A Thank You Note to the Hive Mind

As much as we tend to joke about the "hive mind" when it comes to the internet, I've begun to take it seriously. Especially when all the while I've been absent from regular blogging, the bloggers I read regularly are all writing as if they've been inside my head the entire time I've been up a ladder (which has been a lot lately).

While I've been thinking about the dangers of perfectionism, they've been writing about it. And about comparing ourselves to impossible standards. And about all those difficult, emotional decisions we make about how we own the life we have and the place in which it unfolds.

Rita at This Sorta Old Life posted about when blogging and home ownership, both, become complicated just like any long-term relationship does, and then later about the keeping-up-with-the Jones' and self-esteem pitfalls of Pinterest. Meryl over at Picardy Project posted about finding the sometimes very fine balance between inspiration and pressure on the internet; and of course, many of us have been watching and talking about the departure of the lovely Petersiks from blogging over at Young House Love.

It's a good thing. It's like we're all having a conversation about what's valuable in our home life, in writing, and in sharing our lives with others. All of these bloggers, and I'd like to include myself in that bunch if I can, have realized that while our physical world has weight in our psyches and it's the reason we pick up those paintbrushes and power tools, so much of how we create and live in our homes is much bigger than that. It's complicated, and it's hard. And I'm so grateful to have met, through the magic of the internet, bloggers who have the courage to wrestle with that idea.

I'd also like to thank them for keeping me company in my own version of not-so-perfect reality. Over here at On the Doorstep, my version of "real" hasn't been all that pretty, completely lacking in crisp chevron stripes or trendy brass accents, and even, really, pictures. It's been more about jumbled piles of hand tools and uh.........swearing. There has been some swearing.

But there has also been some progress and some set-backs, some decisions made, some road trips, and some lovely, messy, loud meals around the kitchen table. And a feeling that I need to get back to writing about my life, just to make some sense of it.