Today I took a walk on the wild side, threw caution to the wind, and (add here your choice of clichés about doing something risky and potentially foolish.) In my case, foolish. I drank a can of Coke at around 2 p.m. Wowwwww, you say, shaking your head at me. Now you’ve gone and done it. Indeed. I do not drink caffeinated beverages that late in the day because no matter how tired I might be earlier, as the day gets longer and the hour later that caffeine will kick in. Even now I can feel myself getting more instead of less wakeful. We’ll see what happens; an hour ago I was wiped out, but am feeling perkier at a time when I am usually half asleep, struggling to stay awake long enough to write as coherently as possible. Usually, I’ll be awake exactly twelve hours after I’ve consumed the soda, in which case I’ll conceivably be awake at 2 a.m. Pray it ain’t so. My alarm rings at 5:39 a.m. (don’t ask) and I can tell you from experience that three and a half hours of sleep is not sufficient for an adult over 50. So I’m trying to psych my mind into being tired, even as I feel increasingly energized.
I am grateful this evening, wakefulness notwithstanding, for the unexpected blessing that is social media–Facebook and WordPress in particular. WordPress, because it is the site where I host this blog, though I am grateful for all such sites that provide a free space for writers and philosophers and all kinds of folk to take their ideas literally around the world. While I have no sure evidence that this blog routinely makes it around the world, I happen to know that some friends and colleagues in Europe have read it at least once and perhaps others have as well. And I am grateful for Facebook for the way it has connected and reconnected me with friends, family, acquaintances, and an odd assortment of other folks who for one reason or another want to be my “friend.” Only in a few cases does it make me nervous to have such a wide assortment of people on my “friends list,” but for the most part I post mostly positive things–like this blog–and not things I am not prepared to share with the whole world.
I am happy to have been reunited with old family friends with whom I hadn’t spoken much but have been able to connect more closely through social media than we had in several years any other way. I can measure in decades how long it’s been since I’ve spoken to some folks, and yet we are in frequent communication via social media. Cousins and family members I’ve yet to meet in person I’ve already “met” virtually, and while virtual, disembodied connection does not compare with meeting people face to face, it can actually make the in-person meeting easier for having been in communication well beforehand. And while virtual friends are no substitute for the actual living physical presence of other human beings and we all need to be sure that we’re out there in the real world interacting with real people, social media provides us with the opportunity to connect with all kinds of people, all over the world, day or night. That is pretty remarkable when you stop to think about it.
So in a few minutes I’m going to complete this blog, flip over to Facebook and post the link to it. People will read and comment on and/or “like” it. I am grateful and honored to be here sharing my heart about ideas connected to this notion of gratitude. Use your social media to share it or the things you’re grateful for in your life. Let’s spread the love!
