I have enjoyed Nicola's blog for a long time - she seems very down to earth and the type of woman who seems to understand life. This blog post resonated with me on so many levels...
You see, over the Christmas period I found myself getting frustrated and angry when I got online to catch up with my emails and distant friends. I thought, as in years previous, peeps would take a break from the 'unreal' online world and spend more time in the 'real' world with family and friends and the silence that time of year brings. That wasn't so during the 2010/2011 festive season. I found the constant blogging emails, offers of sales, news of this and news of that, so 'claustrophobic' that it was information overload at a time when I was at my most 'non-business and non-blogging and non-online' care-factors (if that makes sense). I found myself getting frustrated that people weren't being with what matters the most - their real lives - and coming from someone who has an online website and an online life, I can say with all certainty that our real lives are most important. Online should be a percentage, not the sum total of experience or life. I think some of the peeps who do World of Warcraft can take that seat.
There was a lot of online 'noise'. I didn't like all of the direct mail in the letterbox, so I put a sign saying no paper to stop it. I got sick of the telemarketers ringing me every day so I put our number on the 'do not call' register. I suppose the online version is stop subscribing for so much content, news and information...which is what I have started to do.
Every Saturday I visit my Nan in her nursing home. Last Saturday she didn't understand many words - not realising what 'birthday' meant or 'weather' etc. Nicola's blog post about returning to basics came into my head - as here with this lovely woman, an old 85 year old at the other side of her long life, who wishes for nothing more than care, love and some rest. A very simple existence. People who love her are with her and that's all that matters to her. We're the only people left who she recognises and the only people left from her life before the nursing home. Those hands would have touched thousands of people through her life, but at the end of her days, it will be her family and loved ones there holding her hand.
My anger and frustration has ebbed, but I have found myself reducing the number of sites and blogs I visit. I also don't write much of what business strategies we have - and our goals - as I've realised there are people who read this blog just to copy. I love the online community and I have met so many outstanding people and friends - but, at the end of the day, I adore my life more and I prefer to surround myself with tangibility rather than the internet.
PS. Sorry if this seems like a little rant - but I have been so sad in this last week listening to all of the reports from flooded Queensland. It is at times like this how much I realise just what is most important to me.
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