Temptation
April 7, 2011 |
26 comments
Today – after well over 400 blog entries – I was tempted not to write anything. I just suddenly thought ‘I’m not sure if this is a sensible thing to do’. TEN YEARS? Really? I don’t think I have the sort of life or career which can sustain a decade of blog entries. You could make a case that I’ve already done most of the interesting things I’m ever going to, and now I’m just kind of repeating myself.
Anyway, I’m writing, so I obviously haven’t given up. I just… you know. Temptation. This is a bit like the Bible when Jesus has the chance to turn rocks into bread, throw himself off a tower, etc. He doesn’t do it and I haven’t given up the blog. So there you go.
Ten years!?
Posted by Aislinn on April 8, 2011
I want to agree with Simone and Rachel, because it is the kind, caring and sensible thing to say, but the really competitive part of me wills you on.
Also, my friend Matt Forrest is coming to see you today. (Saturday is now in Australian time, right?) Me and my Mum have both tried to get him to say hello to you afterwards if you’re about, but he’s too shy. My Mum has asked me to ask you to call out his name during the show (I don’t think she understands how these things work) to embarrass him, so this is just to keep her happy. And that if you do meet a Matt Forrest, well, he’s my friend, so could you say hello to him please? Thanks.
Posted by Natalie-Helen on April 8, 2011
I think that Mark Watson:Nerdfighter should be your official title from now on. On yourr credit cards and everything.
xxx
Posted by Alex on April 8, 2011
I’m amazed it’s taken this long for you to think this. You are clearly a bit superhuman. I’m glad you didn’t stop though.
Posted by Craig Tubb on April 8, 2011
Don’t give up, 10 years will fly by. I mean look how fast over a year has passed!
Plus there’s never a dull moment on this blog!
Posted by Rachael on April 8, 2011
There will always be something to say.
Posted by Andrew on April 8, 2011
What you have to ask yourself is this – are you going to carry on simply because it would be embarrassing to stop having set yourself the challenge, or alternatively just because you’re an obsessive compulsive person who has to finish something they’ve started? If it’s for either of those reasons, maybe you should indeed stop. There’s no point in sustaining something which no longer gives pleasure if it becomes a bind.
About eight years ago I started spotting number plates in order, just to see how long it would take me to get bored or forget to do it. I’ve reached 949. For the last year at least I’ve wished I was strong enough to say “I got to xxx and then stopped because I’d had enough”. But I am too weak to stop and will see it through, even though it is giving me no pleasure and the futility of it all increases the closer I get to the ultimate goal. You don’t want to end up like that.
Posted by Ingrid on April 8, 2011
There are always more interesting things to do. As you said yourself, everything’s interesting!
Posted by Laurs on April 8, 2011
I don’t really have much more to say that can be put any more elegantly than others who have gone before me!
I don’t comment much, but I do read every day and my life has changed since the blog started… but in saying that, if you choose not to continue, I can completely understand that your sanity and life should be a priority.
But, please remember, most, if not all of us round here think you are awesome! xx
Posted by Heather Jones on April 8, 2011
It made me chuckle that in the midst of your existential blog-doubt, you found a wryly bathetic messianic simile. The true temptation: pride disguised as humility (I’m teasing – I get the humour of it)
Your temptation may have been to NOT do something, due to feelings of pointlessness or worthlessness (ego-angst?) as opposed to Jesus’ temptation to do big power-abusing showy-offy stuff to achieve power, but in both cases there is some sense of obligation towards followers – of doing this thing for others’ benefit. But rather than the temptation in the wilderness, a more apt comparison, as we approach Easter, might instead be the moment of despair – the ‘it’s too much -do I really have to do it?’ moment in Gethsemane. Just hope blog writing isn’t becoming crucifixion-like, as such a comparison might suggest.
Another daily blog I read almost as often as yours is Richard Herring’s – it’s scrupulously daily – although written retrospectively: a blog for each previous day – but very different from yours, more of a fully fledged diary, finding nuggets of interest in the smallest happenings, (for all your candour you remain a more private person than he does when blogging i think – but maybe it’s also a question of confidence or ego, to be comfortable writing like that?) but Herring’s blog certainly doesn’t have the lovely rapport & sense of community you have with your blog’s readers.
I do hope the sense of obligation to blog daily hasn’t turned it into a dreaded chore for you – I fear it may have done. But although it’s not the right thing to say, I’m selfish too – I don’t want you to stop!
In some ways you have it worse than old JC – his recorded ministry only lasted 3 years… And he never wrote any of his stuff down!
Posted by Catherine aka Cathy on April 8, 2011
Do you know what a Nerdfighter is? Well, you are one even if you dont know. Their aim in life is to make the world a little less full of suck. That is you, Mr. Watson.
Posted by Rhian on April 8, 2011
Today, after AT LEAST 400 days of not smoking, even though I’m not a smoker I was tempted by half a little rollie. I don’t know why, I was tempted not to smoke it, after all, that would be in keeping with every other day up to now, But I did, don’t know why, came home and read this. Don’t intend to smoke again for at least another 400 days, so anyway the point being, I don’t plan to smoke again, therefore you shouldn’t be deterred from blogging again. Does that make sense? Possibly not.
Posted by Simone on April 7, 2011
I enjoy reading the blog very much. In saying that, I support the sentiments in Rachel’s comment.
Posted by Lizzy on April 7, 2011
Yes, Mark; ten years, damn it!
Unless you don’t want to… :[. We wouldn't guilt you or anything... :[. We would definitely understand... :[.
