Last night I was thinking about the lack of newer bloggers participating in various Blogstream activities. Some other bloggers and I got to thinking about ways and means to be more encouraging to others. Then it occured to me...Suppose they're doing what they choose to do? Maybe they don't want to be involved. Rather than go around and bully them in to being something they're not, maybe I should just leave them to be who they want to be?

Blogging isn't rocket science, it's putting words onto a blank white screen and posting them on your site. Blogging isn't necessarily social networking, but if you want to social network YOU have to get out there and do it. If you want someone to take you by the hand and encourage your writing efforts, you need to find a blogger here that you feel some affinity to and LET THEM KNOW YOU EXIST. See? That's the thing, YOU have to take that first step. You have to take that step in a manner that's comfortable for you. You have to make the experience here exactly what YOU want it to be.

When I started, just over two years ago now, it never occured to me that this was any kind of closed community. I found fiction/character blogs that were funny. I found interesting and informative blogs that gave me a different perspective on my life. I just jumped right in and said I'm new here but I really like what I'm reading. I found that when I liked what I was reading and said so, that person did me the courtesy of a return visit and through that interaction blog buddies were born.

Sure, it might have taken them a day or two, or a week or sometimes a month, but they took the time to stop and say hello. I still had to tell them who I was and what I was doing here, but they came. Some of them didn't come back, and that's OK too because not everyone will like me. I'm an aquired taste. Sometimes I'm way too serious, sometimes I'm way too silly. Sometimes I'm just full of beans. Sometimes I get so focused on an issue that I appear to be a bully. I make mistakes, the person behind the Sherry character isn't perfect. I'm just as flawed as anyone else is and I misunderstand others as often as they misunderstand me.

I do what I do here based on the direction of my own conscience. I can't be any other way. That also means that I can't always be here for the party. Sometimes I feel the pain of another persons life in their writing. Sometimes I read and what I'm reading doesn't feel right to me, and those blogs get passed by. I've stopped trying to tell them that they're wrong because I don't really KNOW that person, so maybe I'm the one that's wrong. Sometimes I just respect that persons right to do what they're doing and if I don't like it that's MY problem. Not anyone elses, just my own. When that happens, I just don't go there. Not all real life neighbors agree or even like each other. That's life and it doesn't change just because we're online and anonymous.

For the most part, Blogstream is not a place where our members are looking to fight with YOU. I do know that some blogsites are like that. This isn't that type of place. This is the type of place that hopes you'll set up your dock, launch your craft and navigate the waters here. Don't forget to hang out the welcome sign for those of us that do stop by. If you're home we can sit and visit a spell and if you're not we'll let you know we came. Blogging, just like life, is exactly what WE make of it. Sometimes it's negative but more often it's a positive thing. Life, of any kind just isn't perfect, but I'll take it over the alternative any day.

How about YOU? What are YOUR dreams? Where do YOU want to go? What do YOU want to bring to the party?

Are YOU interested in poetry?

Stop and Say HI!

Are YOU interested in current events and politics? Maybe you'll find this interesting.

He won't bite

Do YOU want to hug a Polar Bear?

OOOOOOO Teeth, LOL

Do YOU want to slay a dragon?

The Home of the Scaly Tailed one.

Do YOU want to be Overheard and Seen?

She HUGGGGGGGGZ

Do YOU need something for the Soul?

The Milk of Christian Kindness

Do YOU love cats and humor?

SHHHHH! Librarians Rock.

Do YOU want to share the joys of life and motherhood?

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do YOU want to run with the Big Dogs?

REALLY Big Dogs

Do YOU love American Idol?

David! David! But WHICH one?

There are so many more blogs I could link YOU to, but I am seriously challenged when it comes to that kind of thing, and I just wanted to provide a sample of what's available here in Blogstream. Share with us YOUR poetry. Give us YOUR unique views on politics. Write the kind of blog that YOU want it to be. Blogstream is the one place in the known universe where it can be all about YOU.

It was necessary to edit out the choice for music/party blog as the blog author has closed for repairs. LOL Pardon her dust.

