I'm actually up right now because I'm taking my own advise (rare) and blogging because I don't, my mind will turn off until I do. I told a friend of mine, Shawn, that if he felt like blogging, even though it was 4 am, that he should do so...Well, it's 5:30am...and it's time to write.
Since I was young, I talked a lot. I STILL talk a lot! Social networking has been right up my alley because I feel like it is perfect for me! I get to talk a lot...and write a lot...and express a lot...and that makes me feel good. I don't even know who is listening 99 times out of 100. Sometimes, I gotta pull teeth to see what someone thought about what I wrote or something I said. I'm not looking for endorsement or a pat on the back but it's just nice to know that people read it. Twitter has been amazing for me because of how many conversations it induces...sometimes MONTHS after a tweet! I literally saw a guest of mine that I hadn't seen in months and as I was walking him in, he was talking about my tweets about Hannah! He said the most amazing things and I had NO way of even seeing it coming or knowing that he was paying attention!
I've been in a constant struggle between over-communication and under-communication for all my life but I'm writing this blog to say that I fully endorse OVER COMMUNICATION 100% and recommend it for all human beings. We have enough baggage and enough things weighing us down, isn't it nice to get things off of your chest? Isn't it nicer to TRULY heal after being wounded than it is to conceal a wound and let it fester to the point where is DEMANDS your attention? It's painful to clean a cut...but it's the only way to allow the body to properly repair itself. (So many lessons are right in front of our face.)
Some of the arguments against my sentiments have come from people that have criticized me for talking to ANYONE about ANYTHING. I remember a friend in Florida telling me that I was so weird for having a conversation with a complete stranger for hours. Well, I am weird...and that stranger ended up having a lot of insight for my weird ass. I guess the way I see it is that you never really know who has that missing piece for you. You never know who around you is there for a bigger reason than to just "be around".
I will admit that I have used a "better" filter for who I open up to and share some things because as time has gone on, I've been burned...and people I trusted with my words used them to hurt me or mis-handled my trust. Who knows...maybe something I blog about will one day come back to haunt me later in life...who cares. I would rather over-communicate.
Another argument that I hear is that "I don't want to bother anyone with my problems". My answer to that is simply, "you don't think it bothers people when you bury your issue until it explodes all of the place and leaves numerous casualties in it's wake? You don't think that making yourself one of those casualties will affect SOMEONE?"
I don't even think that over-communication is just talking about things that bother you either...that's just a little piece of it. It's sad that people don't even compliment each other because of the anticipation of what that person may have gotten from it. It's a compliment...that should be positive! I have said Hello to people on the street with no response so many times that it's really very sad. I didn't think it was over-communication but I guess somewhere it became that...I won't stop saying Hello...matter of fact, I'm going to get better about it because I think that I have become a little jaded and slacked off a bit. Even if they don't respond, they'll hear me. Maybe if they hear me, they'll say hello next time to someone else.
I'm going to keep over communicating because who knows when I have something that some one's supposed to hear and vice versa. The next blog...LISTENING...that's even harder!! :)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Why I Tweet by @JoelDavidBarnes
3 am and it's time to write.
Why do I tweet? That is a very easy question for me to answer because I exist in my own head but I want to answer that for the world. I know where and why most things that bounce around in my head come from and why they come out. I try to anticipate reading my tweets. I have rules that I follow strictly. I try to make sure that my voice doesn't get distorted or jumbled in the letters and words that appear on the computer or on someones phone. I am very careful with what I say and how...I think and rethink a tweet over and over again sometimes and imagine as many different types of people that could read that message and how they could interpret it. I think through the conversations that the tweet could create amongst friends, lovers, co-workers, family, etc. I think about individual people sometimes when I tweet. I think about the fact that my tweet maybe read 10 years from now or even longer. I don't think or write to be "politically correct" so to speak but it generally ends up being pretty close because my values align with similar morals. I think about whether my mother, daughter, family, girlfriend and friends would be proud of me for that particular message or thought. I think about making people laugh. I think about making them think. I think about the ONE person that was supposed to read that Tweet and did...and it was right on time.
But WHY??? Why the heck do I Tweet you say? Why is there an update to my Facebook page SO MANY times a day (aside from the fact that it it's linked from my Twitter account)? How the heck do I constantly think about doing it?
I LOVE people.
