Switching off to switch on

There’s no doubt that we live in information-saturated times. Publishing tools have been embraced by the masses to the point that you can keep tabs on where uber-connected, far-off friends are having lunch. You can instantly tap into the history of just about anything, from 70s TV shows to obscure dog breeds.

In addition to all that popular trivia, many of us are compelled to keep up with the latest news or developments in our fields. Web design & development is like that; technologies and user expectations are constantly evolving and you have to keep up to do your best work.

There are hundreds of tools to connect you with the information you choose to follow, and for the most part they deliver a mixed bag of inconsistently useful stuff. So what’s a girl to do but stay “on” almost constantly, grazing for those tasty or nutritious bits?

I have become an information glutton.

In addition to the amount of information I *must* process to do my job well, I spend a lot of spare time consuming information from Twitter, Facebook, membership sites, and the various blogs they all link to.

All the while, beating myself up that I haven’t blogged in ages myself..

I go in circles: Who am I writing for anyway? For my clients? Sometimes. For friends? They’re all in the same boat as me. TOO MUCH TO READ. What have I got to say that’s new? It’s all been said, it’s all out there already…

And yet, I keep reading (or more truthfully, skimming) other people’s blogs, glad to hear their voices and perspectives. Nodding my head, if not commenting, at the discussions going on there.

The point? The web is big. There’s room for all of us.

If I value what others are contributing, if I admire their successes, who am I to stay silent when I’ve got something to say? It reminds me of this quote (which I thought was Nelson Mandela but apparently was by Marianne Williamson):

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. …as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

But, I have to make room for me.

I think the challenge for me now is turning off the information taps more often, so that I’m not drowning in others’ voices. So that I become thirsty to hear my own voice. To make room for me, so that I can share that voice with whoever cares to listen. To paraphrase Marissa: there is value in switching off.

Another challenge is to silence (or at least quiet) my internal editor. The one that says this post is not useful/profound/interesting/polished enough to publish. The reason for those partially written drafts waiting to see the light of day (this one waited 2 weeks!). The reason I often read other blogs but don’t add a comment because my critic says I’ve nothing of value to add.

And I think I’ll start by publishing this now, whether it has a nice tidy ending or not.