Reconnecting with the world

I have been on WordPress now for about a week I think, and due to my present fairly free and open schedule I have been able to spend a lot of time exploring the site and reading through different peoples blog posts and pages.

It’s been amazing, eye-opening and reassuring to read about peoples different takes on life, love and everything in between; what it’s all about, and what they dream about and fear most in this world.

It has re immersed me in life, and re immersed me in the fantastic variation of life and perception that exists, and the kaleidoscopic “version of events” that that produces.

So many different people, each with a different voice; the multifarious nature of existence and of personality- we are all beautiful and unique snowflakes, and no two peoples points of view are exactly the same.

We all see the colour purple slightly differently, and we all have a different messages to share.

This has been satisfying on an emotional level, reassuring and encouraging for me to remember how different all the people outside my front door are, and how fascinating it is to talk to a person who is so different from me, and so far removed from all of my hang-ups and issues.

This has been so significant for me. I suffer from schizophrenia, and some of my symptoms can make me feel pretty isolated, and pretty dam desperate if I’m completely honest. I always pick myself up, dust myself off and carry on, but there are moments when I feel so incredibly disconnected from the rest of the world and the people who seem to be able to function well at all times.

Reading through different peoples posts has made me realise that I am not alone in feeling this way, and that there are so many other people out there struggling with their own issues, troubles, and their own metaphorical demons.

There are so many people suffering, in so many different ways- but via WordPress (and I guess the internet in general) this can actually work to bring people together, turning suffering around from being only a source of pain, into a pathway towards uniting people and thus overcoming adversity.

This promotes peace, and acceptance, both of ourselves with all our flaws and failings, and other people with exactly the same self-perceived and externally defined weaknesses.

It must be true that all people want to be listened to and ultimately understood; but this can be so difficult when somebody elses experiences, and thus their very sense of perception is so very different to our own. How can we understand what we do not know ourselves?  What we have not experienced ourselves?

I maybe think that the first step is to acknowledge and accept the fact that other people are fundamentally different to you, other people have different points of view and frame of reference. Once you have accepted that, and are willing, open and eager to try to understand where they are viewing the world from, and relate to that on any level that you can- then you can then start listening to them.

This is where sites like WordPress are so massively invaluable! You have have the stories of people from different countries, religions, race, sex, sexual orientation, age, background- I could go on… WordPress allows everybody to tell their own story, and to put across their own point of view; their own experience of this crazy world we live in.

It is then, when you start reading about other peoples different lives and beliefs, that you can find similarities, echoes of thought processes you have had, feelings that have flitted through your self. You start to find shared experience, opinion and belief: and this is so positive and life-affirming, because you realise that you are not alone in this world.

In the last week so this has been so refreshing for me, and so positive!.

I used to use sites such as WordPress years ago, precursors to social media such as OpenDiary, which was my main haunt. Back then I was very used to the notion of sharing your brightest and darkest moments with the vast space of the ether, and then waiting for people on the other side to hear your echoing voice and respond to it. It felt very normal to me then.

I haven’t used sites such as this for years, and now, many years later, I am remembering how brilliant they are; what a sense of community and support you can construct for yourself, simply by reading through other peoples thoughts, news, musings and confessions.

No two people’s impressions are the same, no two people see the world in exactly the same way: and how fascinating is this? How fascinating is it to know that the person you are standing next to may see their reds a little brighter, but their silvers slightly softer- but they are still, ultimately, seeing red and silver.

Here writers are encouraged to be open, honest and exploratory: to explore the different facets of their perception, experiences and feelings, and then connect to other people who are doing the same.

Writers are encouraged to affirm one anothers impressions, to support one anothers points of view.

If only the world could be more like WordPress; or like the experience that I have had of WordPress so far.. I realise how gushing and earnest this sounds, and I am sure trolls abound here as much as anywhere else on the internet; but if only the world could be more like the positive aspects of this site that I have come into contact with so far.

If people stopped and really listened to one another before forming judgements and acting upon them. If people really stopped to consider where another person might be coming from, and tried to understand that point of view before getting angry, or lashing out in whatever way, because it does not instantly correlate with their own understandings.

I guess it is unfortunately not that easy, when you do not have a monitor in front of you to distance you from the rush, the pace, the intensity of life.

I have got so much out of this last week, this chance to reconnect with the world of people that exists just beyond my open door, and re-experience old feelings of connection and inclusion.

WordPress is an awesome platform for sharing words, worlds, opinions and impressions, and I look forward to using it a lot more, and hearing the many various strains of so many different voices; so many different experiences.

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