Is that so wrong? Too much to ask? It’s the age old battle, I would assume pretty much since the beginning of time. How can I spend my days (or nights) doing what I love, following my passions as opposed to spending an entire lifetime following the rest of the sheep, herded along the freeways, taking the safe road to nowhere and needless to say not too happy about it?

After all, isn’t working at what you enjoy more or less like not working at all? Wouldn’t you much rather spend your days with a big smile on your face as opposed to a permanent frown? I know I would, that’s for sure.

And when you do something you’re passionate about, you end up with a much nicer end result. Such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment from a job well done. Can you just imagine the feeling of never wanting your day to end because you’re having so much fun? Only to be surpassed by the relentless amount of sleepless nights, laying there, so amped up thinking about all the things you want to accomplish the next day.

Heck, who needs an alarm clock when you never actually fall asleep anyway. Hard to imagine lack of sleep being a good thing but I guess in this case it would be.

No doubt that’s the life I wanna live. Knowing that tomorrow is going to be even better than today was. Wouldn’t that be the greatest life ever? I’d have to think so.

OK then, now that we know HOW we want our life to be, how do we go about creating the life of our dreams? In essence, how do we cash in on our passion?

First off, we need to identify what it is we are actually passionate about. Basically it comes down to a matter of deciding what it is you’d look forward to waking up and doing every day, rain or shine, regardless of whether or not you were getting paid to do it.

I can name a few things right off the bat. I’ve always had a passion for Antiques & Collectibles. The thrill of the hunt, the rush of the discovery, the interaction with the current custodian as it relates to purchasing the object, overcoming my overwhelming desire to own every rare antiquity on earth & finding a new caretaker and lastly, the warm ‘n’ fuzzies I get from knowing that my find is on it’s way to a new home, increasing the enjoyment of all others that get to view it. And then the process begins again. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but it never seems to diminish the thrill of the hunt.

Another dream of mine, ever since I wrote my first short story back in Elementary School has been to be an Author. Most likely fiction but as much as I enjoy writing from my heart, it’s entirely possible that I would also dabble in the non fiction genre a bit.

As I’m sure you can tell I’ve never actually taken any writing classes or pursued writing in any aspect so perhaps it’s the fact that Stephen King and I share the same birthday (NO, not the same year!) that might have something to do with my passion for writing, I’m not exactly sure. One thing’s for certain though, I really love Blogging and would truly enjoy taking it to another level.

I’d have to say that the third thing on my Passion List would be painting Murals. My goal would be to learn how to paint Trompe L’ O’eil, “Trick Of The Eye” Murals for both indoor and outdoor applications. For those unfamiliar with this style of art, in essence it’s creating the realistic feeling of something that although you know darn well it’s not really there, it appears so realistic that you have to question yourself as to what you’re actually looking at.

This can be as simple as a Faux plaster finish on an interior wall, maybe a window with a view of the vineyard in the distance all the way up to a giant hole in the outside wall of a building, thereby allowing a peek inside.

Of course, all of these scenarios are only limited by ones imagination. Unfortunately, this painting technique would require years of training to master and as such will have to remain a ways down on my list of wannados.

Right next to scowering the oceans of the world in search of sunken Spanish Gallions and Pirate Ships. I’m so enthralled by the thought of uncovering undiscovered treasures, one of a kind artifacts, things that mere money can’t buy. I get tingles just thinking about it. I guess I have some sort of an Indiana Jones complex.

So with the last two passions on my list being a bit out of reach (for now) it’s still entirely possible that I could make a go of the other two. I’m enamored with history and to be able to travel the globe in search of the rarest of the rare, only one in existence type items, with unlimited funding from a long list of interested buyers eagerly anticipating my next find would truly be a dream come true.

To peruse thousand year old buildings throughout Europe in search of who knows what and learning everything I can about the countries and their cultures would just be icing on the cake. And then to top it off, if I could write about my adventures along the way, then my life truly would be a dream come true.

