<a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/3000348532_f9d3cae005.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-287" title="3000348532_f9d3cae005" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/3000348532_f9d3cae005.jpg" alt="" width="462" height="354" /></a>
<h5 style="padding-left: 330px;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28228039@N02/">Patrick Kiteley</a></h5>
It's suddenly dawning on me: the Status Update is a strange, strange animal. (Am I late getting to this party?)

The strangeness is not necessarily on the surface of each individual status update on Facebook or Twitter. For the most part, I really enjoy getting this glimpse into the daily lives of my far-flung friends. (If I didn't enjoy it, being on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter">Twitter</a> would drive me mad.)

<strong>What's strange is the way status updates make me reflect on what's <em>really</em> happening in my life, and how they leave me wondering what's <em>really</em> going on in the lives of others.</strong>

Like with every communication, <strong>status updates are partly about what's being said, and partly about what's NOT being said</strong>—what a person chooses to include and leave out, and what's really behind these choices we consciously or subconsciously make.

There's been some pretty funny chatter on Twitter recently—sparked by my good friend <a href="http://twitter.com/ChuckWestbrook">@ChuckWestbrook</a> —about the ridiculousness of a certain brand of Facebook status update. Chuck calls them "faux-casual status updates proving how awesome your life is." Here's an example he gave:
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">The thinly veiled brag on fitness, "Feeling lazy for not running. Going to be hard to break the 3 hour mark in the marathon next month."</span></span></em></p>
It's like the famous job interview question: What is your biggest fault? The answer, of course, is that you're a workaholic, or you're too detail-oriented, or you're good at so many things it's hard to know where to direct your amazing skills. In other words, it's a way to say something wonderful about yourself while toning down the brag factor. News flash: it's even more annoying than blatant bragging.

<strong>We do have exciting things going on in our lives, though—things we are proud of and have every right to be. Is there an acceptable way to share them with our so-called friends?</strong> (Maybe this is the problem—we've opened our arms too wide on Facebook and Twitter, and our communities have become too large for that necessary sense of mutual trust and affection. But that's a whole new post for another day.)
<h4>Your status updates are actually about everyone else (sort of)</h4>
This is where the other layer of strangeness comes into the whole status update phenomena: <strong>Status updates do, in fact, unwittingly involve others, even though they're meant to be simple reflections of an isolated self.</strong>

I've found it's almost impossible to just say what I'm actually doing or thinking and leave it at that. I tend to wonder how it will be read and taken in by everyone else. <strong>And when it's all said and done, and all of my status updates are strung together, I have to wonder what kind of self-portrait I'm painting.</strong> Is it accurate? Is it depressing? Is it annoying? Does it look anything like my real self living my real life?

I do try. And sometimes trying hard means just the opposite—letting go. Last night, I let go and tweeted this:
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">tonight: seriously messed up sinuses &amp; blood sugar. also overwhelmed by tax info gathering, stressful late night music rehearsal &amp; fatigue.</span></span></em></p>
Then I worried, caught myself, and tweeted this:
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><span class="status-body"><span class="entry-content">also: regretting being such a downer. I have a lot to be grateful for.</span></span></em></p>
It's all true. In the first tweet, I'm trying to be as real as I can in 140 characters. I don't want to tweet only when my life is humming along perfectly. The truth is, I haven't felt this overwhelmed in many months. I feel like I'm barely one step in front of dozens of deadlines, like a criminal who's living life one step ahead of the law. I wake up each morning aware of a certain undeniable heaviness.

It's also true, that when I'm feeling sorry for myself, I tend to immediately think of all that I have. Jason and I have jobs. We have a home we can afford. We're healthy, and so are our kids (aside from a headache here and a bit of strep there). I don't want my relatively small problems to come across as whiny and disrespectful to people who have real problems looming, like foreclosure or cancer treatments.
<h4>Striving to keep it real (can that be my schtick?)</h4>
On Twitter, there seems to be two common approaches to life's struggles: Either your schtick is being the King/Queen of Positive Thinking and you NEVER acknowledge anything negative, or you use every negative aspect of your life as key comedic ingredients in your endlessly entertaining tweets.

I'm not good at either approach (even though I sort of enjoy reading people who can pull off the second one much more than I enjoy reading people who attempt the first). If I tried them, they would just be "approaches," not reflections of my true self. My halfway-to-normal self, in the end, is all I have to offer.

Luckily, there are always good people who want nothing more from anyone than that.