In a nutshell, that's it! I love reaching out to people. I love talking to people. I love sharing pieces of myself with people. You never know who's listening. You never know who thinks or has thought about that exact same thought. When you strike that nerve in a person, you have made a connection. I love that connection. I love that I'm able to connect with so many people and so many people are able to connect with so many other people.
People have questioned me as to why I tweet so much and how I am so random. I am sure that people talk about what I do behind my back or think that I'm TOO random or annoying. That's totally cool with me. I have never asked to be understood or heard by everyone. I learned at a very young age that I will not be able to connect with everyone no matter how much I would like to. Instead, I would rather connect with people who want to connect back.
I Tweet because I'm the GM of a nightclub
TRUST me...I know that sometimes I spit off 10 tweets an hour because I'm trying to promote my business or an event or generate buzz around Le Passage. Sorry if you follow me and that's annoys you but it's my job. It's not my job to Tweet about Le Passage necessarily but I have taken the ownership upon myself to make sure that the staff and owners that I represent are able to count on me to make them money. I am responsible for families, friends, my little girl and myself. Twitter is a tool that I can use to take care of my work family as well as my own family. I can give real-time updates on what's going on in an EXTREMELY competitive and fickle business.
I Tweet to make people laugh
It's always been one of my favorite things to do to make someone laugh. I think it actually makes me feel better than the person laughing! I love laughter because it's happiness incarnated. It's happiness manifested and real. It's my firm belief that if more people laughed in the world more often, the world would actually be a better place.
I Tweet to share Hannah with the world
More often than not, people who follow me comment on how cute my daughter Hannah is or something that she did or said was great. Aside from being a proud papa, this is very special to me because of what radiates out of people when they talk to me about this. It's the same amazingly good energy that I initially saw in Hannah. It's pure and it's good. It's astounding to me because it's CLEARLY the same exact energy. A perfect example is a Tweet I sent a month or so ago about when Hannah bumped her head on the couch arm. She whined a bit, turned around and looked at the couch angrily. She proceeded to slap the arm of the couch and say "BAD...don't hurt my Hannah Bear!" I died laughing and I even had tears in my eyes as I sent the tweet out. So many people have come up to me and mentioned that story. It's so awesome to see the same energy come out of them that I had initially felt. As selfish as I want to be with Hannah, I feel like she's too good to horde all to myself. The things I feel for her, the smile that she gives me, the way she runs to me when I pick her up, the way she grabs my face and goes, "Daddy, I love you SOOO much", the way she hugs my big neck with her little arms...all of it I wish for everyone in the world. It's too amazing to keep all for me...
The rules that I follow when I tweet are simple.
- #1 RULE - Stay POSITIVE!
- DON'T CURSE - You never know who's reading your Tweet and I feel like profanity weakens your positive voice.
- STAY RANDOM - I never want people to see my name in a Twitter timeline and think that they know what I am going to say. I don't want to ever be predictable because life IS NOT predictable. I was talking to my friend the other day about my "Twitter voice" and the totally random way that I Tweet. I told him that I AM everything that I tweet about in that random Hodge-podge of an order and that's what I'll stay true to. I'll wake up, greet the world, go to meeting at work, think about a funny thing that Hannah did, give a shout out to my Mommy, ask a random question, promote an event, ReTweet something funny that someone else said, send out a picture of Hannah, say hi to a friend and promote something else.......all in a half hour. Remember, I WANT to connect with people because I LOVE people. I think that I'm on this earth in order to do that. Why? I'll save that for another blog...
Why do I tweet? That is a very easy question for me to answer because I exist in my own head but I want to answer that for the world. I know where and why most things that bounce around in my head come from and why they come out. I try to anticipate reading my tweets. I have rules that I follow strictly. I try to make sure that my voice doesn't get distorted or jumbled in the letters and words that appear on the computer or on someones phone. I am very careful with what I say and how...I think and rethink a tweet over and over again sometimes and imagine as many different types of people that could read that message and how they could interpret it. I think through the conversations that the tweet could create amongst friends, lovers, co-workers, family, etc. I think about individual people sometimes when I tweet. I think about the fact that my tweet maybe read 10 years from now or even longer. I don't think or write to be "politically correct" so to speak but it generally ends up being pretty close because my values align with similar morals. I think about whether my mother, daughter, family, girlfriend and friends would be proud of me for that particular message or thought. I think about making people laugh. I think about making them think. I think about the ONE person that was supposed to read that Tweet and did...and it was right on time.