So with all that being said, now comes the difficult part. How do I go about creating this so called dream life? How do I bridge the gap between following my passions, in hopes of making money rather than merely trying to find something that will keep me afloat for now. Not just another quick fix, regardless of whether or not I enjoy it. No doubt it’s gonna take a huge leap of faith on my part to even remain focused long enough to give it a shot.

Especially in todays turbulent world, it can be very difficult to risk everything (or in my case what little I have left) to take a chance on living a life full of fun & pleasure. Not that there are any guarantees of making money these days by following a safer, seemingly risk free path yet it can still be much more dangerous to climb out on the ledge and take a serious leap of faith, hoping for a smooth landing.

If you’re anything like me, I grew up thinking that work was a necessary evil we were all forced to endure in order to survive. Definitely not something to look forward to, that’s for sure. Anything you wanted to do or for that matter enjoyed doing would have to be squeezed in after work hours.

Getting over that guilt trip is a challenge in itself. Let alone coming up with a way to monetize my passions. It’s no wonder I never attempted this transition to fun and freedom prior to this, it appears to be a road filled with land mines, all of them just waiting to explode.

Should I even allow myself to dream of such a fantasy life, a life of traveling around the world in search of the unknown? An endless list of anxious buyers, eagerly awaiting my latest Blog Post direct from a beautiful white sand beach in Bora Bora, boasting of all my newly found treasures.

I guess what it truly comes down to is the fact that it’s entirely up to me to change my life. To create the life of my dreams. No one else is gonna do it for me, that’s for sure. In fact I’ve come to realize that mentioning to others about how you plan on changing your life for the better only brings out feelings of animosity and then the negativity begins to flow. “How dare you try to enjoy your life when I’m stuck here at my 9 to 5 job, kids, mortgage, car payments, living paycheck to paycheck and no way out.” At least from those that still have a regular job, not exactly a gimme in todays economy.

I’ve always known that I’m not a 9 to 5er, yet I lived that life for many years. It was a miserable existence and one I’m not the least bit eager to go back to. I enjoyed Real Estate (at least the way it USED to be) but until the R.E. Market comes back, not much guaranteed income there either.

Hmmmmmm, what is it then that I’m really risking here? No wife, no kids, no mortgage (thank you Banks), maybe there really is no better time than now to give this thing a shot. Why not? Why not cash in on my passion? After all, the only thing stopping me….is me.

If you can relate to pursuing your passions, chasing your dreams and living the life you always wanted, I’d enjoy hearing your comments in the box below and if you know of someone struggling with getting out of the rut known as living someone elses idea of how their life should be, I’d appreciate it if you would share this post with them. Thank you.

Hmmmmmmm, can work actually be fun? Am I really THAT stupid? What kind of a question is that? Of course it can’t. Everybody knows that work HAS to suck. In fact I think it’s one of the Ten Commandments or at the very least it’s written in the Declaration Of Independence.

I know it has to be written down somewhere, some kind of Law that says that work and fun should never coexist. Like oil and water, they just don’t mix, no matter how much you try and shake ‘em up!

In fact, I think work is one of those four letter words that can only be mentioned in certain situations. You know what I’m talkin’ about, the ones that will get your mouth washed out with soap if you utter them in front of the wrong people.

But I find myself questioning this logic. Who started this whole thing of thinking that whatever you do to earn a living has to make you completely miserable? I don’t think it could have started as far back as the Caveman days, could it? I mean, they didn’t really have to earn a living, so to speak. Their main thing in life was survival.

Whether is was scroungin’ around for food or protecting themselves against a low flyin’ Pterodactyl, survival was key. Hmmmm, now that I think about it, perhaps this WAS the first instance of earning a living. After all, you need to be alive to live.

Before the exchange of so called money came into existence, the Barter System was the method of choice for getting ahead in life. If you wanted something, you better have something to trade for it. Which is kinda funny because bartering is still in use today.

