{"id":7715,"date":"2014-09-30T05:30:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T12:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=7715"},"modified":"2014-09-30T06:09:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T13:09:13","slug":"writing-an-overly-examined-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=7715","title":{"rendered":"Writing an overly examined life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes I worry about thinking and overthinking. Not sometimes. Frequently. <\/p>\n<p>A friend told me not to ever quit reading and writing because he suspects it is what is keeping me sane. Uh sane-ish. My words, not his. The blog, he thinks, is helping me work things out. <\/p>\n<p>I worry sometimes that what writing actually does is get things all  stirred up that don&#8217;t need to be&#8211;the metaphorical sleeping dogs of my inner life. <\/p>\n<p>Then I thought that really, it&#8217;s a sort of meditation. I can touch on things and start to either let them go or deal with them. It&#8217;s a way of catching myself spinning on something I am fixating on and saying &#8220;Hey, Dumbass. You&#8217;re feeling this. Maybe you should figure out why&#8221; but instead of just randomly obsessing about it, I can move past it. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s constructive. Ugh. When did I become constructive???<br \/>\nI&#8217;m not sure I approve.<\/p>\n<p>And yes. That means he was right. It&#8217;s good for me.<br \/>\nYou might not think so, but it&#8217;s hard. Hard just doing it every day. Hard being honest. Hard thinking of what to say. Hard even looking at myself this closely. <\/p>\n<p>Lately my mantra has been if it&#8217;s uncomfortable then do it. If it&#8217;s uncomfortable, think about it. The blog is generally uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable at times. Maybe for the people who see themselves, too. I hope not. <\/p>\n<p>Mostly? It&#8217;s about me, even when I am fixated on other people or my reactions to them. <\/p>\n<p>Bear with me&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Aside:<br \/>\nA friend and I spent  the evening with another friend who had lost someone dear to her. We drank some beer and wine. Ate some food. Talked a lot. Laughed a lot. <\/p>\n<p>I am always amazed at how healing laughter is, and how resilient humans are. <\/p>\n<p>Or maybe Andi is just particularly amazing. <\/p>\n<p>Well. Yes. We know this is true. I mean, we went over to comfort a friend and who came home with art? Andi got overcooked eggs, and Paddy and I got beautiful glass. This does not seem like a fair exchange!<\/p>\n<p>I love you, Andi Mae!<\/p>\n<p>You too, Paddy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes I worry about thinking and overthinking. Not sometimes. Frequently. A friend told me not to ever quit reading and writing because he suspects it is what is keeping me sane. Uh sane-ish. My words, not his. The blog, he thinks, is helping me work things out. I worry sometimes that what writing actually does &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=7715\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Writing an overly examined life<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-20r","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9851,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9851","url_meta":{"origin":7715,"position":0},"title":"Melancholy baby","author":"Michelle","date":"April 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately it's been all melancholy all the time here at the blog. Why? I'm not feeling any more melancholy than usual. Which, OK, is maybe not an encouraging statement given my penchant for both bittersweet and melancholy.\u00a0 But. I'm feeling more hopeful and content than melancholy. One thing to clarify:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5659,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5659","url_meta":{"origin":7715,"position":1},"title":"800 words about being a weirdo","author":"Michelle","date":"May 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Dilemma: I don't want to be like everyone else, but I don't want people to think I am weird in a bad way. I still want them to like me. Except for the people who I think suck. Them, I don't care about. Is it weird to write a list\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/20140514-205008.jpg?fit=300%2C207&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9192,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9192","url_meta":{"origin":7715,"position":2},"title":"It&#8217;s all in the name&#8230;","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, online dating. How do I love the? Well, I do not love thee at all. There are useful elements to thee, however, which I shall not and cannot deny. For one thing, the user names provide me with endless entertainment. Sorry for all of you who have been getting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_2564.png?fit=499%2C1033&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1927,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1927","url_meta":{"origin":7715,"position":3},"title":"Hello, it&#8217;s me","author":"Michelle","date":"October 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm just wondering why I feel so all alone Why I'm a stranger in my own life -Sheryl Crow\/Every Day Is A Winding Road \u00a0 This is how it goes: One more failure to connect With so many how could I object? --Aimee Mann\/This Is How It Goes \u00a0 It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11371,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=11371","url_meta":{"origin":7715,"position":4},"title":"Blog as journal","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a calling card Maybe it will be a farewell note The poison fountain pen now requires the antidote And if I avert your gaze And I should become a shrinking flower Just punch me on the arm This could be our finest hour --Elvis Costello It will come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Random thoughts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Random thoughts","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1890,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1890","url_meta":{"origin":7715,"position":5},"title":"What are you looking at?!","author":"Michelle","date":"October 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"So I mentioned the blog to a co-worker today. He asked what I write about. I read him a couple of recent blog titles. He is now looking at me like I make a habit of eating the tender flesh of babies for lunch on a regular basis. It isn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}