Venus Trapped in Mars Sports and Lifestyle Blog Dallas

06 August 2014

All of the Information

When I first started blogging, I was anonymous. I always feel the need to recap things for anyone new to this blog, so if you already know everything about my past, skip to paragraph 3. This will be like a choose your own adventure kind of blog post. Except less caves, several less monsters and the adventure will really be a let down.

I started this blog using "Venus" as my pen name. It was all sports, and joke cracking all the time. Saying I had a niche would be an understatement. As I got more posts under my belt, and more readers, I realized hiding behind "Venus" and writing solely about sports was not what I wanted. I wanted to be the face of this blog. So as the weeks turned into months, the niche dissolved and the posts piled up on VTIM, I slowly became Sarah and not Venus. And now, a year and a half later, there is a whole lot of information on this blog. Info about my life, pictures of me, pictures of my friends and family, twelve million dog pictures, lists of things I love, lists of things I hate, insecurities, struggles, and of course, there is still sports talk. 

So here we are. I didn't start out with the plan of sharing all of the information, but here I am, sharing all of the information. Well, almost all of the information. *ducks under covers* 
Running into old friends from college is downright humorous these days. The catchup time is non-existent because the response to everything they say, or you say is simply, "Oh yeah, I saw that on Facebook!" 

So for a 5 post a week blogger, take all that information that the everyday person shares via social media, and multiply it by a billion, with a b. That is a lot of information available to the public. 

Bloggers of course come in many shapes and sizes so to speak. Some are married, some are moms, some are lucky enough to be surrounded by the same friends and family they've had their whole life. Then there are of course ones like me. The bloggers that are single, dating, moving to new cities, beginning new chapters in their lives. It is just interesting to think about how all of my life is accessible by typing www.venustrappedinmars.com into an internet browser. Accessible to anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. Accessible to people I've never met. Accessible to people that I've met a handful of times. Accessible to employers. Accessible to people that I used to see every day of my life, but may never see again. Accessible to new friends. Accessible to new boyfriends. Accessible to new people who will all inevitably ask a blogger's least (most?) favorite question, "Are you going to blog about this?"

I was laughing to myself the other day. Can you imagine if you started dating someone new and found out that their ex-girlfriend has a blog? And their world was your oyster. Your oyster filled with stories and pictures. No privacy settings turned on, what so ever. Sheesh, my inner stalker goes bonkers simply by stumbling across a Facebook profile that has neglected to turn on their privacy settings for their album "mobile uploads." But a full blog with their life neatly categorized by date and topic, all a single click away? Wow. 

There really isn't a point to this post. We are just all a bunch of weirdos for being so open. Weirdos I adore, for the record. I'm proud of what I slather on these pages, and I wouldn't change a thing. In fact, as my life moves into a new chapter, maybe more face will be put on the internet to forever live on Venus Trapped in Mars. I have zero doubts that I will face lots more struggles, which you know I will share. 

But maybe, just maybe, there will be less struggle posts in my future,  less need for my favorite hashtag, and instead, more posts with giant grinning emoji faces inserted. 
 
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38 comments :

  1. I struggle with the "open" aspect of being a blogger all the time. I'm constantly wondering if something I say now can come back and bite me in the future, or that by putting not only myself out there but friends and family that it could somehow come back later on. There's definitely a fine line that you have to walk with being a blogger and throwing all your info out there for all to see. But most days? Blogging is definitely worth it!

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  2. I know the ex of the guy I see reads my blog. I sometimes like to mess with her head. Because she is a little nutty and its fun.

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  3. I really love this post. The line between private and posted is so thin. We want to be real, but sometimes real is scary or messy. You can always be Sarah "Venus" Webb!

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  4. such a great post, as always! i didnt know about your 'past' so it was good to learn! omg i would be so stalker crazy if i knew my husband's ex had a blog when they dated haha. why not! but anyway, i dont tell anyone in real life that i blog. i dont want them to critique it, or be offended, or ask me if i'm gonna blog about it... lol

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  5. Omg. I never thought about that, but dating someone new whose ex has a blog would be incredible and torturous all at the same time. The pictures! The anecdotes! The tell-alls! Man I kind of wish I could experience that, just once.

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  6. People definitely joke with me about my blog, too- take it as a compliment!