In fact, just the other day, I watched a video of a guy that bartered his way from a red paper clip on up to a house. Yes, I said A HOUSE! Which he has since gone on to trade for a Cafe’. It was actually a pretty amazing story, well documented and no doubt he was able to meet so many people and have quite a few great experiences along the way.

I guess some things never get old. Free Trade has been a major building block of the world as we know it. Without it, where would we be today? One can only guess at all the things we wouldn’t be able to enjoy.

Here again though, I’d have to think that this method of survival probably wasn’t a whole lot of fun back in the ol’ days. No doubt either one or both parties would feel as if they got ripped off and wanted to cancel the trade but making somebody mad in those days probably wasn’t a good idea. So what if you ended up with a purple Dinosaur, at least you’d be able to feed your family.

Apparently the first use of an actual Monetary System didn’t come around until about 650 B.C. Perhaps this is when work first began to be considered dreadful. Once you had to break your back for someone else in order to feed your family, I’d have to think this was also about the same time that work became a four letter word. I can hear the bitchin’ and moanin’ from here.

Jeez, if it started this far back, no wonder people are so angry about having to go to work. Generation after generation, passing down their disdain for the mere thought of the word work would no doubt create an endless amount of hatred towards the mere thought alone. Not to mention the actual physical task itself.

Yet work is what me must do. Must do to survive in this world. And for the most part, if we want to get ahead in life, we must work even harder. Therefore it stands to reason that if we want more out of life, it will come at the cost of living an even more miserable existence. Something about this just doesn’t seem very appealing, at least not to me anyway.

Kinda seems like an inspiration killer for the most part. The harder you work, the more miserable you are? Just not making any sense to me. There HAS to be some sort of a mistake here. Who on earth invented this system anyway? Some kind of masochist? Must have been. Nobody in his right mind would have devised such a dream killer.

And to add insult to injury, who came up with this schedule of having to work five days and only have two off? Sounds pretty damn lopsided if you ask me. C’mon, doing something that you absolutely despise for five long, miserable days of the week, only to get two days to attempt some form of recovery and then to go right back to hell for another five days. Obviously this system is seriously flawed.

I wonder if anyone else has realized this? I mean somebody else has to have noticed by now that this entire work thing, this system as it were is messed up and in a big way. And if they have noticed, why on earth haven’t they done something to fix it?

Come to think of it, I guess they tried, if you can call it that. Yeah, they have implemented the four day, ten hours a day, work week in certain instances and while that might help, it’s surely not the best answer.

Either is the telecommuting thing, that’s most likely the best alternative as it eliminates lots of the nightmare of the five day workathon but it doesn’t completely remove the issue of spending your days performing a task that you hate.

So where does that leave us? We know we need money to survive. In most cases, in order to make money, we have to work. Ok, so basically what it breaks down to is we need to work to survive. But where does it say that we have to hate what we do for work?

I checked out the Ten Commandments and didn’t see anything about it in there. Same with the Declaration, nothing there either. I even went as far as Googling MUST HATE YOUR JOB and couldn’t find anything anywhere that stated that you must be miserable for a minimum of forty hours per week, half days on Saturdays and most Holidays when the rest of your family is at the beach. Nope, nothin’.

Then how did all of this BS get started in the first place? Perhaps it was handed down to us by our parents? That along with all the other outside influences that helped shape our upbringing, who undoubtedly passed down the information that they received as children.

Who knows, maybe it was our own assumption, based on seeing just how unhappy our parents were Monday through Friday and realizing at an early age just how precious the weekends were. How those two days were the reward for surviving the previous five days.

Regardless of how it happened, we grew up knowing that work must suck. No doubt whatsoever. That’s why it’s called work instead of fun. Notice the different amount of letters in each word? Yes, work is a four letter word and fun isn’t. I have a feelin’ it was planned that way.

Ok then, what are we gonna do about this? Nothing? Just continue on status quo? Or can we change this entire scenario around so that we’re able to enjoy our work? Yes, I said it. Crazy as it may seem, I believe there is a great possibility of earning a living while doing something that you truly enjoy.

