I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good).
Warning: the following post is pure graduate school type ventilation on my part. Per the post Juliette made earlier in the weekend about perfectionism, and at the risk of going against the grain (not to mention sounding like a grump), I'd like to say I'm feeling completely overwhelmed, both by the responsibility of reading the various library blogs I am obligated to read because I am a caring, engaged library student, and by the obligation to thoughtfully construct posts of my own. And despite having thanked Bloglines in an earlier post, I have to say I find it frustrating being regularly reminded that there are 147 posts to Metafilter I have neglected to pour over. I have 41 feeds in Bloglines (one can view them by going outside of Bloglines and visiting Seven Fifty Three at its home on Blogger and looking at the sidebar to the right) and ten to fifteen of these feeds update several times a day. I rarely have the opportunity to look them over while at work, and I work 40 hours a week, and when I come home many nights I am bone tired. Sometimes I have to ask, is it necessary that I spend 40 more reading, writing and otherwise being alert about the state of the blogosphere? I have in my to-do list ideas for four more posts, but when the weekend rolls around I find myself putting the writing of these posts off for some mythical time when I will be fresh and bright and ready for the task at hand. Maybe it's the fact that I secretly maintain another blog and the strain of having to do something "for school" that was at one time something I did "for myself" is proving to be a challenge for me. Whatever it is, I'm sure I will find some kind of balance. It is a kind of language we are learning out here in the blogosphere.
posted by andystardust at 7/03/2006 05:02:00 PM
5 Comments:
I know exactly what you mean! I work on the computer all day in my job and then I go home and my laptop calls to me. Sometimes you just have to step..away...from...the...computer!
I feel you on this one, Andy. I was just having a conversation about this with someone last night. I feel more overwhelmed than inspired most every day...I suppose the balance will come at some point.
Andy, I am so glad you posted this. I have been feeling this as well. That was why I was ranting about purchasing internet for my place--I really don't have time to check any of this at work (well, without guilt anyway), so that leaves me with fleeting moments during lunch and at the reference desk (if I'm not inputting Summer Reading Program data) (long story, and the subject of my next blog). In addition, my RSS feeds are now ROV (Really Overwhelming!), and I instead of joining my "real life" library community (and being emotionally present), I am spread thin and feeling as though I'm just doing enough to skate by (which, being the so-called, "perfectionist" kills me). So, how can we really balance this? How can Jenny Levine or Michael Stephens keep up this momentum without burning out? //bIt reminds me of my public teaching experience. We were expected to be instructors, disciplinarians, web designers, social workers, nurses, and masters of diplomacy... The best teachers were the ones who could turn it off at the end of the day. I, on the other hand, couldn't do that, and it swallowed me whole. //b Librarianship is different in so many ways, but I can see it becoming all-consuming--especially if we work for systems that do not acknowledge the importance of creating time within the workday to blog without guilt. Perhaps we’re the ones to change this?
See, I even goofed up my HTML tags!
You put this really well. It is overwhelming. When I am home, I want to interact with my family and not spend HOURS on the computer after spending most of the day doing that at work. Blogging just gave me another job that I have to do (although it is for a class). It is overwhelming to add another to-do to my never ending lists. Vrtual communties cannot take the place of my face-to-face family time.
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