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  7. the internet is a weird place. everything is more open than ever before. yet, i feel the need to blog as a way of kind of explaining myself to the internet. if that makes sense.

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  8. Yeah, the internet is so mystical and fabulous all at the same time. I love having my little space. The first thing I do when I meet someone that I like (friend or romantic) I Google them! I've come across Ex's Facebook open profiles and it's magical. I cannot even imagine finding a blog like that!

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  9. Blogging is kind of weird, isn't it? I often wonder if people I know are reading my blog, and I don't know about it. Or, if something I write is going to be used against me at some point in my life. But, I wouldn't change things just because of that. Basically what I'm trying to say, is I agree :)

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  10. every so often I check in with myself and get a little weirded out that I'm just putting all this information out there. But overall, I really like to share! I like coming to this little place of my own to write and chat and build relationships 5 days a week. But if my boyfriend's ex had a blog? you better believe I would have read the entire thing... multiple times.

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  11. I actually struggle with how open to be on the blog. I work for a company in Korea where society is very different. I'm sure some of my students would be none to pleased to see some of the things that I have posted online.... Oh, well. Hah

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  12. We sure do need to be OPEN people don't we, with tolerant families and friends. I love that Kent always ask first before taking a bite " do you need a picture of this" LOL funny how life turns.and BTW I love the niche you have created.

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  13. At the end of the day, no matter how many privacy settings you have turned on, if someone really wants the information they can find it somewhere. Trust me, as a lawyer, I've got some really great search tools that everyone can have if they are willing to pay a little for them! We're just making it easier by blogging about it. I think that trade off is definitely worth all the benefits there are from blogging :)

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  14. I'm still in that "new blogger posting anonymously" phase. Though, quite honestly, I'm kinda liking the anonymity of it right now. I figure I'll "come out" as myself eventually.

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  15. I honestly hate to think about how many people read my blog that I don't know about. Just a quick google search of my name & it's not hard to find. But I'm finally at a point in my life where I'm comfortable and happy to share my world with the rest of the world, whether it be someone I don't know or someone who is looking for a way to creep on my life. And I love everything you share here, from the helpful tips to the personal stuff. All of the information. All of it.

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  16. Totally on point, post! I've said some of the similar things. Although I've only been blogging for less than a year - I still feel the same way. We are just writing about our lives and whomever stumbles upon it does. Its neat and super creepy, in a good way (so far)! I actually just outed myself to friends and family, via FB on Sunday, so we shall see if anything happens. But they are all already conditioned to not touch their food so I can snap a quick pic (is that sad or what, haha)! Loved the post! xoxo, ganeeban

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  17. The thought of people from my personal life reading my blog makes me cringe a little. I have nothing to hide, but there's just something about it! I guess it's because I really am a private person and don't even share much on Facebook anymore. I rarely post photos and can't tell you the last time I updated my status, but for some reason I feel the need to document every little thing on the blog. I like to think no one really knows about my blog, but I guess I'd be surprised. This whole blogging thing we do is just strange to think about sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

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  18. I know I over share and sometimes I worry about it, especially from a work standpoint. But, it's my blogging m.o. to put it all out there and has been from Day 1. I don't think there is any turning back for me now. And I always think maybe someone out there is going thru something like me, maybe reading my blog they might feel somehow less alone. I did have one guy I met online ask me why when he googled me a ton of pictures came up associated with some blog "or something". I said "wow really? Huh..."

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  19. I can say I'm semi-open on my blog. I write about a lot of thing but there a lot of thing off my blog. Like I don't post pictures of my friends on my blog. I also don't use the names.

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  20. I was pretty much on the downhill slope for blogging anyways, but meeting and starting to date Brian basically convinced me to stop blogging. I did write one post about him so people would stop asking, but I didn't want to be sharing everything anymore. So I get where you're coming from! Obvi I'm nosey and want to know what's going on with YOU ;) Oh and he doesn't know about my blog.. well someone mentioned it once and I brushed it off but I would quite literally DIE if he read all of my posts about being single. He's told me in the past that he feels lucky he met me when I was single and I have to hold back laughter for how little he knows :)

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  21. I've always had a public blog and I've definitely shared so much personal stuff about my life here. Sometimes I'll find out someone has been reading my blog and I'm momentarily embarrassed as I try to imagine what posts they have come across. But then I think, hey, it's my blog and it's a perfect representation of who I am and there is nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm pretty proud of my little corner of the internet.