Stay with me on this. Think about it for just a second. Is it entirely out of the realm of possibility to believe that you could make money doing something you enjoy? Of course not. Think about all of those people all over the world, right now, who are making a living doing what it is that you like to do. So why NOT you? Why not just go for it? What’s stopping you?

Even if you start off on a small scale, kind of a part time thing, just pick something you enjoy doing and get started doing it. After hours, evenings, weekends, doesn’t really matter. While we all say that we don’t have any extra time as it is, I think you’ll find that even if you just sacrifice a couple hours of TV here ‘n there, you’ll be surprised at all you can get accomplished.

Just get going on something that you’re passionate about and see where it takes you. I’ll bet the next thing you know, you’ll be making other sacrifices to allow you more time to pursue your dream. I promise it will be so worth it.

Before you know it you’re rollin’ and you’ll find that there just isn’t enough time in a day to do all you want to do towards accomplishing your goal. And let me tell you, that’s a great problem to have. Next thing you know, you’ll actually be enjoying your weekdays! Maybe even more than your weekends. Can you even imagine that? Getting to a point where your weekends are more stressful than your weekdays? Who’d a thunk it!

So if you find that you’re like most everyone else out there, at least those that still have jobs and dread Mondays more than anything, maybe it’s time you started thinking of work as anything but a four letter word.

If you can relate to work being a nightmare, I’d enjoy hearing about it in my comments and if you enjoyed this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends. Thank you.

OK, so I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’d like to think I’m smart enough to know when to give up, to throw in the towel so to speak. I mean, isn’t there like some kind of a signal from above, some sort of a sign to let us know when it’s time to bail?

Lately, well I really shouldn’t say lately as this has been a situation that I’ve been struggling with for quite some time now. And no doubt I’m not the only one who battles this dilemma on a regular basis. Surely it’s a question people have been asking themselves since the beginning of time. When is it ok to give up?

When is it finally ok to say to yourself, enough is enough, I’m done fighting this battle, there’s just no way it’s ever gonna happen, no possibility whatsoever of it ever coming true?

Now, when I say it, basically that could mean anything, from your hopes and dreams to your aspirations, your goals, anything in your life that you strive for. Anything that you’re motivated about, anything you hope to accomplish.

Well, I for one am not so sure there is a certain point that defines the perfect time to give up. Nope, I don’t think it’s gonna be that easy. Wouldn’t that be great if it were that cut ‘n dry?

Oh heck yeah, it sure would. If everything in life had a time limit on it then you’d know when to say when, you’d know when you could just say enough is enough, pick up your toys and go home.

At least it would give you a point of reference to look forward to and your goals could be so much more manageable knowing that you only had to put in a certain amount of effort for a specified amount of time and whatever the results were, you would know that you did the best you could with the amount of time that you had available.

And after your time expired, you were in essence off the hook. Good, bad or otherwise, wherever you stood at that point was just going to be the way it is. Dang, that sounds easy doesn’t it? How sweet would it be to have everything in your life mapped out for you like that?

But on the other hand, how boring it would be as well. Not that you’d know the exact outcome of everything in your future, but you’d have a pretty close guesstimate. And you could almost predict your future just by altering the amount of effort you put forth. Yep, BORING CENTRAL!

Well then, without an expiration date of sorts, how are we supposed to know when it’s ok to quit trying? To let go of our dreams. Is there a certain amount of times that we have to be told “NO, you can’t do this …. can’t have that ….. can’t date her …..”, whatever the case may be? And if so, what gives someone else the authority to tell us that we can’t anything?

Nope, I don’t see that working either. If you’re anything like me and absolutely hate to quit trying, at anything, then I’m sure you’ll agree that the last thing you want is someone telling you what to do. Telling you basically when it’s ok to officially become a failure. No thanks, not gonna work for me, that’s for sure.

