Shelf Life.

I don't know how some people do it, every day a 'blog', pretty intense if you ask me. I manage about one a month. I write more than that but then think 'why would anybody want to know my thoughts on that' and then I delete it (I get enough time to speak rubbish when I'm on stage). We seem to be living in an age of total connectivity , and yet more and more people are crying out for attention. 'Blogs' 'Vlogs' 'Social media' etc etc ,posting photos of where we are, telling people what we are up to, what we are eating etc etc etc. I think it's time to step back and evaluate what we are doing.
This life we have is not infinite, there is shelf life attached to it, the difference is 'shelf life' is determined, our life can be snapped away from us in an instant, an accident or illness is not always within our control, we can be here today, gone tomorrow.
I don't really think that anyones last words have or ever will be "I wish I'd posted more on social media" .
I used to wear a Greenpeace T-shirt that proclaimed 'No Time To Waste', it was a wordplay on the damage we do to the planet by creating more and more waste, and that there is no time to waste in stopping the 'waste'. That could easily be applied to our own lives. There is no time to waste, because we don't know when life will call 'time' and end.
Sometimes we need to take a step back and think about the damage we are inflicting on ourselves, the constant 'race' we put ourselves in, is it worth it?
The other day I was walking through a park, one of the great parks Antwerp has to offer. It has a children's playground and (of course-this is Belgium) a great 'Tavern' where you can drink and eat. the sun was out and the playground was full of kids, the seats around the play area were taken with parents, I noticed that quite a few of the parents were on their 'smartphone' , I found it quite sad.
Watching your children at play is watching them develop , watching them interact with others, isn't that a great thing to be able to witness? what can any of the social media sites offer that is more rewarding than sitting outside in the sun watching your offspring play?
I spend a lot of time online, I use FB to promote up and coming gigs, it's easier than handing out flyers, I post things to let people know what sort of person I am and what views I have, it saves them being disappointed at the gig. In my job there is a certain amount of 'self promotion' involved, so I give in to that, but I do admit I have wasted a lot of time online, time I will never get back.
Occasionally writing a blog is enjoyable, even if nobody reads it, it gives me the chance to put thoughts to paper (or characters to keyboard) and clear my head.
Today it's raining, so it seemed a perfect moment to write a blog, I have nothing else to do. another couple of weeks and a bit of sunshine and you will find me in the garden. I won't be posting photos, I like to keep some stuff personal.
So have fun everybody, enjoy the moments we have, and lets hope there will be a lot of moments.