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Summer snippets part 2 – all about Joan
This is Joan. (With thanks to Mike and Allison for the picture. )
I’ve been Joan twice this summer. It’s peculiar – in the run up to Kentwell I do a lot of faffing and panicking, then there’s the actually getting there and putting up tents and then I just am.
Life is both simpler and more complicated. There are constant logistical challenges associated with having all the things you need for during the day and then the evening in the right place at the right time when some of them can’t be dealt with at particular times (when the flag is up to show there are visitors on the manor, we stay firmly in Tudor character). And yet, because I have such a clearly defined set of belongings and things to do I’m so much clearer in my head.
I come back ready for the modern world and also utterly dissatisfied with it. I miss my transient village of friends – speaking to people who are understanding of quirks of neurology, and tolerant of what would otherwise be regarded as unusual passions. I miss particularly the evenings sitting in the sun on the front sward while children play and we chat, or analyse Tudor books, or mend linen while drinking gin from camping mugs, or sometimes all of these things at once.
I come home to a virtual world where I feel more unusual and isolated than ever.
Part of what I’m gaining from Blogtember is a reaffirmation of community. That was what blogging was about in the first instance for me – the home ed blogring was our virtual village, our way of chatting over the garden fence about the things our actual neighbours wouldn’t understand. Now that everyone’s blogging it is oddly harder to maintain those community links.
I need to realign my blogging with my aims in life, but to do that, I need to work out what those aims are. I’ve watched endless webinars trying to identify business strategies I can follow, signed up to mastermind classes, enrolled in courses.
I haven’t found any answers. I know what I can do, and I know what I can’t. I can’t, for example, sign up to a drop shipping business that would facilitate more tat being shipped around the world. It just doesn’t sit right. I can’t be a coach, that idea is utterly laughable. I can fix your website, or explain to you how to fix it yourself, but I can’t market myself effectively to strangers.
It was much easier being Joan. I miss her.
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Comments
10 responses to “Summer snippets part 2 – all about Joan”
yes, i miss the commenting on each other’s blogs, the chat, the sharing. This surprised me as one of the reasons I drifted away from blogging last year is that I no longer felt the need for constant advice and sounding boards re home edding or even just parenting and certainly i feel more confident in myself now regards to both but…
chatting over the garden fence. i miss that. i suppose in a way, twitter replaced blogging for that for me but I’m on twitter sporadically & use it more for other things, now.I’ve drifted away from Twitter almost completely, found some community on Instagram, but it’s not quite the same. Time to rebuild the village.
Yes, a reaffirmation of community is exactly what I’d like to see happening. It sort of feels like blogging has become more of a vehicle for marketing oneself / making money (which is absolutely fine) but at the expense of losing some genuine connections. Also, life seems to become ever more fast-paced so I’m not sure there’s as much blog-readership out there as there used to be. Everyone’s either too busy or reading and commenting on Facebook or Twitter instead.
You look really happy and relaxed in that picture. Or Joan does 😉The picture is part of a set and in one I’m almost crying with laughter. It was a good day 🙂
Balancing community with making a living. It must be possible. People make friends in offices but still do their work, there’s a way to gather all this together somehow.
I also miss that smaller blogging community of only 7 years ago. I can well see how life as Joan is much easier and more comforting. I would like to spend my evenings sewing and shooting the breeze but the reality is grading papers, planning lessons, catching up with housework, etc…. I’m still working on the simpler life in 2017 as a single mum with a full time job. It’s not easy. (And I missed bogging yesterday so I’ve blown the challenge).
Do you know what? I don’t think the dailyness of the challenge is the important bit here. I think it’s the way we’re reconnecting.
Of you know I’m right there with you on this. I too miss the blogging days gone past. It is nice to have met so many real life friends like yourself though. I still blog and tweet like the latter years and I think that might be where my problem is. I still like to comment and chat, but there are so many it all gets lost in the rabble. I always like to see your posts come into my inbox x
You are so right. I put so much more time, effort, energy and passion into my blog now but I get less and less interaction. You seem to get comments regularly though so you should be proud! I hope you find your love for the blogging world again ?
Honestly, I’ve realized that over the time I’ve been blogging (which compared to most isn’t very long), the more effort I put in now the less people will come and comment, read or even look at my blog. But also, if you were to flip it, if I didn’t ever post, I’d lose so much more following/interaction much quicker. Just sometimes feel like us bloggers can’t win! But, I am glad that with the Blogtember project, you will at least 100% get interaction from me and Hannah!
I’m loving blogtember and getting to know you both 🙂
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