Let's See How Far We've Come

Five years ago, I started this journal. At the time, I thought it would only last a month at most. But just like anything you expect to be temporary, it has become a rather permanent part of my life.

When it first began, this journal was more introspective. It was tool to pry loose whatever was stuck in my head. It was a clever way to trick myself into saying things I would normally never be able to say in Real Life. When you're a person as quiet as I am, trickery is often necessary.

In a way, I still use trickery to write what I'm thinking. I've just had five years to perfect the technique. Like right now, I'm doing the virtual equivalent of staring at a spot on the wall just above everybody's heads. It's silly, I know, but it works.

Over five years, the direction of this journal has turned more outward than inward; at least I think it has. To me, it has become more about what I see and do and less about what I feel. I'm going to venture a guess and say that's a good thing. Perhaps the best way to defeat one's shyness and self-doubt is to initially acknowledge them, give them their moment in the spotlight, and then yank them off the stage with a large hook before the produce starts flying.

As I said somewhere before, this journal "has been a diary, a scrapbook, a private pep talk and a chronicle of my amusements". I would add that has also become a chronicle of my adventures (mild though they be) and my virtual playground.

Through this journal, I have met so many cool people (both online and in real life). They have been and continue to be a source of inspiration for me and I'm grateful to them. Thank you to those of you have been with me through the years and those of you who have only been here a short time. Stick with me. I can't promise things will get better around here, but I can promise they won't get noticeably worse.

On that note, I leave you with Matchbox Twenty's "How Far We've Come", an upbeat apocalyptic song that really has nothing to do with this fifth blogiversary, but it has been playing in my head for weeks and I needed to let it out...