What to write?

One of the problems with writing a blog is that people actually do read it.

In my case, not a lot of people, about six of you including my mom.  Ok, ok, there’s more than six but my little blog reaches only a few hundred folks, not a few hundred thousand.  But that’s enough to count.  LOL

And it is enough so that I, like any blogger, have to decide just how much detail to include from my personal life.

Ok…  I’ll give you a moment to process that.

Give it a bit… think about ALL of the things you do on a daily basis.  Now think about all the things which you do that you DON’T talk about in polite company.

Just for the sake of being obvious, and to indulge in a moment of juvenile regression, here are some examples of normal routine ordinary things which we all do, but usually don’t talk about or in this case, things we usually don’t blog about…

• …how many times we go potty in a day.  The nature and quality of the products eliminated from the system during the potty process.
• …whether or not we really wash our hands after going potty.
• …how many times we insert our fingers into our noses. The nature and quality of the *ahem* product of finger insertion.
• …how many times we scratch *ahem* unmentionables located in places usually covered by clothing while in public.
• …and other such random acts of physiological grossness and impoliteness

Ask yourself:

• Do you talk to your neighbors, friends, and coworkers about every time you flip somebody the bird while driving?  Hmmm?
• Do talk about it when you go off for no reason on a store clerk or when you cut someone off in traffic, either on purpose or by accident?    Not really a great topic for polite casual conversation is it?
• And when was the last time you had a conversation about your lack of honesty when you failed to point out that a cashier rang up a product at a lower amount than the posted price? Or the clerk rang up only three cans of corn when there were actually four cans in the cart?  Hmmm?   Did you talk about that one with your pastor when you had them over for dinner? or worse… your Mom?
• And how many times do you go into great detail discussing the intricacies of doing laundry, dishes, or other household chores?  Oh every once in a great while you might mention it but it isn’t something you talk about every day.

The point is there are a lot of things that we don’t talk about very often if ever.  And, those very same subjects normally don’t show up in a blog post as a routine matter.

Why not?  Well…  some of it is embarrassing.  After all, who likes to publicly admit that they were rude to a store clerk, just because they were stressed out and they took it out on some poor unsuspecting and undeserving clerk working for minimum wage?

We’ve all been there, but frankly writing about some topics from our daily lives would paint a picture of the blogger which is not very flattering, even if it is something which others also have done and can relate to.  Even if it is written from a “maxima mea culpa” point of view.

As for other less embarrassing and more “stuff of daily life” kind of things…  well…  a lot of it, quite frankly just is not that interesting.  It’s boring.

Why is it boring?  Well, because everybody does it at some point or another.  It is routine.  Normal.  Dull.  Not interesting or special in any way.

Be honest, the only reason you’ve kept reading this far down the page and have read about picking noses, awkward social situations, and scratching unmentionables is because the topic of this post isn’t about picking noses.

The topic of this post is why we don’t blog about picking noses.  Check out this video from YouTube which illustrates the point beautifully.

So what does all this have to do with me and my blog?

This blog has several purposes:

1. Track my journey to health and fitness
2. Promote my online businesses: Amazon, Squidoo, Zazzle and a new website called Line Dance Tutor (www.linedancetutor.com) which I just started working on.
3. Promote my line dance instruction business
4. Talk about my passion for dance.

The problem is with the first one.

I have to be honest about my fitness level but do it in such a way that it is entertaining, accurate and honest.  But if I actually put every boring detail of my fitness journey here I’d either put everyone to sleep or I’d come off looking like I’m wallowing in a mud bath of self-pity.

We all wallow you know.  And whine.  And moan and groan and wail and vent.  Thank goodness for great friends.  Friends are there when you just have to wallow.  Buy them a beer, buy yourself a beer and let the wallowing commence.

You get to wallow and your friend is there to nod and sound supportive and eventually slap you back into reality when the mud in the wallow pit starts to reach the level of your eyebrows.  They are there to save you from yourself.

