A long, long time ago, I used to write a lot. It was my first approach to communication, as I remember it. I learned to read earlier than the average age, helped by my parents and brother. My parents felt like encouraging it at a time when it was financially possible, and they got me a typewriter for Christmas when I was 8 years old. I clearly remember the feeling of elation at the discovery. It was a grey portable Olivetti. At that time, I had of course never seen anything like a computer, and being able to write faster than my pencil allowed was an amazing advancement.
As it goes, technology made its exponential leaps in such a way that it’s still hard for me to realize what’s happened in my lifetime so far. Life took over, and my path in writing got detoured by learning to live it best I could. I tried along the way to find a space for it in a blog, often not being able to define its purpose, or be consistent. Looking back, the majority of my choices, if not all, had communication in the forefront. I developed a major interest in language and linguistics, and spent the majority of my time analyzing how humans communicate, artistic disciplines being included in that.
I find myself today, on a bit of an introspective kick. Taking a step back and stopping to think whether I’m ready to be vulnerable enough to communicate by allowing meaningful, personal thoughts to be put on record and shared. As I type this into a very, very different machine today than I did back in 1990, I feel maybe I am. This is a time of information, and how we choose to share it and receive it affects us in a major way. I still love communication and people, as it is apparent to me now.
I’m posting this to my old blog, but also on this medium (Facebook) that has been used for many different purposes. I do agree with the statement that its management is evil. I also believe a lot of the people who will be able to access my posts of this kind in the future, will not know me enough to make anything of them. But I also find its value in being able to share this with the people who do know me, and might have been frustrated in the past by my inability to communicate with them on a more personal level. The last year in my life has been a milestone in defining who I am and want to be. I don't expect the learning process to ever be “done”, but there is definitely much more of a direction now than there was before. In the process, a lot of people have crossed my path, and managing my time became more and more challenging.
Provided this definitely does not replace direct, personal communication, and that it feels a bit self-serving, I still hope to find a space here where more of me can be poured out for whoever’s interested and maybe encourage others to do the same if they have the same time management issues I do. I want to learn more about you too. Whether it’s a random observation about your day, or a deep realization about your life.
I have also been reluctant to put myself out in the cloud, you know. It’s a weird world. But hell, it’s here, it’s now, and we’re in it. Let’s use it to make our goals more achievable.
Ok, here we go. Wish me luck.
