Recording Our Lives: The Myriad Ways

In the course of my 3-odd years of being part of this blockchain based blogging and content community, one of the common threads I keep encountering is this notion that the Steem blockchain is somehow permanent, so whatever we publish here will always be here.

Having been part of dozens that all went away for one reason or another, this idea of permanence is very appealing, even though I also subscribe to the greater "cosmic" concept of impermanence.

Whereas this notion of "immutability" might be open to debate — depending on your perspective — I found myself thinking about that, this morning.

One of the things writers (in the olden days "scribes") tend to do is record things.

Recording changing seasons?

But What Do We Record?

But recording things is a really broad concept. What does it mean? What does it mean, to you? What does it mean, to anyone? And why do we document? Is it the documentation of our own lives? The documentation of the world around us? The documentation of feelings and experiences?

There are probably as many opinions about what matters as there are people walking around.

Over the past few months, I find that I have increasingly settled into maintaining this blog as a more or less random documentation of life, thoughts, my life and odd observations on the human condition.

In a sense, this strange form of "free-association creative writing" represents who I am and how life seems to unfold.

Recording a back yard visitor?

In Words and Pictures...

As I said, there are probably as many ways to do things as there are people. As part of my observations, I also observe that Mrs. Denmarkguy — who's actually a much better and more accomplished writer than I — mostly documents What Matters* through images... a continuous series of snapshots of moments; from perfectly cooked pies to photos of the Moon, eclipsed.

I thought about that, and realized that my own posts here are always illustrated with my own images of my surroundings; what I see around me that I feel is worth documenting and sharing.

Of the some 5000+ images that have appeared in my posts, my guess is that less than 1% were not personally taken by me. And so... even though these images are primarily there to break up large blocks of text, they are also part of the documentation process.

Recording nature's beauty?

For Whose Benefit....?

I suppose social commentators might rush to the conclusion that all of this is merely the manifestation of a profoundly narcissistic and self-involved time in our history.

Why document your life?

Aside from the temptation to turn the above assertion on its head by labeling every known historian narcissistic, we humans have always documented our lives, since the very first scratchings on the walls of our caves recorded a successful hunt.

"Importance" and actual "narcissism" may be distant cousins, but they are definitely not the same thing!

Recording a furry friend who is no longer with us?

Simply consider the fact that we look at photo albums of the lives of our great-grandparents in their youth, thinking that it is fascinating to have this glimpse into a different time... seldom — if ever — is our inner dialogue "lordy, aren't THEY self-important, taking all those pictures!"

No, they simply were documenting their own lives... perhaps for their own memories in their golden years; perhaps for future generations.

Final Thought: What We Enjoy...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I was an active blogger in various very early blogging communities.

Before anyone came up with any canned ideas about how we should blog and how to write for success, simple observation would soon reveal that the most popular and well-read tended to be the ones that focused primarily on commentary and reflection on individual lives and the human condition.

Sure, it's nice to have recipes, or instructions for knitting, or automotive repair — if that's what you're looking for — but on the whole, people gravitate towards relatable content, when they are not reading with a specific purpose. Just like the news, we are drawn to human stories we somehow relate to, and empathize with.

Recording the feeling and scent of summer?

And perhaps... that is exactly why recording our lives can be such a vitally important part of not only our existence, but our overall well-being: On some level, somewhere, some person feels a little less alone for having found our words...

And that's a good thing.

Thanks for reading!

(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)

Do YOU "record" your life? Are you consciously aware of wanting to "keep a record?" Or is it not important yo you? Do you ever wonder what you share today will tell the future about you? Is that the impression you hope/want to leave? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 191205 12:23 PST
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