 

When songs like "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "Please, Please Me" came out, I had no desire to listen to them. Thank you very much, but at the time I was more interested in other groups. I was way too busy concerning myself with Mick Jagger's inability to get satisfied, and wondering if that was the reason he was having his "19th Nervous Breakdown". I did suppose he'd have more luck with the Satisfaction thing if he wasn't always trying to chase folks offa his cloud. Still, that was none of my concern.

Then while walking home from school to the accompaniment of my red transistor radio, I heard the song "Ticket To Ride". Don't know why or how, but that one song opened my ears to the Beatles in all their creativity, talent and glory. They couldn't release a song afterwards that I didn't love.

In 1966 my mother gave me the "Rubber Soul" album for Christmas. I still have it in vinyl and I also own it on CD. Oddly the American release of "Rubber Soul" didn't include "Day Tripper" which is on the UK release from 1965. "Day Tripper" was included on the CD that I bought. Having both is a bit like having the best of both worlds. Until I read the pamphlet that came with it, I was thinking that something was wrong with my memory. "Day Tripper" was not on "Rubber Soul" as far as I could remember. Drove myself nuts trying to get home so I could check it out.

When the Beatles broke up, it didn't bother me the way it did others. The music scene was changing and I owned and always had access to the tunes that I favored. I was growing up and my life was changing. It seemed to me at the time that change was necessary in all things. Now I wonder if they had stayed together what would have happened? What type of music would they have created?

In the same way that "Ticket To Ride" woke me up, would something new that they did put me back to sleep? Probably not, but fortunately for my memories I never had the chance to find out.

"Bubbles in the Stream are usually a good sign that somebody farted!
 
It doesn't always work to blame the turtles and the fish!" 

Love and Light From Healing Creek.

Yesterday in the comment page on a  post about Schizophrenia, some of us supposedly adult bloggers had things on our minds other than Schizophrenia. With the price of everything going up, the fact that we females suffer from bloating and the pressure of being female, it's to be expected that we got off topic a little. Actually we got off topic a lot. I had just stopped and refueled the car at the cheapest gas station in town and paid $3.71.9 per gallon of gas. Reminded me of a bumper sticker that was popular in the 1970's.

"Eat Beans, America Needs The Gas." Of course, that was during a time of rationing and gas shortages, unlike today when we have oil companies recording record breaking profits in the BILLIONS of dollars just for the first quarter of the year. Cha Ching!!!!!!! I decided that I'd feed the cats beans and see if they'd produce sufficient gas to fuel and run my car. The cats just wouldn't cooperate and eat those beans voluntarily. They ate the Tuna, Salmon, Chicken, Turkey even the cat food, but no beans.

Anyways, after some fooling around and information gathered from Whispered Promises that cat farts smell like dead mice, I decided to stop trying to force feed the cat beans. It's one thing to believe I can handle the normal fart smell, but farts that remind me of dead mice are way beyond my capabilities. I will have to remember that the next time Hubby lets one rip that smells as if something crawled up inside of him and died. Come to think of it, I'd better not be feeding Hubby beans either.

While trying to plan my next world take over, since this one fell so dismally short, I surfed around the stream and discovered numerous blogs that appear to be...full of beans. Well now, all may not be lost with my original plan for world dominance. However it appears that I shall have to take a crash course in Engineering. With all the bean fueled gas I found, I need the knowledge necessary to harness it for use in my automobile. Oh! I also think I better take a scientific course on how to make those fart arrows smell like flowers. Otherwise the smell would make my eyes water and I can't drive like that.

All this is going to take some time I'm afraid, so I plan on investing in a very good and comfortable set of noseplugs and......Oh.....I just had a thought. How do I get all of those full of beans blogs to GIVE me all the gas they produce? I know! I can depose Queen Blogship and....Oh Wait....that won't work....she's just a figment of someones imagination. Shoot, there goes the whole plan.

I suppose that's all right. The only place there is an engineering course that would suit my purposes is in my imagination. I guess it's better that way. I'd have to be the biggest full of beans blog in blogland and there wouldn't be any way to cure the stench from that. Besides, world dominance is more Bashful's goal, and she doesn't write my blog. Well....I don't think she does....I need a nap.

