I’ve been writing since I was very young. In fact, my mother recently turned over a short story I apparently wrote when I was about 10-years old that was set in the future. The feelings of nostalgia that came over me when I saw that bundle and actually read the content… My writing skills have evolved significantly since then and I started blogging a few years ago when I needed something to keep my writing sharp. With 1,193 publicized posts, 800 of which have been in a row without skipping a day, people have often asked me how I managed to write and post that often. My response is usually that it hasn’t been easy, although it should be…
My blog is pretty diverse, containing material that encapsulates Diabetes, Fitness&Health, martial arts and the Buddha Dharma as main topics. I enjoy sharing aspects of my family life, especially my children, since unlike me, they were born into the technological and it will be cool for them to look back at this blog in a few decades and recognize that their old man contributed to the world in some way that may not have been aware of. But despite this diversity of topics, I sometimes find myself stuck for ideas on what to write about.
Oh, there will always be SOMETHING I can find on one of the topics listed here and there’s also the possibility of recycling some of my own materials since enough time has passed that not only is it still relevant but newer followers may not have read it yet. I would likely have an easier time of things if, like many of my counterparts, I didn’t post every single day. And it’s been difficult getting help; I have frequently asked people I know for ideas, interviews and post materials that would be relevant to my blog. One good example is the recent series I wrote on some karate colleagues who provided some short answers on why they joined the art. But for the most part, even the ones who say they will provide something, don’t.
Another difficulty I’ve faced, is having some people comment or pick my posts apart. I think a critical thing to remember is that this is a blog for people’s reference and entertainment. Even when I post about something medical, I make a point of slipping a disclaimer in there to consult one’s doctor. And the rest is just purely for fun (there’s a reason why I swear and cut loose in most of these). But there are still those who seem to find it necessary to point things out, correct my content or analyze things, ad nauseam.
Maybe it’s simply become the way of the world or maybe some people just have more more time on their hands. I remember writing frequently in some of my earliest posts that if one did not like the content they were looking at, they didn’t need to comment; they just simply scroll on by. in fact, I wrote an entire post about trolls and commenters and the effect they have, all the way back in January of 2020 (you can read that post here). But people seem to feel the need to insert their opinion or comments whenever someone else expresses themselves or writes creatively.
We see this same trend in movies now, where people will dedicate entire reddit posts to fan theories behind storylines or movie plots or will pick apart movies and explain why “they don’t make sense” or why a certain thing couldn’t have happened the way it did in the movie. In my day and through my youth, we watched shows and movies for entertainment. After all, that’s what they’re for… We didn’t analyze the fact that the spaceship would never be capable of flight in real life or that physics wouldn’t allow that superhero to perform that heroic feat. it didn’t matter. The whole point to all of it is to entertain and enjoy.
I’ve been writing this blog for a number of years now and am slowly rounding the corner on 500 followers, with a number of others who read it for fun without necessarily following. I don’t see myself stopping, which means getting used to some level of unsolicited, unnecessary advice and comments. As a society, we should have evolved and grown to be better than that but ultimately, it’s the ones who reward and respond to them that feed the machine. Not so much the ones who write it. Food for thought… ☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 