Sheesh, it sounds like quitting isn’t gonna be as easy as everyone says it is. I mean, doesn’t everybody say that quitting is the easy way out? That’s the way I heard it anyway. I’m beginning to get the impression that they’re completely wrong about it.

I also seem to recall hearing something about quitters being losers. Nobody wants to be referred to as a loser, do they? I would have to imagine that it wouldn’t be a sought after title, that’s for sure.

They only positive quote I’ve ever heard in regards to quitting was the often used and well worn “Sobriety is for quitters.” I guess that’s about one of the only times it’s good to be a quitter. No doubt you could also include all of the other vices in the same sentence and they’d all make sense. But other than those few, being a quitter is nothing to be proud of.

Yet there must come a time that we have to face the music, read the writing on the wall and come to a point that we just have to stop trying. The intersection of lack of effort and giving up, that ugly as hell place known as failure. Correct?

I think, in fact I know that that’s exactly where I have to say “No, I don’t agree.” For me failure is a huge problem, a bitter pill that I am unable to swallow, no matter what the situation.

Is it fear of looking like an idiot, a fool? That could be part of it, more than likely a huge part. But for me it’s more of an inside thing. While it does bother me to have others see me as a failure of sorts, as someone that didn’t accomplish their goals, it’s ME that I’m truly concerned about. How will I feel about ME if I give up, if I quit trying. If I just don’t give it my all and do my best.

I guess I’ve been out to prove something (not exactly sure what that something is) my entire life. My Father, in his attempts to get me to do my best, tried to beat perseverance into me, one swing of the belt at a time but what he failed to realize was that being the best I could be was already ingrained in me from my first breath. I knew no different.

It wasn’t anything that he had to instill in me, anything he had to force upon me, I wanted to, no, I needed to do my best. In every circumstance, in every situation. Sure, like any other kid, I was hoping for my Dads approval. Hoping to make Dad proud and also hoping for a miracle. The miracle of him saying “Good job son, I’m proud of you.”

Of course, as I would come to learn, that wasn’t gonna happen but that never stopped me from wanting to do my best. At everything I ever did. Not that I can honestly say that I always did my best but there’s no doubt in my mind that I always wanted to.

Call it pride, or ego, or just plain being a perfectionist, any way you choose to look at it, I’ve always demanded the most out of myself. No doubt I’m my own worst critic. Noone can be any harder on me …. than ME. That’s why giving up isn’t an option.

I also have someone very special watching over me from up above that would surely be disappointed in me if I ever gave up and there’s just no way I ever want to let her down.

So where exactly does that leave me? If I can’t give up, if I can’t allow myself to quit, am I doomed to a life of never reaching my goals, never accomplishing what I want in life? Jeez, I sure hope not.

But at the same time, to just quit trying would surely mean that I would never realize my dreams. At least if I keep trying, there’s a small, miniscule chance of good things happening. Sure, along with that chance comes loads of despair and disappointment but with that 1% possibility of something good happening in my life, something finally going my way, I’m unable to just take the hint and walk away.

One of my favorite sayings and to be honest, I’m not even sure it’s an actual quote and if so, who even said it but it goes something like this. *You can never ever give up because you don’t know who or what is waiting for you just around the next corner*.

I think that quote says so much about perseverance, forging ahead in the face of adversity and just never giving up, NO MATTER WHAT! And with these words as my mantra I will continue to forge ahead, knowing that good things are waiting ahead for me. It’s only a matter of time.

If you can relate to wanting to just give up at times or perhaps, like me, unable to know when it’s ok to give up, I’d enjoy hearing about it and if you enjoyed this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends. Thank you.

Firstly, let me just start off by saying that I fully understand that this is a dangerous topic and while some might wonder why the heck I’m even goin’ there, those that know me and are familiar with my writing know all to well that I’m pretty much fearless when it comes to tackling subjects that others simply refuse to delve into. In essence, I’m the go there guy. Despite my own better judgement.