...... :]
(One word a day’d still be representative and entertaining enough for us loyallers. But is it for you…….? :])
Posted by Helen on April 7, 2011
P.S Obviously if you couldn’t do it anymore that really would be okay. I re-read my comment and realised it sounded a bit angry at the end, it wasn’t meant to, sorry about that.
Posted by Jen on April 7, 2011
hehe…im an RE teacher and have been discussing the issue of temptation all week…stay strong…Jx
Posted by Sam on April 7, 2011
Cross that bridge when it never comes. At the moment you have things to write about. So at the moment it’s fine, it’s not ten years yet.
(This message will be repeated whenever needed until it is ten years)
Posted by Rachel/Pandora on April 7, 2011
Mark. You know how much I love this blog. It’s genuinely brilliant. BUT I wouldn’t want you to feel that you have to keep it going everyday for the whole ten years, if other things got in the way a bit. Your family, your sanity and perhaps actually having some time off are all much more important.
I’m (fairly) sure a blogless day wouldn’t kill us.
I’m now going to run away before I’m lynched by a mob of angry blog readers…
Posted by Helen on April 7, 2011
Mr Watson you have set up a marvellous thing here and we were all in this for the long run. Many of us read every single day and we comment and we celebrated kindness day and people made amazing cakes for the first birthday and we have TYSIC’s which go on for 10 years and we get information about your shows and your books and then we buy them because they are brilliant and we got through a hacking scandal and we tried to predict the future and we have the very late review and you help us with our problems and we were all there for megan when her bike was stolen and people entered a competition to win your book and we brought you pens and we talked about music and we talked about the horrible lurking worry that maybe your appendix will burst one day and we all tried to guess your middle name and we did a census thing and an ipod is travelling around the country and see that comment from carl? see how much better things have got because of this? see? well things have got better for loads of us and you could still do that parachute jump with chris, doesn’t have to be now, if you had ten years there is no real hurry and you could blog about it and maybe even post a picture of you in the sky. I did that all from memory because I love this blog and now you say you might stop it. Well Please Don’t.
Posted by Corey on April 7, 2011
As that bird in that song once said….don’t give up…….as many have and many will say, its too good a read, and even when not much is happening its good. I do hope it continues and I could do more, so I will comment more often….its not much but its something!?
Posted by Carl on April 7, 2011
Well, I’m certainly glad you didn’t stop.
Although you have typed you blog and not used the spoken word you sound a bit down, Mark.
I think you need reminding how wonderful this blog is.
It may have began as a Self Improvement Challenge for people, but since this blog began genuine friendships have developed. If you just pop into Twitter every now and then you’ll see straight away people who were once strangers chatting away, giving advice, and making each other laugh.
Plus, you made me get off my arse and do stuff. I may not be updating my forum profile, but I have certainly discovered loads of new music, sent letters to people, started writing books and smiled a lot – all of which are my TYSICs.
Plus, I now have regular contact with over 170 people via my own blog ( http://ten20thirty.wordpress.com/ ) which focuses on me achieving goals I had as a kid, teenager and things I want to do before I’m thirty, all because YOU kindly retweeted a message to your followers.
So, yeah, don’t quit. You’ve made a big difference to my life, not to mention everyone else.
Posted by MusicalLottie on April 7, 2011
My eyes saw ’400′ in the post, then as there were 4 comments my mind thought there were 400 comments … that would have been amazing.
Anyway, even on days when you say you have nothing to write, you always spark a discussion nonetheless. I second all of the comments already left; you’re human, you’re interesting, and please don’t stop.
Posted by ChrisP on April 7, 2011
Ran out of interesting things to do eh? Skydiving? There are many interesting things yet to be done.
If you did decide to stop this it would be better to do it on a good day because you genuinely don’t want to do it any more than on a bad day for no reason other than you are having a bad day.
Don’t stop though. Just. Don’t. It’s too good a read.
Now what happened to the playlist you said you were going to do?
Posted by Misha on April 7, 2011
I think, were you to just stop, there’d be a large number of people with something to say about that.
And anyway, I think your career will do just fine, i’ll single handedly finance it myself when I get off the dole again
Posted by Anji on April 7, 2011
This kinda made me giggle – you know what, every day you come up with something, no matter how many million other things your doing. If one day you want a day off, and just tell us the day of the week or simply write ‘day off’ I think we’d all understand! Get some of the emergency bloggers to lift the load – we don’t mind – we just want you to be ok!
Posted by amycool on April 7, 2011
I second what Lydia said!
You’re a human afterall, and humans are always interesting. Always.
Posted by Lydia on April 7, 2011
I don’t think you’ve done most of the interesting things that you’re going to do.
I think your career can sustain ten years worth of blog entries. I mean, money notwithstanding, you have a group of people here that would go to pretty much anything you decided to do. I get that you would need more than just us, lol, but if you keep writing this then god knows how many more of us there will be soon. One day you’ll probably have to pay someone to go through all your comments, lol.
If you think you’re repeating yourself (which I, and I imagine most people who read this, don’t) then I’m pretty sure you could think of something else slightly insane to do. I understand that it isn’t as easy as that, but at the same time if you want to do something epic you might as well get started.
And, without meaning to sound offensive or something, which I probably will because I will undoubtedly say this wrong: sometimes the post itself isn’t the important thing. You have managed to bring people together through writing this, to the extent where even when you write what you think is nothing, people can still have a conversation and are connected through it.
I hope you’re okay x