A couple of days ago, I was helping a colleague understand how Google Analytics works; she wanted to analyse the hits and visitor data at the website. After I lectured for about ten or fifteen minutes, she asked, “How do you know this? What made you spend so much time on understanding Google Analytics??”
I told her about my blog, this blog: the beginning years, when the only hits came from visitors who strayed in from Google looking for something else, and leaving quickly because this was not what they wanted. And some, staying a little and reading a little and leaving – or not – comments behind.
I told her about the hours I spent daily on this, following an isolated guest back to where he came from, to his country, to his state, to his city… wondering, and trying to find what brought him here. And a flicker of delight when I noticed that a visitor has returned.
She remarked at the end of this flash-back: “It’s good that you once did all those exercises; today they have come in quite handy for us.”
Yes indeed, all exercises we do, though they seem like a waste of time today – evoking snide, nasty comments from people (“Vere pani onnum ille? Have you nothing better to do?”) – would eventually become useful tools, to us or to others, some day… The lessons we learn today – without even realising that they were lessons – are stepping stones that shape our future.
Everything we do has a purpose, a meaning, a reason. As long as we believe in it, even if it is as small as fiddling with Google Analytics…
used to get a lot of those snide comments… 7 years,a lakh hits, many cool blogger pals and two short stories published later… I still get these comments. But it doesnt matter. I know there are people who come by to read, relax and smile… its for them as much as it is for me.
And its a good reminder of where we've come from – the path we have tread to reach here.
Another thought provoking post from you, Jean. It's wonderful to read your posts and I can so relate to it. I have stopped answering those who ask me the same question, "vere panni onnumilley?" because they don't want to understand, they simply want to feel good about giving us something to worry about. Like you've rightly summed up, "the lessons we learn today – without even realising that they were lessons – are stepping stones that shape our future." And often enough the most painful lessons are the ones that teach us the best lessons in life.
Tell me about it. I hear this all the time. And dialogue is mostly followed by "Upakaaram ulla enthenkilum cheyyan mele?" (Why don't you do something useful?"). But well, who cares. You will never reach anywhere if you listen to all those people. As Swapna said above, they simply want to feel good about giving us something to worry about and make themselves feel important by giving us advice trying to belittle us. And most of my real-life friends of the Facebook kind don't even read my blogs anyway.