But WHY??? Why the heck do I Tweet you say? Why is there an update to my Facebook page SO MANY times a day (aside from the fact that it it's linked from my Twitter account)? How the heck do I constantly think about doing it?
I LOVE people.
In a nutshell, that's it! I love reaching out to people. I love talking to people. I love sharing pieces of myself with people. You never know who's listening. You never know who thinks or has thought about that exact same thought. When you strike that nerve in a person, you have made a connection. I love that connection. I love that I'm able to connect with so many people and so many people are able to connect with so many other people.
People have questioned me as to why I tweet so much and how I am so random. I am sure that people talk about what I do behind my back or think that I'm TOO random or annoying. That's totally cool with me. I have never asked to be understood or heard by everyone. I learned at a very young age that I will not be able to connect with everyone no matter how much I would like to. Instead, I would rather connect with people who want to connect back.
I Tweet because I'm the GM of a nightclub
TRUST me...I know that sometimes I spit off 10 tweets an hour because I'm trying to promote my business or an event or generate buzz around Le Passage. Sorry if you follow me and that's annoys you but it's my job. It's not my job to Tweet about Le Passage necessarily but I have taken the ownership upon myself to make sure that the staff and owners that I represent are able to count on me to make them money. I am responsible for families, friends, my little girl and myself. Twitter is a tool that I can use to take care of my work family as well as my own family. I can give real-time updates on what's going on in an EXTREMELY competitive and fickle business.
I Tweet to make people laugh
It's always been one of my favorite things to do to make someone laugh. I think it actually makes me feel better than the person laughing! I love laughter because it's happiness incarnated. It's happiness manifested and real. It's my firm belief that if more people laughed in the world more often, the world would actually be a better place.
I Tweet to motivate thought
I don't need to force my own beliefs on someone but I need to force thought. Personally, I believe that it's God who blesses me daily and protects my loved ones and provides for me. Ultimately I pray that everyone in the world could know the peace that I know because of my faith but I also recognize that force feeding often leads to regurgitation. I'd rather digestion. I know that I am supposed to invoke thought...the answer is out there but it can't be found without first getting turned on to it's existence.
I Tweet to share Hannah with the world
More often than not, people who follow me comment on how cute my daughter Hannah is or something that she did or said was great. Aside from being a proud papa, this is very special to me because of what radiates out of people when they talk to me about this. It's the same amazingly good energy that I initially saw in Hannah. It's pure and it's good. It's astounding to me because it's CLEARLY the same exact energy. A perfect example is a Tweet I sent a month or so ago about when Hannah bumped her head on the couch arm. She whined a bit, turned around and looked at the couch angrily. She proceeded to slap the arm of the couch and say "BAD...don't hurt my Hannah Bear!" I died laughing and I even had tears in my eyes as I sent the tweet out. So many people have come up to me and mentioned that story. It's so awesome to see the same energy come out of them that I had initially felt. As selfish as I want to be with Hannah, I feel like she's too good to horde all to myself. The things I feel for her, the smile that she gives me, the way she runs to me when I pick her up, the way she grabs my face and goes, "Daddy, I love you SOOO much", the way she hugs my big neck with her little arms...all of it I wish for everyone in the world. It's too amazing to keep all for me...
The rules that I follow when I tweet are simple.
- #1 RULE - Stay POSITIVE!
- DON'T CURSE - You never know who's reading your Tweet and I feel like profanity weakens your positive voice.
- STAY RANDOM - I never want people to see my name in a Twitter timeline and think that they know what I am going to say. I don't want to ever be predictable because life IS NOT predictable. I was talking to my friend the other day about my "Twitter voice" and the totally random way that I Tweet. I told him that I AM everything that I tweet about in that random Hodge-podge of an order and that's what I'll stay true to. I'll wake up, greet the world, go to meeting at work, think about a funny thing that Hannah did, give a shout out to my Mommy, ask a random question, promote an event, ReTweet something funny that someone else said, send out a picture of Hannah, say hi to a friend and promote something else.......all in a half hour. Remember, I WANT to connect with people because I LOVE people. I think that I'm on this earth in order to do that. Why? I'll save that for another blog...
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