{"id":4967,"date":"2013-07-07T13:15:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-07T18:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=4967"},"modified":"2013-07-07T13:15:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T18:15:39","slug":"the-weight-of-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2013\/07\/07\/the-weight-of-words\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weight of Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scale\"I’m not saying this is the last Lifehacker article I’ll ever read<\/a>, but I find it funny that it’s the last article I read before removing Lifehacker from my blog reader. (The article is about clutter, and for me, Lifehacker in my blog reader has become clutter.) It’s not that I have anything against Lifehacker, but unless you keep up with it throughout the day at work (you know, when you should be working<\/em>), it becomes a cluttered pile of bits at the end of the day. (And the weeks I don’t look at my blog reader? It becomes a mountain <\/em>that ends up deleted unread!)<\/p>\n

They need a life hack for keeping up with all the life hacks!<\/p>\n

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin imperdiet lacinia dui a vulputate. Nullam sagittis orci ut orci gravida, ac feugiat eros vehicula. Proin sagittis ipsum dui, sit amet sollicitudin nunc aliquam nec. Pellentesque a ligula ut mi condimentum tincidunt sed vitae lacus. In mauris ligula, imperdiet quis eros non, ornare euismod lacus. Integer posuere et nulla a faucibus. Ut accumsan est at sodales viverra. Donec justo turpis, malesuada sed consequat vel, placerat ut eros. Nulla dictum, diam a malesuada dignissim, nisl elit viverra ipsum, ut tincidunt magna ipsum at enim. Duis eu nisl ornare, faucibus diam in, bibendum arcu. In tellus dolor, suscipit sit amet enim sit amet, scelerisque volutpat est. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed nisl odio, aliquam sit amet lacus eget, interdum convallis elit. Maecenas lacinia, leo sed venenatis scelerisque, orci nisl consequat ante, nec tristique mi metus eu neque. Morbi erat enim, pharetra in velit sed, sagittis tempor felis.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cutting it Down<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As much as I once loved BoingBoing<\/a>, that went away from my blog reader quite some time ago–again, just too much information coming in throughout the day. The effort to keep up was simply not worth it. As much as I hate saying it, as the Nerdist<\/a> has grown, it’s something I’m considering removing from my blog reader as well. This doesn’t mean I never look at BoingBoing and that I’ll never go to Lifehacker’s site, but the days of keeping up with frequently updated blogs is over. In an effort to keep up with all that content, I sometimes miss or don’t spend as much time focusing on the content that matters most to me.<\/p>\n

Etiam vitae ultrices libero. Sed ac suscipit erat. Ut volutpat erat tellus, a hendrerit quam viverra dictum. Phasellus nunc mi, eleifend ac nunc nec, eleifend sodales ipsum. Pellentesque at nisl id erat pulvinar varius. Pellentesque non elit sed velit molestie eleifend. Sed nulla elit, gravida sed suscipit non, congue in lectus. Quisque quis ante tincidunt, congue urna in, rhoncus felis. Duis at ligula arcu. Vivamus massa turpis, commodo ac nibh non, iaculis condimentum orci. Nullam tempor, tortor sit amet sagittis sagittis, enim massa tempus tortor, nec tincidunt mi odio ut mauris. Integer pharetra posuere sem non sodales. Nunc laoreet a ipsum iaculis sollicitudin. Pellentesque purus quam, tincidunt vitae bibendum a, pellentesque condimentum lorem. Nunc euismod odio a fringilla iaculis. Nam elementum risus dui, ut venenatis nunc tempus nec.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reducing the Words in My Life (To Make More Words in My Life)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to reducing the amount of words that pile up in my blog reader each day, I’ve also refined my social media groups so I see less. One day, while wading through my social media feeds, I realized that I was growing tired of even political causes and other things I like and believe in because of the constant pile of same\/similar posts I see all day. Add to that people sharing inspirational sayings, the same video 25 times, and not really discussing what they are up to…and it became time I no longer enjoyed.<\/p>\n

It was time I could <\/em>have been focusing on the posts that matter most to me and my own writing. So all that got cut, too…and with it has come a better focus on people who actually discuss things. Also, even more time for writing!<\/p>\n

Vivamus ornare, nisl eu pharetra ultricies, neque odio fringilla diam, at laoreet turpis urna ut massa. Nulla dolor turpis, congue a eleifend sed, iaculis facilisis nisi. Maecenas interdum ante ut quam placerat, eu tempor risus auctor. Vestibulum at eros massa. Nulla augue lacus, porta id lacus vitae, venenatis lacinia tortor. Aliquam enim nisl, fermentum id euismod cursus, fermentum et purus. Duis congue lacus sit amet augue feugiat, in faucibus velit mollis.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smaller is Better (For Me, at Least)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s not that I don’t go to certain people’s pages and catch up, but the ranters, crusaders, and repeaters are no longer in my main feeds and circles. Now, what is presented to me in my blog reader and social media feeds are people and things that tend to be more positive and focused on what interests me most. The anger and despair are gone. And because of these reductions, I’m writing even more words.<\/p>\n