Kinda like that quiz show with a lifeline.  Friends are the lifeline that pulls you out of wallowing.  Wow.  That was profound.  I should have buttons made.  “I’m my BFF’s Wallow Lifeline”  I’ll be rich.

You’re probably confused at this point.  Let me spell it out for you how all this relates to blogging and to fitness.  Don’t you just love the conncetions my brain comes up with?  You should try being me 24 hours a day.  LOL.

There are many measures of fitness.  Some very fancy and very expensive.  Others are related to all those boring daily things that we all do but generally we don’t talk about.

A Real World Example:  Meet Jared, the Subway Guy.

A couple years ago I read the book by Jared, the Subway Guy and there was one passage that stands out in my memory.  It is Jared’s description of the moment when he realized that he had to do something or else his life was going to continue to be miserable.

He was in college and he shared a car with his brother who attended the same school.  It was a clunker.  A beat up barely running piece of junk that fell into the “it doesn’t look like much but it gets me where I’m going” category.  In other words, a typical “college student on a budget” kind of car.

The car died.  Sang it’s final song.  Went to the great junkyard in the sky.  Bye-Bye.  Farewell.  Poof.  Gone.

With the help of their parents, Jared (the Subway guy) and his brother got a new car.  When Jared tried to drive the car for the first time…

[drum roll please]  Jared could not fit behind the wheel.  Even with the wheel tilted and the seat all the way back, he couldn’t fit.  He was too big.

This gave rise to a whole host of problems which if you want to know about, you’ll need to read the book.  The point is that moment he describes was Jared’s turning point.  That event was the moment where Jared realized he had to change his life.  Or else…

That moment when the old car died and a new one was purchased marked the turning point for Jared.  Getting a replacement vehicle is a common, routine, ordinary event which happens all the time to people all around the world.  Absolutely “normal” — But for Jared it wasn’t normal.  It was the turning point that changed his life.

What SEEMED routine and boring to the average person, barely worth five minutes of conversation over the proverbial water cooler was the moment that changed Jared’s life forever.

Not only that, the fact that he had gotten so big that he could no longer fit behind the wheel of a car is not a pleasant thing to share.  It was FAR from pleasant.  It was horribly embarrassing for him.  At least it was when it happened.   Now, it is a great thing because that moment is in the past and he’s turned his life around and he has TV sponsorship contract and he’s written a book and he’s fit and healthy and famous and doing awesome.

My “Turning Point” Moment(s)

This past week has had several small moments that have all added up to my own personal “I’ve got to change my life… or else.”

We’re talking about some of those very boring things that I mentioned at the beginning of this post…

… and we’re talking about some things which quite frankly, if I shared right now, I’d die of embarrassment.  At least for now.

Later when things are better I’ll be able to do a “Before and After” kind of thing and all will be cool and there will be no embarrassment but right now there is only “before.”  The “after” is not yet done.

So… I’m not going to list them here, not now.

I’m starting a journal which I’ll keep private for now, because I want to keep track of them.  I want to read them so that I can use it as motivation for change.

But I just can’t talk about it now.  Not until I’ve made some improvements.  Who knows..  !!  Maybe I’ll eventually have a book contract and then everyone will get all the dirty little details.   LOL

It is easier to talk about how bad things are, hmmm, were, once they’ve gotten better.  So…  wish me success.  Pray for me.  Think of me.  Send me words of encouragement.   Trust me on this; I need some encouraging words.  Perhaps all of my readers can be my “Anti-Wallow LifeLine”  🙂

Today is day one.
A new beginning.
The last “new beginning.”
One step at a time.
One tiny task at a time.

Now I’m off to write my journal entry for today where I’ll put all that stuff I need to keep of track of but which isn’t ready for prime time yet.

I think I’ll call my journal “The mud pit”  It will be my private wallowing space.  😉  But any friend out there who wants to share a beer, and let me bend their ear, just give me a shout.

See ya on the dance floor!