tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post4706227432186582532..comments2024-03-18T16:49:08.253+11:00Comments on All the Blue Day: Life is a Mess, But Also Often Quite PrettyJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-71320138854070949092018-06-16T12:18:42.115+10:002018-06-16T12:18:42.115+10:00Kate, your meandering thoughts are quite coherent ...Kate, your meandering thoughts are quite coherent on the page. I am always grateful that anyone at all out there is engaging with the thoughts I put out. So thank you!<br /><br />Patricia, thank you from us all, sending the compliment right back to you:)<br /><br />Jana, welcome to the conversation:)<br /><br />Meg, carpet burn! Oh, what a metaphor, yes! But it is those moments I think that are most helpful signposts in our journey, if we are listening.. Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-31540103641139568362018-06-16T08:56:39.667+10:002018-06-16T08:56:39.667+10:00I think I have grown into myself as I've gotte...I think I have grown into myself as I've gotten older, free perhaps from so many of the "musts" and the "shoulds" of my 20s and 30s. But, some remain and brushing up against that conditioning can feel like carpet burn. I think that what we post on our blogs, if we have one, comes back to where we are coming from or growing to. MegMeghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11573371198907761962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-72479074652182254282018-06-15T21:23:25.186+10:002018-06-15T21:23:25.186+10:00I really enjoyed reading your post. Given me so m...I really enjoyed reading your post. Given me so much thought. Janahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15318169964105215658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-39205818426399870972018-06-15T20:03:32.397+10:002018-06-15T20:03:32.397+10:00What a delight to read this post, and following co...What a delight to read this post, and following comments. It has been wonderful to my spirit to discover like minded people through your blog. You all give me hope.<br />Patricia USAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-71724455591284962452018-06-15T18:58:31.276+10:002018-06-15T18:58:31.276+10:00I'm kind of surprised you can even get my poin...I'm kind of surprised you can even get my point half the time Jo. My thoughts are jumbled and meandering so writing is a challenge. Basically though I just enjoy what you write here and agree with your sentiment on life. <br />Cheers Kate simplelifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13397507005757292686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-15953989708689190702018-06-15T18:16:26.104+10:002018-06-15T18:16:26.104+10:00Hazel, I would definitely read your blog! One of t...Hazel, I would definitely read your blog! One of the great joys of the internet is finding like-minded people who also have intriguing ideas, which you do all the time. Plus you write beautifully:) I know there is a way through the dilemma of presenting a perfect life, and I think it is probably mostly being mindful, and self-knowledge. Presenting a perfect curated image is a deliberate decision, even id subconscious, and I believe it stems from fear and insecurity. Easy to dodge if we are aware of it..<br /><br />Fran, 'middle-aged life muddlers'? Love it! That is exactly what I feel I am! Yes, anarchy is what I have in mind. It sounds like so much fun..<br />The wonderful grace that getting older has bestowed on me is the feeling that nothing really matters and I can just let go and be who I want to be. At last. I really want for this to be a space where other people can feel that as well. And for the record, your blog is as good a place as any for me to experience that, so thanks to you too:)<br /><br />Kate, I really like your thoughts about balance. Yes, it is good to strive to get to where you want to be, and no, it is not good to make that journey look effortless and flawless. What I love about your comments is that you often add another dimension to my thinking. Thanks:)<br /><br />Linda, 70, pfft! There is nothing to say that you can't keep on journeying away to wherever you want to be from wherever you are, no matter your age. So many older people seem to calcify their thinking and become afraid of change. You are not that person! I have the same regrets that you do, but I wonder whether it is not a function of age that gives us the wisdom to know certain things about ourselves which helps to set us free. In ancient myths the crone holds the key to the secret wisdom of the community. I am aiming for honourable cronehood..