Daily Prompt: Singular Sensation

by michelle w. on July 12, 2013

If one experience or life change results from you writing your blog, what would you like it to be?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us SINGULAR.

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There is one reason I started blogging almost 4 years ago. Some call it a midlife crisis. That sudden realisation that the clock is ticking fast. Life is passing by. And we can do nothing to slow it down. But we can choose to celebrate every moment. In my work, every day is different. But every year feels just the same. There are certain points on each year’s calender that ask some input from my side. And next year will come around, and the year after that, just like today and last year and the year before that.

To survive in my head, I had to find a way to make more of every day. And that is why I started blogging. The first and oldest blog bears my name, and I just put up photos of things happening in my family. This blog has a total of 17 viewers, and is a bit frustrating because it is on blogger. It is written in Afrikaans, thus not widely read. But it gives me and my family a reference point- what happened in our lives as a family in this past year.

The second blog was also in Afrikaans, and anonymous, where I wanted to say my say about life, love, the church and everything. I made the stupid mistake of using my own email address, and so it did not remain anonymous. In our country there are the sickening habit of a few individuals who try their best to find out all about you, and then try to ruin your life by contacting your employers about what you said in your blog. I didn’t say anything bad about anybody, but still became the victim of trolls with false charges. I closed that blog down, it just got too painful to get attacked all the time without any means to block the perpetrators…

I opened another blog in Afrikaans on WordPress, and I write about weekly, where I say my say about anything. And then there is this blog- The Rider. This is my first blog in English, to have the means to chat with people all around the world. I find that most people around the world do not understand the heavenly language of Afrikaans…

What changed in my life because I am blogging?

I live much more aware each day. I am now actively looking for experiences to share…
I take much more photos about my life, and the places that I am at, because something just might be interesting enough to share on my blog.
It helps me to remember that there is a big big world out there. I have virtually met some amazing friends all over the world!
If I have a routine day, it helps a lot to read about someone else’s travels- it keeps the imagination alive…
I look with much more attention to smaller detail- the influence of the photography- in the process I learn a lot of valuable tips in other bloggers’ photos and writing.

So what would I like to change through my blog, in me, and possibly someone else’s life?

I would still love to be more positive, and see the good in people and the world around us every day.
I would love to make other people just think about something for a moment, and maybe even make them smile…
I would not dare to ask that somebody’s life be changed by my blog. The one lesson I learned, came in the form of a story, and I do not know who wrote it. There was this prominent person, who was asked what influence his life had on others. He replied that when he was young, he thought he would change the world. A few years later he thought he could change his country. Later he wished to change his province/ state, still later he just wished he could change his town. But now he would be happy if he could just change himself… I just wish to be happy, and have a little bit of insight into life in general, and how I can use this one life to the best of my ability.
I can not change the world. But I can be me, and help other people where I can. And that is all that I hope to achieve through my blog. I am just telling my story, so that I can remember where I come from, where I am at the moment, and where I think I am going. Maybe, just maybe, it would touch another person’s life, giving hope…

Singular- the high point of the Camino de Santiago, standing at the Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross), leaving the stone of your home at it’s feet. Peregrinos will understand…