Finding Balance

Every day is the beginning of a new year, but we take time to ponder on momentous days -- anniversaries, birthdays, New Year's Day. And today I'm thinking about balance.

When I started this blog -- five years ago now I guess -- it was just for fun. A side hobby and a place to share my ideas and thoughts with a few friends. Now I have readers everywhere who I have not met and friends from the past that I are reading when I don't know it. And I continue to dump things on here -- whatever I happen to be thinking.

And now we have finally published this book and suddenly my "online footprint" is important. I tend to feel more responsible to write weightier posts with greater meaning -- like a "real" author would do. I sometimes neglect to post simply because I'm not ready to put anything profound. And I don't know that that is good either.

Other days I say "Who gives a rip what people think" and blog something stupid or meaningless and later think, "Wow, bet people are thinking I'm a dork." And I'm not sure what the balance is. I don't even proofread these entries most of the time. SIgh.

I suppose I could create a new blog that was "professional" but it kind of goes against how I've always lived my life. I have attempted to be a person of integrity -- thinking, saying, and doing things that all line up with my core values and who I am. And I am the same no matter where I go or what I'm doing. So dividing myself up into a "professional author" and a "dorky old me" doesn't jive with me. Although I did separate out my twitter accounts for that reason and set up a fan page for facebook, so my super inappropriate stuff ends up on the "personal" pages.

I want to find a good balance without abandoning this very non-planned mess of blog where I dump things on people and occasionally write something worth reading. I figure people who have found me overly dorky have abandoned my blog long enough and some of you may actually keep reading because I'm a dufus.

Today I am determined to start my next book. This book is going to be much more like the blog -- way more humor. It will be based on the speech I give called "12 Survival Tips Learned from Parenting Twelve Children." I will attempt to tell some of the hilarious stories about my children while still being respectful and find a better mix. I am not sure the first book had much of "me the dork" in it.

So as I begin my 47th year I do it full of enthusiasm and passion, happy to be me, standing and facing my kids, the system, and the world and shouting "Bring it on."

Life's Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely
in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,
totally worn out, shouting "Holy Crap...What a Ride!"