Inspiration towards health...

Paula is my inspiration in a lot of things bloggy. She is artsy and lovely and well, a very fun blogger. She takes amazing pictures. Paula recently said good-bye to her site meter, which is (to the unschooled) a doo-hickey that counts how many visitors you have total and how many per day, hour, etc. You can go in there and see who reads you (if you know their isp #, or their geographic locale).

If I was running a business, I can understand why it would be important for me to know when people read me, and from what part of the country/world. But this is just little old me, building a community online, and I'm tired of counting nickles and noses. (Well noses, actually, since this blog doesn't cost me any money to run or gain me any income in nickles or any other denomination.)

The whole reason I became Sarah Louise instead of (insert my real name here) was so that I couldn't be googled easily. The anonymity means I can be somewhat sure that crazy ex-boyfriends can't find me in three clicks. (Although that did happen my first year on the blog because someone had me on their blog roll with my real first and last name.) I shut the blog down for two days, but brought it back up because I didn't want to be afraid. That's a whole other story. In the end it was a good experience, as I had another bloggy friend coach me on how to say goodbye to the crazy ex-boyfriend forever. If there's one thing I've learned this past year, it's that saying goodbye with dignity is important.

This is my noodling place, where I doodle my life. It is not meant to be great literature, or a popularity contest. It is not about how many comments I get, or who de-lurks (Happy De-Lurking Week!)

This is for me. I find that it helps to have an audience--my writing improves if I am writing with an audience in mind. It forces me to frame things differently than "well, today I did x and y. Tomorrow I hope to do z." But to build a dynasty, to make the next million, to be a top blogger--nah, I'm just me. That's all I want to be. I want a place that I can visit (my blog) that connects me to my friends and their blogs.

I'm a pretty open book--but the SL element lets me be a little mysterious. (I said "a little.") I'm glad yins read me, and I hope you keep coming back. But just so you know, I'm not counting you anymore. If you want me to know you're reading, you'll have to comment. Or tell me (which you often do--I'm always pleased when I meet a reader in person or hear from someone else that someone I know has been enjoying reading me here.)

There's a saying in recovery circles that we are only as sick as our secrets. Well, my secret was that I was watching closely who was reading my blog. And obsessing about what I found. So, onward to health. I want 2007 to be about full disclosure and being healthy. It won't be FULL disclosure, as I'll still be Sarah Louise, but I hope to blog with a little more sanity.