Communication

I am somewhat of a 'blogging evangelist'. I can't help but try and convince everyone I meet to start a blog. Thing is it's not about blogging as such... but communicating.

I have written and thought a lot about the dilemma of being honest and that it is not really possible to truly be honest with someone without spending a significant amount of time with them. Maybe it is not about honesty, maybe it is about openness but I think the two are too intertwined to be separated. Along with trust.

Blogging is perhaps a little scary because anyone and everyone can read what you write. I get that. Which is why my blog doesn't delve into issues I may be having on a personal level. Yes, obviously those who know me well can often read between the lines. And maybe the thread of my thoughts is a little more transparent than I think... but I am comfortable with the level of 'online honesty' that I write in this blog.

It doesn't replace conversations with those who I most trust.

And, what it has in fact made me do is want to explore other forms of communication more fully. Joshua Gans moans about the emphasis placed on children starting to read early when really what should be the focus is communication skills. If you love communicating, and you love stories, eventually when you can read... and you find interesting stories... you will love reading. I only really started reading recently, and it is because I am buzzing with energy about the subjects of the books I am reading.

I should take Gans point. It is not about blogging, it is about communicating. But why I go on about people start blogs is because in my experience people in general are not good at communicating through the traditional ways. We simply don't phone our friends and family enough. We don't write enough. We sink into our own little worlds and then every now and then we have our 'dip check' moments.

I used to like the idea of 'dip check' friends. People who know you really well but who you see seldomly. Maybe once a year... maybe once every two years. I liked it because they knew me well enough to challenge me if they thought something I said or did was out of character. I liked it because they could sometimes more successfully than other times, tell me to pull myself together if I was being a wally.

But more and more I think that is rubbish. Through blogging I have managed to sustain and grow a friendship with one of my better friends who I probably would have only seen as a 'dipcheck' friend.

I want the same with other friends, other family members and even other people who really get under my skin but challenge me.

Emails can do this. Letters can. Phonecalls and coffee meetings. But I have had more than 300 'conversations' through this blog over the last year... they have created more emails, phonecalls and interesting conversations with friends than ever before. There are other ways. Yes.

But if you like me are tired of the people closest to you just being dipchecks...

start a blog.

Exciting Times