Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
This week's chapter in The Joy Diet, hosted by Jamie Ridler, was about truth, and more specifically our own truth and the stories we tell ourselves.
I find that I often hear about "the truth" as though it is something absolute. I don't know about you, but I find truth to be highly subjective. And because of that I try to never presume I know someone else's truth.
I have trouble enough knowing what's true for me... I realized many years ago that lying to myself doesn't help me or anyone else, but still sometimes I tell myself a story and don't even know it.
Last March, for example, I was talking with an artist and professor at the school, where Daniel teaches. When he asked me if I was also an artist, I told him no, that I wasn't. At that moment I heard a very clear inner voice saying: "Stop lying to yourself." To say I was startled was an understatement - I don't usually hear voices...
The very next week I started painting and now I know that I have been an artist all along, even when when I was telling a different story.
The thing is...I didn't even know that I was telling myself a story until I was startled enough to see my truth!
Just this week when I was taking kayaking lessons, I was confronted with another story I was telling myself, namely that I don't really like being on the water that much. The truth, however, (my truth) was that I just have some irrational fears to overcome and when those were confronted, I LOVED being on the water.
So, even though I try to be truthful to myself, I still have stories I make up and that's fine.
We are all trying to do our best with the baggage we carry, the things we've learned and unlearned along the way, the relationships we are trying to form, the situations we are dealing with in our lives, and the many fears we all face every day. At some point or another, we've all been injured and many of the stories we invent have helped to protect us.
(All photos were taken when we traveled in Ireland in August of 2008)So when I tell myself a less than truthful story, I try to remember to be kind to myself. I know that when I'm ready, I'll change that story, and as soon as the story changes, so will my life!
