Sharper Image

I’ve recently changed my blog settings to have it “discoverable” by search engines. While I will admit that I continue to have reservations on doing so, I also feel that my writing of late has allowed for this freeness in exposing myself. It is good.

When you think about it, this blog is on the Internet, therefore any feeling of security was false anyway. And yet, I am not ready to link my blog to my FB page for the masses. This is certainly not where I was in 2005 when I first began blogging.

I’ve been reflecting back on those early days where I broadcasted my blog to the masses. I sent emails to family and friends and gave out the link freely. I still remember Big Sis reading and commenting and calling my writing interesting “data.” She then cautioned me not to let my running “take over.” Yeah. I quit giving out my link so freely after that.

It didn’t stop there. I also searched high and low for all of you. I made a career out of discovering running blogs and putting myself out there in the vast blogosphere for all to see me. In these early days, I left comments everywhere I could in much the same way as a dog will pee on every bush and tree and hydrant he possibly can. That was me – drooling over those established bloggers and trying to make my own mark.

And then things changed. In the year following my husband’s death, I began writing about other things. I pulled down my filters and wrote about whatever was on my mind. The readers flocked, as did Big Sis. I guess my writing no longer fell into the “data” category. At first it was good, but then I found myself fielding comments that I wasn’t ready for. ‘Cuz that’s what happens when you open up Pandora’s box.

When it got too much, I retreated. I left a farewell message on the site, pulled all of my writing from it, and moved here – telling only a select few of my readers.

With this new start I did NOT broadcast to the masses. In fact, I kept an unwritten rule that those who knew me in real life were not allowed to know of the blog. Once again, over time, this too has changed.

Evolving along with me, my blog has continued to morph over time. And as readers come and go, my voice changes too. Indeed, your feedback guides me in the way that I write about the everyday things that I choose to blog about. I still write for me, but I also write for you.

Now, you may remember a while back that I wrote on the concept of personal branding. While I still want to present myself as “real,” l am also more cognizant of the fact that everything I put out there be it this blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. opens myself up to people passing judgment (good and bad, accurate or not) on who I am. Of course, if I don’t know any of you in real life than what does it matter. Right?

Not exactly. It is the Internet.

Consider this: My putting myself out there may not matter so much to any of you but it just might send a message to my children. Just what is that message? It certainly isn’t the “don’t talk to strangers” message that I preached to them when they were small. It also breaks the rule of not using your real name that I used to insist upon when I allowed BoBo to join FB. So, if we teach them by example that social networking and blogging is okay, what then do we do when they start making their own virtual mark be it FB, Twitter, or even blogging? How do we convey that everything you put out there is subject to judgment? And isn’t this “personal branding? *sigh*

Okay, so maybe I DO care.

I must insist that I am as “real” as it gets. But, as you have probably noticed, I have been evolving towards a sharper more presentable image. This way, if Big Sis, a colleague, or one of my sons happen to stumble across this site I can rest assured that my message of “walk the walk” will not be a complete lie.

Perhaps they will see that I’m making a concerted effort to take it one step further and “run the run” too.

What are your thoughts? Do tell.