As I mentioned earlier, I’d have to think that this has been going on since women were able to make a choice on their own as far as who they wanted to be with. Good or Bad, Good or Bad, oh Mom, which guy should I choose???

This might not have applied in the Caveman days as it seems to me that when a first date consists of a guy draggin’ a woman by her hair, into his cave and havin’ his way with her, that would basically put ALL guys in the Bad Boy category.

And perhaps this was also the case in the days of the Roman Empire. Not sure women had much choice back then either. I wouldn’t think that Good Guys had much luck as being nice probably got you thrown in with the lions or at the very least, you ended up breakin’ rocks until your arms and legs were yanked from your body as you were being pulled apart by two separate Chariots, headin’ in two different directions. Not good to be a Good Guy in those days, that’s for sure.

The women, if they did happen to take a chance on speaking up in regards to who it was they wanted to date, would more than likely have had their heads chopped off before they could even get the words out. Probably a good idea just to keep ones mouth shut, or forever hold your head…. ooops, your peace.

Even in the days of the Kings ‘n Queens in jolly ol’ England, not really a good idea to speak your mind, let alone having a bumper sticker on ones Magic Pumpkin saying something along the lines of “Good Guys Rule!” because at the very least, you’d be scrubbin’ floors and cleanin’ chamber pots as your evil step sisters were out carousing with all the Bad Boys in town.

A womans only hope was to be born into a wealthy family but even then, they still didn’t have much of a choice as these were the days of the arranged marriages and as such, they would end up with Lord Goofball III by default. So these weren’t so much choices as stuck withs. Ahhh, the good ol’ days.

Jeez, up until now I hadn’t really put all this together but maybe women have been ingrained to want Bad Boys, whether that’s what they really want or not. Maybe they just can’t help themselves?

Is it a matter of going against what they’re told to want, as in their elders telling them to watch out for the Bad Boys as they will treat them badly, abuse them and then leave them? And so they have no other choice but to go against the grain in an attempt to find out for themselves if what they were told is actually true? Hmmmmm…… I wonder.

Or is it them thinkin’ that this time is gonna be different? Somehow this guy will love them so much that the guy will do whatever it takes to make her happy and if changing his evil ways is what it’s gonna take to get her to stay, then so be it. Like somehow they’re gonna fix him.

Good luck with that one. As we all know, people in general, especially guys (of which I’m one) rarely if ever change. Especially not for someone else, let alone for themselves. Sure, we all grow in one way or another and we attempt to better ourselves but not many will change for someone else. At least not their entire moral outlook, their entire character. I’d have to think that we’re pretty much us from the time we become adults.

So why is it then that you see so many women with Bad Boys? Do they think it’s cool? Do they like the feeling of doing something wrong and gettin’ away with it? To be honest, I have no idea. No idea whatsoever. It seems like they always complain about gettin’ treated like crap. And then they go back to them. Go figure.

I’d like to think I’m from the other side of the tracks. I’d have to consider myself to be one of those idiots… .ooops, I mean one of the Good Guys. You know the type, the guys that finish last! Yep, that’s us.

Oh sure, women say that they want nice guys but I’ve yet to see anything to prove this theory to be true. Could it be the lack of drama? The missing daily controversy? The fact that all nice guys wanna do is treat their partners right, to get along?

Hell, where’s the excitement in that? Sounds kinda boring, doesn’t it? I mean, without all the drama, the constant fighting and bickering, what’s left in a relationship?

All you end up with is love. Pure, unrelenting, selfless, love and devotion and who the hell wants to live a life as drama free as that? Well, for starters, I do. Yep, to me, drama and controversy suck. There’s enough stress in life without having to add to it in a relationship. I don’t do drama. No thanks, not my cup of green tea.

I’d much rather spend my time being happy, laughing and enjoying life. After all, isn’t that what life is really all about? I sure think so anyway.

