Note from Lapland's recent post on anal sex (yes, you did read that right) got me thinking.
No, not about that, but about the amount I disclose on my own blog, the topics I write about, and the fact that it seems very tame in comparison.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for posts like Heather's. I think writing about topics that many people shy away from is great. Dad Who Writes also wrote an interesting post last month on the topic of sex that was very well received and helpful to many.
It is helpful for these issues to be discussed in the blogopshere, and why not? If they can't be discussed in this relatively anonymous environment, then where can they? And if others don't want to read them, they can simply click away.
My point is that, for me, there are so many subjects I don't go near on my blog and topics I would not touch. I read with great interest what other bloggers disclose in their posts and I am particularly interested in ones I can relate to, like those written by other single parents.
I admire writers like Ian (aka Single Parent Dad) and My Shitty Twenties and appreciate their openness and honesty when they talk of their own personal experiences and how they have come to be single parents. Yet I am not prepared to explain my own circumstances, and that will not change.
I have disclosed my own personal experiences of anorexia, yet never before have I used the A-word in a blog post. Inspired by posts from Linda (You've Got Your Hands Full) and Sian (Yummy Mummy Tips), I have written about my experiences of depression and expressed my views on skinny mummies. Then I have quickly covered up these posts with silly, lighthearted ones so that the post is not sitting at the top of a my homepage for days on end and attention is quickly diverted away.
I say very little about my parents although it is clear from NotSupermum's recent post 'Not a Good Enough Daughter' that blogging about family situations can produce a vast array of warm and supportive comments. My parents do not know that I write a blog, I don't know if they would really understand the concept of blogging.
In fact, given that I am a very private person, I often wonder why I write a blog at all. I don't disclose a lot to people in the real world, and the same seems to be the case in the virtual world. But I do enjoy it and I love the blogging community and connecting with others. And I am slightly addicted to Twitter.
So this is me and this is all you are getting from me, I'm afraid. I give what I can, I keep back what I can't and I wonder if that is enough.
