The second post of my Holy Technology! series this week only.
I'm always happy when I hear from far-flung friends and they say that visiting my blog is like talking to me. They feel they are able to keep up with my life through it, which is also really nice to hear. I like that my blog is something that people who know me or don't know me can enjoy and that it does seem really personal. You'd think my life is quite an open book right? Well, not exactly.
Here are some things I never write about, which you may or may not have noticed before:
1) My job. Sure I work at a newspaper website but I bet you would be hard pressed to think of anything else you know about it. Interactions with coworkers, clients, and even my feelings about my job are all privately held, and rightly so. The same goes for my online business.
2) My friends. All friends and photos of friends on this blog are used with their permission only. I respect people's right to privacy and just because I live a public life doesn't make my friend's lives automatically public. This is why sometimes only initials are mentioned.
3) My romantic life. Details about my relationships are my business only. I did mention moving out of my boyfriend's house six months ago because that really shifted my personal finances (which is the general subject of this blog). As a single person maintaining a professional online presence, I am barely comfortable discussing this subject with my friends and family, let alone the world.
4) Negativity. Other then an occasional post last year about dealing with death (which I still struggle with), you don't hear about my personal problems on this blog. We all have issues to deal with and those are for conversations with friends or a paid shrink.
That said, I have used this blog to talk a bit about death and mental health because I think our culture is so insular about both these subjects. I hope I have shown that dealing with death is an ongoing process and that perfectly sane people can seek mental help.
5) The Grandmother-Boss Rule. Anything I'm not sure of posting, I think of my grandmother and my boss reading it. If it passes both tests, I put it online.
So while my communication style is open, there are some things that I draw the line at talking about.
What lines do you draw?
I have the same rule The grandmother rule, probably because we have the same grandmother!
I’m pretty much an open book, to be honest. If someone wants to know something, I’ll tell them, but I may not offer it directly. I do keep specific discussions about work to a minimum unless it pertains to what I’m talking about. I work for a credit union, so I sort of discuss work on a daily basis in that respect. However, I don’t have a lot of posts on my coworkers, bosses, or feelings about work as some of my coworkers actually read the site.
I don’t go into detail about romantic relationships because, well there are none at the moment, and it’s not really related to the content of MYC. If and when it is, I don’t mind sharing.
I do share information about the financial aspect of my friends’ lives, but with their permission and I change the names to protect the guilty.
I don’t have a grandmother rule, she can read it if she wants. But, I do have a boss rule, and that’s simply because a lot of people at work read our blog. I got an award for “publishing” on a financial site, so that sort of put me in the spotlight. I don’t want to post anything that could be jeopardizing to my job. Other than that, it’s all fair game.
My biggest rule is to keep Monkey’s name and, for the most part, face, private. I think partly due to the paranoia from growing up in such a small town, having her out there for all to see makes me nervous.
I also don’t use real names for anyone but myself.
Otherwise, I really am an open book. (And my grandmother does read my blog. lol)
It is all within context. The blog is finance based and because of it you are talking about finance related topics. No need to talk about other personal areas, it really depends on the situation and person involved. If the topic is more of your life, then talking about it is fine.
I have the husband rule… if I think he’ll be OK with it then I’m good. We both agree to keep names and faces out of the blog… it’s just safer that way! I try to stay positive too… I like it that way! Too much negativity in this world. I am however, quite sarcastic 😉