Is it better to know or to not know? Is ignorance truly bliss?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It probably depends on the subject but in general, when I have a choice, I prefer to know something rather than be ignorant of it. Exceptions may include movies, because I prefer to go into the theater spoiler-free. I would also rather not know if I have cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I bring this up because I have a plugin here which lets me see how much traffic my blog gets. It’s not information that will ever improve my day, yet I look at it just to see if anyone out in the void is seeing my words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apparently, when you make the title of your post something that is trending, the search engines take notice and strangers will find you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s not that big a deal, but it’s a little bit disconcerting. Like being at a party, trying to talk to someone over the noise, when suddenly the music shuts down and its your voice filling the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, the numbers aren’t that large. Fifty or so strangers showed up to see what I was talking about on the 1st. Usually, I get between 10 to 15 views on my posts, and only when I post a link to Facebook and Twitter. I’m not posting any links right now. This exercise is just to get me writing again, not draw a crowd or say anything particularly important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it’s an exercise, why am I doing it in public? Why not just keep a journal or something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have found that when there is no chance of another person reading my writing, I can’t bring myself to put the words on the page. If no one is going to read it, I could just sit in an empty room and talk to myself. No need to activate the pain in my wrists. No need to waste the paper or electrons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writing is a medium for communication. Communication involves more than one party. It can be from a younger self to an older self, or it can be between strangers. Sometimes, the younger and older versions of a person are strangers, actually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Writing is connection. When I know that there is no one at the other end, I go silent. The electricity of my words is grounded out, and no amount of willpower on my part can get it to spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, for this exercise to work, I have to do it publicly. Doing it on the internet means that sometimes, the internet shows up and watches. I don’t expect people to stop and stare as I force my doughy Dad-body to do jumping jacks in the park, but there can be curious gawkers, and I just have to be okay with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a whole lot more to say on the topic of writing and motivation, and how I’m already starting to see some improvements in my life after just a few days. Maybe that’s what I’ll talk about tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is it better to know or to not know? Is ignorance truly bliss? It probably depends on the subject but in general, when I have a choice, I prefer to know something rather than be ignorant of it. Exceptions may include movies, because I prefer to go into the theater spoiler-free. I would also rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12070,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12069\/revisions\/12070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}