Thursday 17 July 2008

Happiness Is ......

Happiness is, as the saying goes, different things to different people. I feel that it is a very long time since I could honestly say that I felt happy, but I am sure that as I come out of this period of depression that happiness is something that I will feel again. I suppose that is what keeps me going.

Since I have been writing this blog, a number of other bloggers have left me comments. Some have said that they liked a particular post, some of them have read all my posts and have added me to their blog list, and all of them have given me encouragement. One of them is Lemon whose blog can be found here. Lemon has left comments for me on several posts and has told me that she has added me to the list of those that she reads regularly, and that warms my heart a little. Actually, it warms my heart a lot, because after she had left what was, I think, her third comment, I sat down and read the whole of her blog. When I read her comments I knew very little about her, but having read her blog I realized that Lemon is a young lady for whom the compilation of her blog is a way of releasing some real frustrations that she feels because she is unwell, and nobody is absolutely sure what is wrong with her.

I'm sure that Lemon is happy sometimes, she does her best, but her illness makes her feel tired and she has lost much time at school and yesterday she made a post saying that she was sad and that her life seemed to be moving on without her. Having read her blog I felt that I had to leave her a comment; so I did. Lemon has been blogging for a little longer than me, and she is a very articulate young lady for her age, but no-one had ever commented on her blog before. When she read what I had written, I think it made her happy that someone had bothered to read her blog and taken the time to comment on it.

Some write their blogs as a form of diary of what they have been doing; some as a means of venting their frustration. Some hide behind a curtain of anonymity (for very good reasons). while others are quite open about who they are. But we all write our blogs in the hope that someone will read what we have written and find that they have something in common with us.

We are a strange group of people. We sit at our computers writing about all sorts of things, very often saying things that we would never dream of speaking out loud because we are too shy, or frightened to let others know what we are thinking. But the fact that we can remain relatively anonymous behind our blog names means that we can stand up and be counted over things that matter to us. The list of blogs that I read regularly grows daily as I find new ones that I may find interesting, and I am starting to make more comments on them as the days go by.

In this post
I said how nice it is to be read. It is nice, but it can also start to bring happiness to one who is usually so down through no fault of their own.

7 comments:

Lemon said...

:)
I'm not feeling very articulate at the moment - I don't know what to say! Thank you so much for your kind words, it really does mean a lot - especially from someone who has so many of her own troubles to worry about - it's so lovely of you.

madsadgirl said...

Lemon, you deserve it. Keep blogging and I will keep reading, and if there is anything that I think that I can help you with I will let you know. By the way, I forgot to ask what studying you had done with the OU, that wonderful institution that keeps people like us sane.

Lemon said...

Thank you so much, you really are very kind :)

I'm just doing a short course in Human Health and Genetics - depending on how things go nearer the time I might start some of the courses for the Life Sciences degree/diploma, although hopefully I'll be well enough to return to school before I actually get the qualification. It really does help to have some mental stimulation, doesn't it? I never thought I'd actually want to do "schoolwork" in my spare time, but I really love it. It makes me feel less useless. What about you? What are you studying?

madsadgirl said...

I have an open BSc(Hons), and I am two-thirds of the way to a BA(Hons) in Humanities mainly focussing on the History of Science, Medicine and Technology. At the present time I am doing the Openings course Starting with Psychology, which is really just to fill in time until my next 60-pointer starts in October. I think I may have said in one of my posts that I have been having problems writing part of my first TMA for this course, although I really shouldn't because I have also done some studying at Master's level which I had to give up because of having a really bad time with the depression. The October course is the new Arts Foundation Course; I already have two Level 2 and two Level 3 course towards the degree and I am going to finish it off with A215 Creative Writing, so this blog is quite good practice for that.

L said...

Just wanted to let you know that you've got yourself another reader :) Take care.

madsadgirl said...

Lindsay

Thanks so much, it's nice to have you here and I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Lemon said...

Awesome - I really wanted to have a go at the Creative Writing course - it looks so fun, and I love writing. I may still have a go at it, although a biology based one is more useful for me.