- Feb 5, 2002
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At some point yesterday, I checked my stats, saw that this post was exploding, and wondered why.
It didn’t take much to discover the reason – Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce, had died. By suicide, as it was confirmed later in the day.
It’s sad, and maybe a little shocking, but not surprising, if that makes sense. Not surprising, considering her life-long mental health struggles – serious mental health struggles with depression, body image and post-partum depression.
Dooce was the first of the big Mommy Bloggers and hailed at the time, as now, for her online rawness and honestly.
You might guess how I feel about that – online life is not real life, and the pull and demand to be “authentic” online is a deceptive drug.
I hesitate to even talk about that because it might seem like I’m drawing a connection between Heather’s mental health and her (for a time) very online life – because I’m not. I’m just saying that the place to prioritize and nurture raw and honest self-understanding is in real life, not online. Online life is never real life. It’s always curated and it’s a stage with an audience, and putting ourselves under the pressure of constantly performing before strangers is not what we are made for.
In short, as I wrote here,
Continued below.
*Removed link. One word of profanity*
Rest in Peace Heather Armstrong.
It didn’t take much to discover the reason – Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce, had died. By suicide, as it was confirmed later in the day.
It’s sad, and maybe a little shocking, but not surprising, if that makes sense. Not surprising, considering her life-long mental health struggles – serious mental health struggles with depression, body image and post-partum depression.
Dooce was the first of the big Mommy Bloggers and hailed at the time, as now, for her online rawness and honestly.
You might guess how I feel about that – online life is not real life, and the pull and demand to be “authentic” online is a deceptive drug.
I hesitate to even talk about that because it might seem like I’m drawing a connection between Heather’s mental health and her (for a time) very online life – because I’m not. I’m just saying that the place to prioritize and nurture raw and honest self-understanding is in real life, not online. Online life is never real life. It’s always curated and it’s a stage with an audience, and putting ourselves under the pressure of constantly performing before strangers is not what we are made for.
In short, as I wrote here,
Continued below.
*Removed link. One word of profanity*
Rest in Peace Heather Armstrong.
May she rest in peace.