<br /><br />Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-83526200812375891742018-06-15T14:01:58.992+10:002018-06-15T14:01:58.992+10:00Oh, where to start? These posts (and the comments ...Oh, where to start? These posts (and the comments from your readers) strike so many chords with me. I admire so much the ways in which you are all searching for and finding your own ways to simpler and more satisfying ways to live. I can't help wishing that I had been a bit braver when I was younger, and a lot less anxious about measuring up to others' expectations - and my own, of course. The trouble is, I am now 70 years old, my children grown and flown, and with so much still to do "when I grow up"! But there is still plenty of fun to be had, and loads of new experiences - and now I have the unexpected pleasure of your blog. <br /><br />I've said it before, but you're providing such a valuable forum. I love the way you <br />write, and the way you are becoming ever more fearless in grabbing hold of your life. <br /><br />Linda in NZ Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-49863103485811264952018-06-15T08:20:35.851+10:002018-06-15T08:20:35.851+10:00So many great points Jo, this was a pleasure to re...So many great points Jo, this was a pleasure to read. <br />I have so many thoughts, but writing isn't the easiest way for me to express myself. I love your blog because it feels real to me, not overly curated, of course a little curation is great, just as we can't always live in the perfect world of social media I also think it's not great to always live in the less than how we would like it world. <br />I can see how hard it must be at times to share parts that you may want to share, but because of the intertwinedness of your life with your children isn't appropriate to do so. I think you do a great job of not sharing that which isn't yours to share.<br />I really think that for me, the problem is with me. I need to remember that not all that glitters is gold.<br />I shall be following the comments here, you have some great commenters.<br /><br />cheers Kate<br /><br />ps love your sink, and a kid in the kitchen baking trumps dishes on the bench every time.<br /><br /> simplelifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13397507005757292686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-65264019807508675612018-06-15T05:32:46.231+10:002018-06-15T05:32:46.231+10:00I am SO with you on "The Game". It makes...I am SO with you on "The Game". It makes competitors out of us all whether we want to compete or not. Social media is ALL about competing. It's a competitive world because if you don't have anyone to try to beat, you might not buy ALL of the things you need to be "in the race". The only way to avoid it is to abstain from social media or to pick your social media portions so that you get a healthy dose of reality thrown in to balance it all out. Enter "All the Blue Day" :) <br /><br />I truly, seriously LOVE your posts of late. Almost cathartic, always stoic, and every more honest and "real" and seriously bucking the system. Jo the anarchist? ;) They are full of possibilities, information, moments of "SQUEE!" excitement when we can think "I can DO/accomplish that!" and empowering and galvanising we middle aged life muddlers into action without the constant grinding need to add something more to our plates.<br /><br />Life does sometimes seem too hard. I have so many friends who are burned out and suffering depression and who are starting to suffer health conditions that are related to stress. Life seems to move at such a frenetic pace and we get rumbled along with it like seashells on an ever moving seabed and it often feels like the waves tumble us around and we don't have a lot of control over our lives. Taking back little simple things that we can do for ourselves, finding out that other people are not perfect and that most of us are falling short of the race and indeed, didn't even want to start running in the first place is blissful. Knowledge is power. Little snippets of "perfection" that we get on a repeated daily basis from the media do more damage than good and we likely need to extricate ourselves from believing the hype.<br /><br />But it's so hard not to believe that everyone else has a better, more productive, cleaner, healthier, more stable life than ours and you are SO right in saying that we were taught to "keep calm and carry on and put on your happy face" from an early age. It's a very hard habit to break. Your honesty with your posts is seriously refreshing Jo. You are giving us back permission to just be ourselves. Flawed, twitchy, irascible and imperfect but "ourselves". Than you :)Beznarf27https://www.blogger.com/profile/08174163185776580152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-88565282297960680952018-06-15T01:42:12.470+10:002018-06-15T01:42:12.470+10:00I love the conversations too. Yours is the blog I ...I love the conversations too. Yours is the blog I go back to to see if there are more comments.<br /><br />It's difficult, I wouldn't want to only show people the sordid scenes either (I do keep thinking about what you said about a blog!) It was quite nice that people thought I was together and accomplished after making the elderflower fritters as I could think maybe I was, for a moment, but I'd hate other people to feel worse because they think that's my life all the time.<br /><br />Lots to think about in your post, I'm sure I'll be back :-)Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05388175819512214533noreply@blogger.com