Maecenas porta nunc eget magna sollicitudin, vitae tempor nisi faucibus. Morbi commodo scelerisque aliquet. Integer in mauris dapibus, dictum eros eu, aliquam nunc. Pellentesque tempor, orci sed sodales aliquam, ligula ipsum hendrerit tellus, ac ullamcorper nisi justo sed purus. Sed condimentum metus urna. Nulla mollis urna eget ipsum congue, at dignissim diam bibendum. Aenean euismod eget erat vel pulvinar. Suspendisse potenti. Cras in diam at dolor adipiscing mattis vitae eu sapien. Nullam vehicula dui id iaculis tincidunt. Suspendisse pretium lorem nec metus molestie ultrices. Aenean in felis nec lacus tempus aliquet ac a quam. Praesent tellus nisl, iaculis pulvinar orci nec, bibendum interdum massa. Fusce vel enim laoreet, cursus dolor et, fringilla orci. Vivamus nec justo in tortor venenatis pulvinar sit amet sed nisi.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All the Things<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I previously wrote about trying to keep up with or find all the things out there<\/a>–and what a daunting [even impossible] task it is. I’ve taken social media breaks before<\/a> and devoted long weekends to not looking at anything <\/em>online. It’s not that “online” is the problem…it’s how I use it at times. Same thing with video games, television, and even exercise–it can become the <\/em>thing, instead of just a<\/em> thing.<\/p>\n

Sed ut elit quis neque venenatis sodales. Suspendisse sit amet massa sit amet magna dignissim tincidunt. Phasellus pulvinar vulputate leo et suscipit. Nullam dapibus ipsum in fermentum porttitor. Nam laoreet diam ut gravida ultricies. Donec hendrerit massa non felis ornare, sit amet pretium justo aliquam. Curabitur sed erat id mi tempor sagittis. Duis porta leo in neque scelerisque rutrum. Mauris iaculis mauris massa, a bibendum ipsum rhoncus facilisis. Suspendisse potenti. Nulla at laoreet augue. Suspendisse tortor quam, eleifend ac luctus et, consequat et dui. Morbi varius ligula eu quam aliquet, non lobortis orci ornare.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Missing Out?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I know I “miss out” on things I find interesting by stepping back and reducing the distractions in my life. (BoingBoing posts cool stuff all day, but rarely do they post something that actually makes my life better <\/em>in some way.)<\/p>\n

It’s not that these things prevent me from writing…I tend to write first thing in the morning, before looking at anything online. But all the things out there are like caffeine seeking out receptors in my brain and filling the tiny voids. I like blogs and social media and online articles, but they can become words that simply fill receptors in my brain and leave me with a false sense of something going on up there.<\/p>\n

I like a cup of coffee or two each day, but more than that and I feel like crap. My brain and body becomes too amped to write to the best of my abilities. Online things are not much different–at some point, it’s just filling time and space in my head, when I can be doing other things.<\/p>\n

Curabitur vel fringilla velit, ac rutrum velit. Suspendisse bibendum eget nisl a vestibulum. Curabitur vel magna ut felis accumsan iaculis at eu massa. Nulla ac sapien a erat pulvinar fringilla id vitae elit. Donec aliquet sem ipsum, ac pellentesque neque volutpat non. Curabitur quam sapien, ultrices a adipiscing et, condimentum a odio. Donec at velit vitae sem dignissim molestie dignissim eu turpis. Donec risus sapien, auctor a sodales quis, posuere eu felis. Phasellus id hendrerit justo, nec elementum magna. Nulla adipiscing justo vel ipsum placerat, eu convallis est tincidunt. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Duis ultricies non risus ut dapibus. Nunc non mauris eu massa blandit luctus. Nulla tristique ut dui sed accumsan. Cras vel ipsum bibendum massa elementum auctor. Integer lorem nisl, vestibulum et convallis vel, vulputate condimentum erat.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A Cup or Two, a Blog or Three…<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Just like a good cup or two of coffee each day, I enjoy a handful of blogs and social media feeds. Too much, though, and I rob my brain of the time it needs to sit there doing nothing so it’s ready for the times I call on it to write the words that matter the most to me.<\/p>\n

Scribo ergo sum; caveat Lector…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not saying this is the last Lifehacker article I’ll ever read, but I find it funny that it’s the last article I read before removing Lifehacker from my blog reader. (The article is about clutter, and for me, Lifehacker in my blog reader has become clutter.) It’s not that I have anything against Lifehacker, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[24,32,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4967"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4981,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4967\/revisions\/4981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}