Friday, September 16, 2011

Time To Be Brave

Two days ago I sat down at the computer to write a blog post. I thought I was going to write a normal, family story post. Instead what came out was To Blend Or Not To Blend, a post on being myself instead of doing what everyone else does.

It was only after I hit Publish that I started to think, "What if I offend all those nice people out there who happen to like wearing jeans, high heels and make up? I'll have to write an apology note on the end." So I went back and added the apology note, then worried for the rest of the day. I needn't have. The responses were overwhelming. People I'd never met stopped to have their say. Comment after comment showed up on my dashboard from people who wore skirts and those who liked jeans. That was my first brave post.

Ever since I joined the blogosphere I've admired people who can write thought provoking posts with strong opinions. I read the posts, and the comments afterwards and tried to imagine posts like those. But I failed every time. I'm too scared to come out and say what I think. I can wear the clothes I like, be myself wherever I go, but I don't say what I think.

Subjects come up in conversation, subjects I know I have a different opinion on. As they come up I slid away from them, skirting neatly round the danger areas. No sense in getting into a debate. Or so I tell myself. And I never say what I feel about these subjects.

I should say what I think. I should say that I don't think something is right, instead of dodging the point, turning a blind eye. But I'm scared to. What if people think I'm too strange? What if they think I'm judging them? What if they decide not to talk to me again?

But on the other hand, why can't I say what I think? As long as I do it in a way that doesn't offend anyone, or try to force my opinions onto other people. If they can't accept what I think, they don't have to. But I can say what I feel too.

Maybe it's time to break away from 'safe' subjects, like what we did in a day. Maybe it's time for me to air my opinions a little. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be one of those people with the thought provoking posts and one million comments after them. And that would be good, so long as I remember that other people think differently to me, and that they're entitled to have an opinion too

Will you join me as I attempt to be 'brave'?

Do you find it hard to come out and say what you think? Are you afraid of saying the wrong thing? Of people thinking your opinions are strange? Or are you one of those lucky people who always know how to say what they want to say?

9 comments:

  1. If you're going to start being controversial, Immy, you're going to have to start using smileys. You can say whatever you like, in the blogosphere, if you use a smiley.

    For example:
    My deaf, dumb and blind dog could write a more intelligent post than this:)

    See? Now, you try...

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  2. Aunt Vicky, I'm afraid I always mistake smileys for punctuation. I'll just have to make sure that my writing is very clear. That'll be a good lesson for me.

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  3. I'm glad you weren't offended by my weak attempt at humour, Immy! After I sent the comment, I realized I could have thought of a much better example:) (that's not punctuation, by the way - it's a happy smile!)

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  4. That's so funny - I have to restrain myself from blogging about overly controversial subjects. I used to be very outspoken about my beliefs, but after I got into some pretty hot debates in which I repeatedly lost my temper, I decided to stay away a bit.

    I think it's mostly about finding a happy balance between "I love arguing and I'll turn anything into a controversial debate" and "Don't even talk to me about it, I don't want to argue, I'm keeping my opinions to myself". Good luck! I can't wait to see what you post about.
    - Victoria (raindropsandmoonlight.blogspot.com)

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  5. Haha, I'm not that bad Aunty VIcky. It's when people put brackets, and smileys and colons all together in the space of a sentence that I get confused. Besides, I know you use them, so I look for them! And I would never get upset at you.

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  6. Victoria, (funny, all the commenters on this post have been called Victoria) wow! That's just the complete opposite to me. I guess we're both looking for a balance. I guess writing with an opinion will be very good practice for me at getting my message across without offending anyone. Though I'm not sure how it'll go. You'll have to tell me if I'd doing ok.

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  7. Ha! I'll break the non-Victoria comment cycle. :D

    This is a really challenging post and I appreciate you bringing up the subject. I struggle with saying things out and out...I tend to skirt the issues, unless I feel really passionate about it then I write a flaming post, read over and think Maybe it's too much? then I press delete, and never go there. So much for courage - I just need a good grain of gracious diplomacy to go with it.

    Thanks for the challenge! I really appreciated it. It has me thinking.

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  8. I'm only daring to do this because Mum has offered to read my 'brave' posts before I dare to press publish. It should hopefully help to have another opinion on it.

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