I have been seeing a lot of sadness and anxiety in the blogosphere lately; lots of people posting that they’re struggling to find motivation and time to read or post or go blog-hopping. And on one hand, I’ve been doing this for A DECADE and that just seems to be part of the natural cycle of blogging, to have times where you want to prioritize it more and times when you want to prioritize it less or maybe even step away.
On the other hand, I suspect that the same is true for other bloggers as is true for me, which is that this administration is sapping our strength. I live in a state of constant anxiety, whether it’s over the current terrible thing that’s happening or the next thing that I know will be coming down the pike but can’t even begin to predict. I am experiencing dread regularly now, in a way that I maybe never have before, and that’s exhausting, physically and emotionally. I feel guilty that I’m not doing more in every single area of my life: not reaching out to friends as much as I want to, not managing to be a flawless professional success in the way that I want to, not doing enough politically, not reading enough or blogging enough or keeping my house clean enough–
YES YES. The list goes on.
But what I think about the internet, about blogging in particular, is that it helps me to see that y’all are still there. Humans are contagious as hell with our emotions, and it helps me to see other people out there who haven’t given up. I don’t just mean people who haven’t given up hashtag-resisting. I mean people who haven’t given up frantically, vocally loving the things they love. Doing sportsy shit with their kids. Advocating for books and TV shows that are flying under the radar. Seeking out and publishing authors from marginalized groups because they deeply believe we need those voices (hi Book Smugglers!). It helps me to see people continuing to care about stuff, at a time when the world seems like it’s trying to bash us all into apathy.
(When I was contemplating this post on Monday, I said to Alice, “Is this just going to be some sunshiny Pollyanna bullshit?” It uh it is less sunshiney in execution than it maybe was in conception ha ha thanks Trump.)
I also told Alice, fairly insistently, that it’s better to do something than nothing. Even if the something doesn’t live up to our best hopes for ourselves, it’s still something, it’s still not nothing, it’s still us trying. I have the kind of brain that wants to insist I have to be perfect or be nothing — which is a total mug’s game because you can’t be perfect, and that only leaves nothing as an option. And nothing’s like, a really bad option. So I am always having to make a conscious effort to choose something.
I’m founding a thing I shall call Something on Sundays, which will commence THIS VERY SUNDAY and will have a link-up. The only guidelines are that you write about something that kept you on your feet that week, whether that’s a person that inspired you, an action you took that you’re proud of, a book or movie or TV show that nourished your heart, a self-care strategy that worked for you, a goofy event or moment that brought you joy. Whatever it is, every Sunday, I want you to tell me something that matters to you. If you don’t have enough energy for a post, tweet it at me (you can use the hashtag #SomethingonSunday).
Cool? Cool.