A friend of mine read my blog post from yesterday. She called me last night and asked "What do you mean...staying alive?". I didn't put any thought into my answer. That response was what occured to me when I read the question. Is there a higher goal that I could hope to achieve?

I thought about saying that I wanted to go back to school to become...something, only there was nothing I could think of that I want to be.  I could have said that I wanted a better job so I could make more money. I have enough for my needs, and could think of nothing I wish to do that requires more than we make. I've never wanted to be a published author so I won't be writing a book. I thought about the changes I want to make in my life and they are all about becoming healthier and happier. To make a healthier change requires time. Time, that requires I still be around to accomplish this goal. Time, that at 58 I have less of than I did when I was 28 or 38.

Throughout most of my life I've though in terms of what I owe to others. Life is a series of obligations that we fulfill. Home and family, our community, our places of employment all require that we make commitments and meet the obligations that are a direct result of that commitment. Try explaining that to a teenager that thinks adults have it made. We never actually are in as much control of our destiny as they think. We comply with the rules of others throughout our entire adult life, and in doing so we don't think in any real way about ourselves. In small ways we eke out time for our own pursuits, but if we're raising a family, that time is considerably limited. Some of us reach our 50's with a sense of "Is that it, is there nothing more?" We realize that we're getting older and what do we have to show for this lifetime of dedication? What do we owe ourselves?

Most of us that ask ourselves that question realize that we've spent a lifetime treating others better than we treated ourselves. That accounts for many of the changes that our friends and family might make in their lives that we don't understand. We become all about me to the detriment of those we live with. I'm seeing that happen to the sister-in-law that underwent the gastric bypass last fall. She's changed her hair color, she's buying clothes that are way too young for her. She's becoming addicted to tanning salons and acrylic nails. She's creating a new exterior there because she deserves it, yet she's losing her family and doesn't seem to care. In her case, what she feels she owes herself is a lot more selfish than my goals are. When I asked myself what it was that I felt I owed myself, my answers actually surprised me.

The first surprise happened when I realized why I was so unsuccessful at quitting smoking. It was a recognition that I had trained myself, over time, to avoid trying things that I was sure I'd fail at. My IQ score indicates that I have an above average IQ. I"m not a genius by any means, but it doesn't take a genius to be successful at making necessary changes in life. I still don't know why I experience that fear of failure. I still have that fear, but I'm refusing to allow it to limit me anymore. That refusal to limit myself has kept me smoke free since March 19. Plus, turning off the computer and moving more has kept the weight gain to a minimum, which was the second reason why I was too afraid to try.

The anxiety attacks that I experience led me to a conclusion that I needed to reduce the stress in my life. I wasted far too much time on that path before I understood that it wasn't the stress I needed to reduce, it was my attitude towards the stress that needed changing. I discovered that when I began to research New Age beliefs. I'm still in a trial and error stage, but for the most part, I have managed to avoid any serious anxiety attacks. I've learned that venting when I'm upset at something doesn't do anything more than fuel the fire. I've learned better ways of coping with issues, and in a couple of cases managed to clear my mind well enough to know when something needed to be said and when keeping my mouth shut was the correct plan of action.

There are still so many things I need to learn about what I owe me. My Dad always said to please yourself first and then others will be pleased by you. I never understood that because it always seemed so selfish. I am learning that it isn't selfish if I please myself in the right ways. It's all about where I put my effort. I can work hard at pleasing others, or I can do the same work with the same effort and a view towards pleasing myself. In a rather strange way, blogging taught me that.

It's probably been the only area of my life that I've never honestly cared what other people thought. I've always posted what interests me. Some posts have been controversial, some are probably boring. Some are funny and some might be painful, but they're all posts that are or have been important to me in some way or other. No matter what I've done here in my blog, good or bad, I've learned things from it. Now I need time to implement the things I have learned here into real life to make my life better. Time I will have by accomplishing my goal of staying alive.