So I guess we’ll just have to leave this as an open ended question, an unsolved mystery. Good or Bad, I have no idea what women really want. Which is probably a good thing because there’s a pretty good chance I’m not gonna reinvent myself as someone else. At least not anytime soon.

If you have any thoughts in regards to the battle between good and bad, I’d enjoy hearing them and if you liked this Post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with your friends. Thank you.

Is Social Media addictive? I’m beginning to think so. I mean, it’s not THAT bad…. yet. It’s not like I can’t walk away from the keyboard any time I choose. Hmmm, wait a minute. I wonder if I really can?

Walk away that is. Like if I really had something important to do, I’m sure I could push the keyboard aside and take care of whatever it is I need to get done first, then resume whatever I was doing prior to the interruption. Did I just say interruption? That almost makes it sound like my regular life is getting in the way of my life on the Internet.

Is it possible to have two separate lives, one online and one off? Come to think of it, that already sounds weird to think about even having an online life. Well, maybe not that weird. I mean, basically everything that you need to do these days can be done on the computer. From Banking to paying bills, buying shoes to books, food to furniture, it’s just about all online now. In fact, there’s pretty much nothing you can’t do on the computer these days.

So I guess it’s not that crazy to think that you can conduct an entire life online. Heck, look at all the Dating Sites that are available. If you spent enough time on them (which no doubt I’ll get into in another Post), without a doubt you’d be able to find a spouse.

I guess about the only thing you can’t actually buy online is a ready made family, complete with kids and a dog but who knows, just by me typing that it could give someone an idea to start up a new Site called “Efamily.com”. I have learned to never say never when it comes to the Internet.

And you can count me among them, just think of all the Bloggers out there in the Blogosphere. Sure, most of the Blogs have been taken over by BlogBots and are no longer manned by real humanoids but there are still many many Blogs whos content is updated weekly, if not daily, by real live people with lots to say.

And so that leads us to the basis of this Post, Social Media as it’s come to be known. I’d have to think that most everyone is familiar with the “Big Three”, namely Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. YouTube could also be considered amongst them as well, as far as popularity is concerned but it’s more of a place to post videos than an actual interactive socializing Site.

While there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of online Social Sites, according to the Alexa Rankings, those are currently the most popular. Perhaps not in that order, I haven’t checked lately but as far as I know, there aren’t any others in the same Ballpark.

MySpace seemed to be where all this online socializing really got started. If you’re like me, I always thought it was just a place for kids to hang out online, and perhaps it was in the beginning but no doubt it grew to be a place where people, young and old, from around the globe are able to coexist and e~mingle whenever they want to.

Over the last year or two, MySpace seems to have fallen out of favor in the online world. Not exactly sure as to why. I guess, like all things trendy, what’s IN one minute can just as easily be OUT the next. I myself enjoyed MySpace but to be honest, it was mainly because the creativity that it offered regarding the customization of your profile page was a huge attraction to me.

In fact, I spent more time on there tweaking my profile than I actually did interacting with anyone. I started on there as a recomendation from a friend as she knew I was in search of a blogging platform and at the time, it afforded me a small place to share my stuff.

I will say though that I met some great (and some not so great) people on that Site. Now, when I say met, I mean that in the online sense as I never actually met them in person. Two people stand out to me more than ever and if it wasn’t for my time on MS, I never would have met them and so overall, I have very fond memories of that Site.

I tend to refer to it in the past tense as even though I still have my profile page there, I very rarely visit the Site. As we all know, Social Media can take up so much time and like they say, “So many Sites, so little time”, or something like that.

I’m not entirely sure if I moved on to Twitter next or not. I believe I started my Facebook page before Twitter but I never added any content, let alone visited FB with any regularity. At that time I was putting more effort into building up my list of Followers on Twitter.

I was considering getting into Internet Marketing and the number one priority (or so I was told) was to build a list and so that’s what I did. I believe I’ve been on there about eight or nine months, created a few different profiles (in an effort to target different niches) and I probably have a minimum of 25K followers. To some, that might sound like alot but there are so many people with so many more followers than that. Funny thing is, all for nothing.

