song in my heart when I think about turning this into my strictly-professional persona. It's not that I'm not happy in that role. It's not that there's nothing to think about there. But... there it is... I hear no singing :) And since "all things considered" and even "the panopticon" are taken as titles for things, I have to call my reflections something else.

Other Things That Matter. Because darn it, there are other things that matter. All the things we talk about together... social justice, music, activism, relationships, knitting, yoga, houses, travel, ...and now, kittens, those are all pieces of life as well. Well, not just that. They are pieces of life that have something to teach us. We'll figure out what, exactly, as we go along.