Dear LPG, 

I have a question for all those habitual internet surfers whose surfboard has ended up on this particular wave today.  

‘Have you ever found yourself stumbling upon one bit of internet information, reading it and then finding another question you need to ask Google?

I was taking an online look recently and found myself thinking about some of my older friends and their relationships with happiness.  I asked Google how many people can say that they are happy with life.  I can’t think of anyone who would not answer such a question, no matter how positively, without adding a ‘but’ followed by the one thing that would make them happier or something that is bothering them.

Luckily, Google never gets fed up with my inquiring mind, so I can ask question after question, any time, day or night, and that is fortunate because it gives me something to do in the small hours.  You see, I have become an insomniac in my old age, and as I mentioned before, night surfing gives my small hours purpose. 

I mentioned how lucky I feel to have found something that I like doing in the middle of the night, and now that I have found a set of people who might stumble upon my findings, learning all this useless information and being able to pass it on, makes not being able to sleep at night have a purpose for me.

I have written a few times now and mentioned that I find doing so the perfect antidote for my insomnia…  

My most recent thought came to me after reading what GE had to say about the universal need of nearly every individual to ensure that we each have at least one major problem to stress and worry about.   I have to agree. Although spending time with my tablet in the mornings alleviates a lot of my stress, and even though keeping away from electronic items when you are trying to sleep is often recommended, I don’t know what I would do without my tablet.  

I feel lucky to have very few worries, but I know many people who are trying to hide their real concerns.  You don’t have to be a genius to see what they are trying not to show you for the few hours they are in your company, and we have all heard that age-old saying, ‘A problem shared is a problem halved.’

GE mentioned it in his message.  We are all nervous about sharing our worries in case they leave the person we share them with a way to embarrass or shame us, but we often forget that few situations have not been experienced by someone somewhere before.   It is also the case that true sharing will, time and again, leave you learning about someone else’s often much more pressing problem, after which your resulting quick mental measuring exercise will usually leave you asking yourself just how big your particular situation is. 

Failing that, it occurred to me to find any information about how to get someone you know who is trying to hide a worry to open up.  According to one set of internet statistics I saw, only one-third of us are truly content, while about a third are really down in the dumps most of the time.  

If you are one of those who fall into the not-so-worried third of this statistic and know someone who is a bit of an introvert, I suggest you try to encourage them to open up a bit.  In my humble opinion, being able to help a friend in this way makes the helper feel even more positive. 

NF, Crofton Park

NF shares the statistic, which, in conjunction with the aforementioned LPG post, inspired his message…

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… and a few ways to start a conversation which might get someone talking…

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