As I gravitated away from the Internet Marketing idea, I have spent less and less time on that Site. To be honest, I never really got it. I mean, it’s a zillion little 140 character blurbs from random people, coming at you shotgun style and nearly impossible to keep up or keep track of anything that’s going on.

Especially since all of the SpamBots started taking over. Word got out that somehow Twitter was a gold mine for monetized traffic and next thing you know, it became flooded with every piece of software which would allow all these rookie spammers to flood the Site every second with Biz Opp after Biz Opp.

Of course, that’s in addition to all the E~Stripporn Chicks tryin’ to get you to check them out on their Sites (which will require you to Sign In and upon doing so, it’s highly likely you will have your identity stolen) and when you add in all of the fake profiles, it’s pretty much a non stop roulette wheel of who knows what. I still go there once in a while to share my Blog Posts but that’s about it.

Since I’ve spent less time on Twitter, it’s allowed me to spend a bit more time on Facebook. Now, what’s really strange about that is the fact that FB held the least amount of allure for me. I mean, talk about a boring looking profile page. With almost zero customizability (is that even a word?), it’s not the most attractive place to hang out.

That’s the main thing that I miss about MySpace. At least people were able to show a bit of their personality, who they are on their profile, which I really liked. Although is has gotten much less stuffy with time, Facebook is still more or less devoid of personality, pretty much Plain Jane as it were. But I guess that doesn’t matter to most people. Apparently just being able to interact with people around the world is enough of an attraction.

So what then, is the huge attraction to Facebook. They recently reached over 700 Million users or somethin’ like that and when you consider that the population of the United States is just over 310 Million, that truly speaks volumes about the attraction of the Internet and the Social Media Sites.

In fact, last time I looked Facebook is the number two most visited Site, both globally as well as in the United States. The only Site with more traffic is Google. That’s pretty strong in anybodys book. How long will this last? It’s anybodys guess but there’s no denying their presence on the Net.

Is that what draws so many people in? They want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they have a need to belong? It’s anybodys guess. I’m sure that lots of them just want to interact with friends and family while others want to branch out, meet new friends and still others are only there for business reasons. Whatever your reason, it’s hard to deny the fact that once you Log In, it’s next to impossible to Log Out!

That feeling that you’re missing something, that someone could be trying to contact you but can’t because you’re not logged in, that you aren’t keepin’ up with what’s going on in the world just continually gnaws at you. I’m sure you’ve experienced the feeling, your computer continues to call out to you.

“Log In…..Log In…..It’s OK, it will only be for a couple minutes, then I’ll let you go…..go back to whatever you were SUPPOSED to be doing…..just Log In…..it will be ok…..I promise…..walk towards the light…..this way…..towards the light of the Monitor…..”

Next thing you know, you’re back in your chair, computer sparkling to life and then it’s www.Face…. NO, I CAN’T DO THIS! Not today, I have so much I need to get done! Maybe later….but NOT now. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But no matter how much you struggle against The Force, it’s just too strong, the urge is just too much to resist and so you figure, what the heck, why fight it. Then you pour yourself a cup of coffee and settle in because you and I both know that you’re going to be in that chair for quite a while.

And so this brings me back to my original point. Is Social Media addicting in any way. I mean, there’s no denying the attraction (no, not the Law Of Attraction) to these Sites but is it truly impossible for us to say NO or at this point, are we slaves to the Social Media Secret Sauce?

I sure hope not because as far as I know, there isn’t a 12 Step Program, no Big Book, no Meetings, no pills, potions or lotions yet invented to prevent me from following the light….the light of my Monitor.

If you think that you might be addicted to Social Media or perhaps you’re lucky enough to be able to just walk away from your keyboard, I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts and if you enjoyed this post, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with all your friends on the Social Media Sites. Not that you’re addicted and spend alot of time on them, only in your spare time. Thank you.