What can half a pigeon tell you about the life you've created?

Hi, hi.

I've got a question for you ...

What does half a pigeon have in common with a 3rd year Psychology degree lecture I was note taking in last week?

[I'm just wondering here how long I should give you to answer this ... how about now? Are you finished? Any guesses?]

It's actually this quote:

A quote which, although blog layout and headers and colours have come and gone, has remained in my blog sidebar ever since I started a blog.

[Strangely enough last Thursday, 8th Nov 2012, was my 4 year blogging anniversary and also the very day I was note taking in that Psychology lecture ... but I digress ...]

Now, I'm not saying this is my personal creed or anything as strong as that, but the quote, credited to George Bernard Shaw, first appealed to me as it implies that we are in control of what we do and who we are. We get to create things for ourselves, rather than just hope that they were there all along.

Of course, I do also believe that we can 'find' ourselves ... and much of what we do need really is there ... it's just that we usually discover it after we've actively done something to find it and searched hard enough, with the right tools and the right experiences.

Anyway ... back to this lecture ... it was all about how, in the Facebook / social media / blogging age we're doing exactly like the quote says: we're creating ourselves.

With every photo, status update, tweet, list of interests, quotation, playlists that we share online we're actively creating the version of ourselves which we want others to believe that we are.

[It's during lectures such as these that I almost forget to take notes as I just want to sit back and absorb what's being said. Except I'm not paid to do that!]

Anyway ... while no doubt this act of creating our online persona can in some cases go wrong and take some people far off into a fictional life I think we can learn a lot about ourselves by reflecting on what we've chosen to share and how we've presented ourself online.

As every single thing we've shared online got there via a deliberate decision by us ... surely a close look at it all will reveal our priorities, our philosophies, our personalities?

Surely they can't help will bubble to the surface? We'll recognise what we feel is important [like me hanging on to my sidebar quotation for 4 years ... it must say something!]. We'll recognise those parts of us we were happy for others to know about us. We'll see the areas we wanted feedback, comments, sympathy, recognition form.

And, at the same time, we can also learn by realising the parts we didn't share! What do those say about us? Which status updates never reached your FB wall? What does that deleted tweet tell you about yourself? Why did you choose one photo over another?

A quick look at my 'created' online life might reveal:

• that I want to share interesting craft projects;
• that I want others to know there's no such thing as getting creativity wrong;
• that I'm happy to pass on tips, tricks and lessons I've learned;
• that I don't blog angry / upset / stressed but that I don't sugar coat everything either.
• that I listen in to other people's conversations. A lot.
• that I like to make people laugh;
• that I like to pause to notice and document the unexpected, everyday, 'found' joy / comedy / stories and treasures of life.

There's certainly more to my online life than those [a quick look at my Pinterest boards will reveal I also present my self as something of a clothes fiend] ... but they're pretty representative I think.  And, fortunately ... I don't think they're that far away from the 'real life' Julie either. But you'd have to ask someone who knows me for a more objective view!

And, as for that half a pigeon I mentioned at the beginning ... it was the bottom half to be precise ...

 

... it came from the reverse side of a page I'd chopped up and put into a Plundered Pages pack and, despite it being headless, I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. I just kept it in the box with all the other plundered pages I fall in love with and plan to use ... at some point.

 

And in this case, I did. I created a page especially for it in my newest journal ... and then ... rather than find it a new head  ...

 

... I created one for it instead:  

------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for stopping by to read me today.

Have you ever thought about what it is you've created as your online persona? Or even the 'real life' you?

What do you give yourself credit for creating and making happen in your own life?

I'd love to know ....

Julie


------------------------------------------------------------
p.s: I originally made this page as a guest contribution to Bernice Hopper's 'Attitude of Gratitude' blog.