Taking Back My Life

Yesterday I blogged about disconnecting, and today I couldn’t help but contemplate the issue. Last month here at Pranalife HQ, we got up close and personal and mentioned the unmentionable. With our Sexless in September challenge, suddenly our sex-lives (or lack there of) became public domain. We did it voluntarily and deliberately to draw some attention to the topic, to create some chatter, and maybe get people thinking. It was a great challenge, and one I’m glad I participated in. Oddly enough, I think I’ve learned more about bramacharya after ending the challenge, but that actually doesn’t surprise me.

What does surprise me, though, is one of the outcomes of this challenge and maybe just the nature of internet interactions as a whole. People I may have spent time with once or twice, those I barely knew, and some I’ve only really talked to online were suddenly perfectly comfortable with discussing my personal life. It was bizarre. Topics, questions and comments that would likely not be heard of in face-to-face conversation were completely fair game through the security of the internet.

I fully anticipated some discussions regarding the challenge to arise, maybe a debate or two about celibacy vs human nature, perhaps the arguments of monogamy and saving oneself, questions about yogi’s and their take on bramacharya. What I wasn’t really expecting was just how personal it was going to get. And that may be my own naivete, which I fully expect responsibility for, and maybe should have navigated those conversations better. But it brings up an interesting question about cyber-worlds and just how comfortable we are discussing, sharing, and digging into things we wouldn’t dare explore in “real life”. Is it all bad? I don’t think so, but it does need it’s limits like anything else.

I am going to keep blogging, because I think it’s extremely valuable to bring up these sorts of discussions and topics. I also think it’s important that we use the internet as a tool for communication, research (and time wasting), while learning to navigate around it’s absolutely public nature and the (slightly) heightened sense of invincibility and anonymity it gives us.

That being said, my personal life will remain just that, personal. If you need to hear about it, odds are you will. If you want to chat, give me a call, send me an email, or swing by to visit. If you don’t have the guts to ask me in person, chances are, you shouldn’t be asking. Or you just need a little more courage. I promise I don’t bite…. hard.

Fuzz for thought.

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