So, just a petit post for a petit dilemma (which, incidentally, I prefer to spell with an n, but apparently is with a double m. Who knew?!).
As I may have mentioned ;) I will be heading off to India in the Spring for my fourth trip to Goa and my first trip to Mysore, a trip of just under three months. And (considering how shite I am at committing to regular blogging when I say this) I am debating what to do about writing whilst I am there. The matter of blog secrecy/openness has oft before been debated - and whilst it's obvious that my blog is not private, nor do I attempt to conceal my identity, nor do I openly discuss it's existence with my family or friends outside of the yoga world. I have once posted a link to it on facebook thanks to the new privacy features but it almost gave me palpitations to do so. But I can't help but feel that at least some of what I want to share from Mysore would be interesting to my family who will (I know) be hanging on any and every bit of news they can get out of me while I'm away. But letting them in on the blog secret now would mean admitting to having fibbed about it's existence in the past, not to mention an immediate censorship of what I post here (including going back and hiding old posts I'd prefer not to share). So do I create a whole new blog for my trip? What if people don't find it - or worse - mention the existence of this blog when they do?? The thought of two separate bogs - one more yoga related and one just about the trip has occurred to me but seriously, how likely is that to happen?
Thank god I don't have to live a double-life for real, I think the stress would kill me....Talk about first world problems.
p.s. am in backbending bootcamp. Had to do about ten dropbacks today and still no solo standing....le sigh.
How about a private blog for your family, wordpress perhaps, which you can then cut and paste bits of into this one.
ReplyDeleteYour gonna post about backbend bootcamp right?
Hi Mel,
ReplyDeleteI created the Mysore picture blog for the family, but because it was also on Wordpress they accidentally found my usual blog and going by the read stats I think they have been going back through it, so I have had to do some deleting.
So I would advise using a different blog app if you do a separate one for family consumption.
A little bird told me your backbends were looking great and you seem close to the magic stand up, go Mel!
My Mom found my blog and I almost had a heart attack ... had to go back and clean it up. But then I told her it was a place for private expression and really about yoga (which she is a little afraid of being unfortunately quite Christian) and so I think she left it alone. BUT, I agree that you need a place to be completely YOU as well as a place to share with your family and non-yoga friends so the 2 blog idea seems best while you are away. Honestly, anyone not into yoga finds my blog deathly dull (maybe everyone else does too! haha) so I don't worry about it so much anymore and I am also careful not to post anything that would be hurtful to my family. It's just not worth it. I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR ABOUT INDIA! So you have to blog.
ReplyDeleteAh, the family-blog dilemma. I know it well. My mother, grandmother, and sisters read my blog, but I refuse to censor myself and have told them they may read at their own peril. Of couse, I love my family and would never intentionally publish anything that might hurt them, but my eventual hope is they they'll be scared away and stop reading altogether. ;)
ReplyDeleteI created a separate blog when I came to New Zealand, but it was not to hide my other blog. It was actually to make the new one about my trip, which was not yoga related, so that it did not infiltrate my yoga-lawyer blog. That said, it took just about one month before I posted a link to the "personal" one from the yoga one, and I have not posted to the personal one in quite some time, and the yoga one has gotten more personal. Such is life. We really are not separate, as much as we like to think we are. Of course, I was in a different situation because everyone knows I have the yoga blog, and I have never tried to hide it from anyone except an old boss, and that only lasted about 3 months. And in the end, when she read the blog, she gave me the greatest insight into it. Now THAT was a lesson in sharing with people you are afraid to share with. Good luck with the dilemma (and I cannot ever spell the word, either, and I'm a grammar nut!).
ReplyDeleteEither way you go let me know, I would love to read from your Indian experiences! Guess I never really debate this as I have gone all out, my family knows and some of them are OK with it... some of them don't speak to me anymore, such is life... So excited for you and your trip!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Kevin. create a Mysore blog and let us know about it's birth over on this one. We will visit your travel blog but your family won't probably visit this one...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, one of the reasons I set up my blog in the first place (was it really as long ago as 2005?!!) was to be about an overseas trip I made, so I have always had to let my family in on it! Yes, that does lead to a certain amount of censorship, but more about things that I think would upset them - not yoga at all.
ReplyDeleteI ended up setting up a completely private blog for when I felt the need to write about things that might upset/concern then - but in fact I've used it very rarely!! Seems like I live my life in public these days ... :)
I've been reading your blog for a long time and would really miss it... Tend to go with the suggestions that you create a new one for your India trip. Best wishes and enjoy your trip!
ReplyDeletethanks everyone for your input (especially people I don't normally hear from!). And of course I wouldn't intentionally write anything hurtful about anyone on this blog, but from time to time I worry that my freedom of expression here would be hampered if I knew that EVERYONE knew about my writing online. I worry most about the moments where I feel I am losing the plot which isn't something I would necessarily share with those closest to me who already worry enough about me as it is!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think I will stick with keeping a private blog (or just emails!) for close family and friends and keep the mysore posting here...and hope that I manage to post more than once a month...though I know for sure I won't be posting daily!!
I'd suggest Google + as an option. You can do longer posts there, add photo albums and it's good for conversation... You could post on here when there's an update there for people to see, although you can't guarantee that someone won't mention the blog or link back to a particular post on it to illustrate a point in the comments... Like Rebecca said, we're not as separate as we might think we are. Maybe it's time to bring the walls down between your life compartments? ;o)
ReplyDeleteFrom a purely selfish point of view, though, it means that you'd be on Google+ and I might see your updates more often!
How about just getting an e-mail list from friends and family who are interested in hearing about your travels and do it the old-fashioned way, i.e. just write updates and copy them all in when you feel like it?
ReplyDelete