Blogging For A Living Almost Killed A Man

CNN - His prodigious output was supplemented by dispatches from readers, public debates with fellow bloggers and ruminations on everything from the Geneva Conventions to “South Park.” Blogging was a medium — and a lifestyle — that he helped pioneer. It also nearly proved to be his undoing.”The truth is, I had to stop primarily because it was killing me,” Sullivan said Sunday night at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan. “I used to joke that if blogging does kill someone, I would be the first to find out.” He described the grueling pace that he maintained along with a small editorial staff. In announcing his retirement from blogging in January, Sullivan cited “increasing health challenges.” He said those health struggles weren’t related to the HIV he’s lived with for more than 20 years, but rather the stress of a profession that he helped make mainstream. On Sunday, while speaking to veteran journalist Jeff Greenfield, Sullivan said that the “crushing” workload was only part of what made his job so overwhelming. The experience, Sullivan said, was often dehumanizing. “Here’s what I would say: I spent a decade of my life, spending around seven hours a day in intimate conversation with around 70,000 to 100,000 people every day, ” Sullivan said. “And inevitably, for those seven hours or more, I was not spending time with any actual human being, with a face and a body and a mind and a soul.” No longer tethered to his computer, Sullivan said he’s resolved to exercise and meditate each day, and to get eight hours of sleep.

Amen brother. Pirate to pirate I respect the hell out this guy. I mean people think the blog life is some sort of joke? Newsflah it ain’t. It will straight kill you. Like it’s not if I die slumped over a computer screen with my neck looking like a melting popsicle it’s just a matter of when. I’ve been at this game too damn long. Over a decade now of slaving away at a computer. Haven’t been to a dentist or doctor since I started. (Except that time an Alien grew in my mouth) Can’t run 20 yards. Go to the movies once a year and have a heart attack walking up the steps on the way out. Squirrels living in my walls type shit. That’s my life son. That’s how I do it. I wish I could quit the game. I wish I could just pack up my things and get out. But that’s not me. I’m gonna die at the helm. I didn’t choose the blog life, the blog life chose me. There aren’t too many pirate ships still sailing upon these seas nowadays with the Buzzfeeds and Elite Daily’s of the world. Not too many of the original gunslingers left. But I promise you this much. As long as I live the Barstool flag will fly and we’ll plunder and pillage till somebody kills us or we kill ourselves.