The last piece of advice i didn't follow
This blogpost title was traded to me by Pablo Enoc. If you wanna know more about the how/why of that, you can read this post i made that started the whole thing.
Honestly, I had to think a bit about this one - I don't really get that much advice. But, there is one thing that i do get told over and over that i never really act on. That I'm too quiet. I don't talk enough. Which, if you just read my blog might come as a surprise to you.
Because, you know, I talk a lot on here, and generally don a considerably more confident persona. IRL though... Not so much. I tend to be the kind of person that just blends into the background, never saying much. I try my best not to get into any arguments, and am generally very non-confrontational.
Basically, the opposite of what I'm like on here. What you get on here is essentially an idealized version of me, i suppose. I feel like that's the case for most online presences - even the people trying their hardest to 'be authentic' still very much are wearing a mask of some sort.
Well, depending on how you look at it i guess. There's definitely a big divide between how i talk and present myself here and how i do irl, but i do think the version of myself on here is a lot more... Well, me. I want to close that rift by becoming more of that 'authentic' version of myself that i present myself as on here, not by having this place reflect what I'm like irl.
Still, it's a lot easier to say than to do that. On here, i can just sort of say stuff without needing to worry about the reception - When it gets too much i just stop checking bearblog for a while. I've done that a couple times before - not due to negative reception, i haven't really had any so far - but because I posted something I was afraid would be received negatively. So, yeah. I do want to try and be more vocal, to express myself. But you know. Easier said than done.
Honestly, i generally tend not to follow 'life advice' like this. Not that i get given much, i keep to myself usually (as i just explained). Honestly, i think to some extent, it's kind of useless? Not that there's no good life advice, just that this sort of thing i something you just kind of have to internalize. You have to experience it yourself to really 'get' it. You can know something is good for you on a rational level, but it takes far more time and effort to actually know it. To practice that thing. Giving advice is easy, following through on it? Not so much. That's why i generally try to avoid advice for anything I'm learning once I've gotten down the basics. Because most things you get better at by just doing them - there's not really any shortcuts. The bottleneck to me improving my life isn't getting more advice, it's having the courage to do things i already know i should be doing. Just reading up on more and more advice and "one weird trick" tends to slow you down more than it helps. There's often this tendency we have to stop doing something in favor of just consuming more and more advice. Because it feels productive. Anyways, that's the piece of advice i didn't follow: "you should talk more". Hopefully, eventually, I'll be able to say i did.