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  22. My blog has been public since day 1, but it's still small. I have no problem linking up with someone and spilling my guts out to a random stranger, but my friends and family don't know I blog and the few that do know don't know the name, they just know I do it. I don't know when I'll come clean and link a post to Facebook! One day..

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  23. Ahh this is so perfect! Being anonymous has it's perks that's for sure. But I'm dying to come out as the real me ..and I feel like it's going to happen pretty soon. I just don't want anyone's feelings to get hurt nor do I want others to use my bad mouthing of boys against me in the future you know? Being anonymous, I can pretty much say whateverrrr I want about the jerkfaces I date, but if I reveal myself, I may not be as honest or say as much about them as before. Decisions..decisions. This is a great post :) I'm reallyyyy going to be coming back to it multiple times during my thinking process before I reveal myself!

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  24. Ohhh yeah it's a little nuts what we do, but I think it's also pretty cool. I'm trying to figure out how much of life I want to spread out on this new blog of mine and definitely certain personal things are being taken under consideration as "wellllll....maybe not....."s. It's an ever-evolving journey of what to share and what not to share, but that's kinda nifty, too. Never gets stale, does it? :)

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  25. It is weird to think about how we come to our spaces, share all of the things and talk to random strangers (other bloggers) on a daily basis like they have been our best friends forever. I love it and I have met some amazing people because of it...but to the outside world...I can see how they think it is weird!

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  26. After I had been blogging for about three years, someone told me "you'll never get a job because you put yourself out on the internet so much". that's funny dude, because I'm pretty sure I have 3 right now. I LOVE BLOGGING

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  27. Most of the people in my life know that I have a blog (I don't try to hide it and I post to my personal FB all the time), but for the most part they only kind of understand what that means. Rather than "are you going to blog about this?" I get a lot of "wait you attended what event? because of your blog? I didn't know it was like a real thing", and my boyfriend has learned not to ask the first question, he just assumes everything will be blogged about.

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  28. Thank you so much for writing a blog on what I have been thinking!!! As bloggers everything is out there for everyone to read 24/7. For example I recently ended a 14 year friendship. They get the advantage of continuing to see what I am doing. And I wish I could turn that off. But we as bloggers can't. What I find even weirder......is the people I thought would read my blog most, don't. Maybe because they live my daily life with me. My biggest followers are distance family members and friends I haven't seen in awhile. The blogging world is so weird sometimes! :-)

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  29. We really are a bunch of (really awesome) weirdos. But I just can't get enough!

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  30. I'm very small right now and my goal is to keep growing, but at the same time, the thought of being any bigger is a little terrifying. I remind myself that while there are definitely people out there who just don't need to know what's happening in my life, I don't blog for them. I blog for the people who have my best interests at heart. Nice post, Sarah. :) You speak for all the weirdos!

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  31. I would just like to say that you are awesome! I find myself to be a stalker at times, but only on Facebook and occasionally Instagram and Twitter. Blogs are out there for all people to read and I don't feel like a stalker when I read blogs. Love your post!

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  32. Yeah being open/too open has been a hard line for me not cross I feel. It is hard!

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  33. Your post kinda freaked me out! LOL.. but you're right. We really are OUT THERE for everyone to stalk if they so choose.. But for some reason, I enjoy being out there.. it's kind of exhilarating.

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  34. Oh man, I definitely struggle with the desire to SHARE ALL THE INFORMATION and the necessity of having some anonymity in my life… after almost 3 years I'm still trying to find the line to toe.

    xx
    Here&Now

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  36. Being open is definitely a scary thought. I don't know what will happen when or if people I know find my blog.

    www.reinventingneesha.blogspot.co.uk

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  37. At the very beginning I was struggling with sharing my blog just because I did not want my school or college friends to see it. I found writing to be very therapeutic. I share a lot of my personal stuff like anxiety, relationships, panic attacks etc. I am still learning to own and live my truth without being afraid of anyone's opinion. I have to say that the more I share, the easier it gets. And the amount of love and support that I received from people is just unbelievable. And right know, I attract so many good, honest, loving, caring people into my life. I got rid of the mask and it's like this wight's been lifted off me. That's what I wish right now to all people - own Your truth! Peace! :)

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  38. i'm glad all your life is available on the internet!

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