Passions That Pay

I came across a post on site called citizen on the month in which people were volunteering to interview and be interviewed by fellow bloggers. As it looked like being a lot of fun I signed up and was paired up with a fabulous female blogger by the name of Darcey who writes in her blog called Strip Search City .

Here are the answers to my questions. Enjoy!

1. As a Life Passions Coach I just have to ask what is your passion?
- My passion is probably learning. It doesn’t matter what: learning about myself, random trivia, things specific to my career, etc. To me, all information gained is never wasted. I’ve found myself able to relate to so many different types of people simply because I can talk to them about so many different things, from music to dance, to art, to sports. Wikipedia is probably my best friend, and the place I can spend the most time – my curiosity seems to know no bounds.

2. How long have you been blogging? When did you decide to go into blogging? Was it a spontaneous decision, something you « had to » do, or did it take a long time before making the first step?
- My blogging adventure started my senior year of college, the Fall of 2001. I was in Auburn, Alabama, for the annual Georgia-Auburn rivalry game, when I met this hilarious guy at a party who gave me a card with his blog address on it. Shortly thereafter, I started my first blog incarnation and documented those precious last few months of college and on into my first year in the real world. Like most other things in my life, I jumped in head-first, just because I could.

3. What have you learnt about yourself through pole dancing? What fears have you had to overcome?
- I think the most valuable thing I’ve learned is that I don’t give myself (and my body) enough credit. I’m sexy and strong and beautiful, and I need to tell myself that as often as possible, as it is too easy to let this world (and it’s skewed body image) bring me down. My biggest fear, something I’m still working on, is self-confidence. I’m a “fake it till you make it” kind of girl, and even though my students may think I’m not afraid of prancing my not-size-2-self around in semi-revealing clothes, there are days that I’d rather wrap myself in long pants and hide. But being able to bring out the self-confidence in other girls has been a gift beyond measure.

4. How do you write your posts, do you have a favorite time during the day? Would it be in the morning, before your work day begins, or in the evening, when things cool down? Or maybe on weekends? Do you have a special ritual? Where do you get ideas, the material?
- Many of my posts are spontaneous. I generally write in the morning, when work is relatively quiet, though I will get an occasional bit of inspiration towards the end of the day. My weekends are generally computer-free, simply because I spend so much work-time in front of one, so it’s rare to have an update from me when I’m so busy doing other things. Most of my material comes from things I think about in the car on my way to work, simply because that’s what comes to mind most recently! It’s usually what happened over the weekend, or something amusing I came across online – generally light-hearted topics. Like my affinity for chick-lit books, I am to entertain.

5. If you could see yourself let’s say 5 years from now, would you still be blogging? Or are there any other ways to express your ideas, and your creativity, that you would like to explore?
– Five years from now? Well, there’s no telling. It’s entirely possible that I could be at the same domain, doing the same stuff, saying the same things. But I like to think that I’m a constantly evolving person, so if I am still blogging, hopefully by then I’ll have moved up to a much better designed and well-written site. As far as other ways of expression, I do work on some painting occasionally, and I wish I could spend more time with that than I do now (which is virtually none).

6. Are you trying to achieve something specific through your blog, or is it purely for fun? Do you derive a lot of enjoyment from it? Please tell us a little more about that aspect of blogging.
- My blog is purely for fun. It started as a way to entertain a few select number of close friends, those that I primarily knew in real life. And then it spread to friends they knew, and further on down the line until virtual strangers were reading my site. (And to all the lurkers out there, please say hi!) At one point, in the summer of 2005, blog traffic for me was at a high – I was posting on a very regular basis, and I feel like I had more to write about… or at least more time to do so.

7. Do you think that your blog reflects your true personality? Do you often re-read your posts, and perhaps re-write them? If you do, or if you don’t, could you state your reasons for that?
- I’m a very open person when it comes to my blog. There are a few things that I don’t dive into deep detail about, but other than that, if I think it, I write it. And yes, I’ll find myself going back to posts and re-reading them, but never re-writing them. If I did that, I think I would be changing a little bit of my history – whether it was 2 weeks ago or 2 years ago. My favorite posts to re-read are those on my first blog incarnation, which has since gone private, as it documented so many fun memories from my last year of college.

8. How do you share your blog? Do you advertise it to your friends, work colleagues, family, the world?
- I don’t really advertise my blog. It’s definitely a word-of-mouth thing and reciprocal commenting that gets people here. A couple of close (current) work colleagues know I have one, though I don’t think they’ve ever looked, and most of my friends have read the blog from time-to-time. As far as my family, I don’t think they’d know what to do if they started reading all of it…

9. Has your blog helped you get to know yourself better, become a better person, has it improved something within yourself? Has blogging helped you change in any way?
- I have learned that people will provide comments/”assvice” on anything you put out there. Even if the purpose of the post is just to vent – if that’s the case, turn your comments off. Unfortunately, it caused some misunderstandings with some former blog-friends, and it saddens me that we’re no longer speaking as a result of it (and some other issues). Also, I’ve had to toughen up my skin a bit. Because there are people out there that are just mean. Spiteful, rude and want nothing to do but upset others.
Around 2 years ago, it was brought to my attention that a blogger out there was upset that my blog was ranked higher than his. He was childish and immature, and decided to write a very venomous post about me and the things that I write about. The post I had up at the time was one about my concern for my grandparents both going in for surgery at the same time — and this guy, who I don’t know and who doesn’t know me, made fun of my situation… I have to say that I really did hurt my feelings, and I wanted to stop blogging for a long time after it. But, as stubborn as I am, I (thankfully) didn’t give in.

10. If you were to encourage someone to start a blog, what kind of arguments would you use? Would you encourage anyone to blog? Do you think that it is a useful activity to undertake?
- I think blogging is a great undertaking for people… who are prepared to put their life out on the internet. As much as I hate the idea of censorship, I do think there is need for self-censoring. That is, unless you truly have nothing to lose. With the way that technology is today, there are very few things that aren’t, or can’t become, public knowledge. No, I’m not 100% cloaked in mystery, but I’m also careful not to write about anything that I wouldn’t want my current (or any future) employer to see – thankfully, I work in an industry where blogging and self expression are expected and encouraged… so I’m safe for now.

Thank you Darcey for such wonderful answers and thank you Nadine for letting me borrow some of your questions