OK, here comes a rant. Why is it that unhappiness is so interesting?
Tolstoy once said “Happy families are all alike. Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Maybe it’s that difference that we find interesting, because it seems that the angrier, or unhappier bloggers are, the more people want to read them.
Or maybe it’s because reading about how badly other people are doing makes us feel better about what we’re doing ourselves. Our lives can’t be that bad if others are worse.
I could sit here and whinge about how my washing machine has broken down and the washing is piling up in the laundry. But the reality is that the washing is piling up in the laundry because teenagers are too lazy to wash their own clothes, and I figure they’re old enough to clean up after themselves so I won’t do it for them.
But that doesn’t make us an unhappy family – only one where the kids stink because they haven’t got clean clothes. In other words – just like everybody else.
This all started because I was reading an article in the NY Times about the “queen of the mommy bloggers”, so of course I went and checked out the blog. All I saw was a lot of rants, by somebody who styles herself as a raving lunatic, about how she doesn’t get enough sleep, doesn’t have time to do anything around the house, and can’t seem to cope with life.
Here’s a piece of unsolicited, gratuitous advice. Stop blogging and go to sleep.
Although with all the money she makes from the ads on her website she could probably afford somebody to write her blog for her, somebody else to clean her house and a nanny for her kids. Shit, she could probably afford somebody to sleep for her if she really wanted it.
But that wouldn’t be interesting reading would it.
Who wants to read about how well other people are doing? If you don’t, then stop here.
I love my life. I get up when I’m ready and can be at work in a few seconds. That’s the time it takes me to walk from my bedroom to the office.
But writing this blog doesn’t make me any money and it’s taking time away from working for my real clients, which means that I’ll have to work late tonight. On the other hand, I get the choice to work late tonight for clients because I want to write a personal blog now. I don’t have to compartmentalise into work-time, kids-time, my-time, etc. So I’m ahead.
Life’s full of trade offs, get used to it.
Frankly, I’m getting bored with everybody whinging and complaining all the time. We’ve got grumpy bloggers, grumpy old men and women on TV, the older generation complaining about the younger and vice versa.
Everybody take a deep breath and count to 10! Relax, chill, calm down.
And if that doesn’t work, try a glass of wine. Works wonders for me.
