Dear readers,
thank you for coming back so often and for writing such nice things in the comments, thank you for your generosity and thank you for all your support.
I have a wish, a wish that has grown stronger the more popular my blog has become. Personally I like to read blogs where I know what the person behind it looks like, and I want to share pictures of myself sometimes too. During the years of blogging I have been recognized on the streets of Gothenburg, Luleå, London, Berlin, New York etc. Very sweet people have said Hi, are you Sandra? I'm following your blog and I quite like it! and that always makes me a bit surprised and very glad to hear. It's both strange and fascinating when the blog world meets the "real" world.
What I now wish for is that if you see me somewhere - please say hi if you want (I totally understand if you don't want to), instead of writing me afterwards that you saw me somewhere, because it makes me feel watched. I hope you all take this the right way - lately I have felt weird about going out sometimes because I never know when someone is watching me and receiving e-mails and blog comments weekly from strangers telling me they've seen me has become a bit too much. I know it's only meant to be nice, a belated hi in text, but I hope you understand how I feel about it. I have been pointed at, stared at, followed around in shops etc and I don't really know how to deal with this.
Posting on this blog is one of my favourite things to do and I love meeting new people, especially now when I'm in a new country. Thanks to blogging I have met so many wonderful ladies and gentlemen, many of those have also become my friends - it's amazing!
Thank you for reading this :)
Aw, that's so sweet. If I ever see you (unlikely) I'll say hi for sure!
ReplyDeleteit's sweet and i so understand!!!! :) i would say hi if i saw you! but i am in lisbon so it is not likely to see you here! but i do love berlin, so who knows?! :) well anyhow... hi there! twiggs
ReplyDeleteGlæder mig til jeg kan sige 'Hej' til dig igen Sandra!
ReplyDeleteOh if I see you, don't worry I'll shout, yell, sing your name! Hoping you'll hear me or I will just look completely insane :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, lovely video!
Cute!
ReplyDeleteI'm really fond of your blog, your everyday life seems so relaxed and nice.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteoh my, i can imagine that might feel weird!
ReplyDeleteI just came back from Berlin last week (you are so right, it is such an amazing city) and while I was walking around I recognized some places you usually post pictures of and thought to myself "what if I saw Sandra walking around, would I say hi?" :p
I guess when people follow a blog thay get the feeling that they know the blogger (although the blogger doesn't know them) but if they see him or her they end up being shy (it's kind of like seeing a celebrity on the street, haha).
As always, thanks for being honest and for posting lovely pictures.
i totally understand how you feel, sandra. it must make you feel very uncomfortable. that's why i got in touch with you about meeting up before i got to berlin in may. :)
ReplyDeleteI understand so well and would definitely say hi although it is very unlikely our paths would ever cross...unless...maybe in London one day, who knows!
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to say hi if I was to run into you at a flea market or while having brunch somewhere in the city.
ReplyDeleteI also moved to Berlin since a few months and I'm looking forward to the magical summertime.
While reading your blog I recognised some dear places to me and it's simply amazing how sometimes people and cities connect in such a personal way.
Have a lovely day, even if it's cloudy today:)
anne
You´re a star! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope the weird feeling goes away soon.
Hugs!
If I come back to Berlin and happens to see you, I won't point at you but I will have a little hi with my hand with a big smile !!!
ReplyDeleteI know, that feeling you described might be so hard to handle.
Have a lovely afternoon !
Sandra, I'm sorry that it's been weird for you to go out lately! I appreciate your honesty, though - it's one of the reasons your blog is one of my favourites. I promise that next time I'm in Berlin, I will say hello if I see you!
ReplyDeletei sort of understand how you are feeling, Sandra, in that i've been 'stalked' before and it's a really horrible, uncomfortable feeling, to feel like you are being watched. we are all just people making our way/journeying through the world, whether we have a lot of blog exposure or not. but, especially when you share so much of yourself with others, it just seems like, 'not generous' to share with you who they are, even briefly, and introduce themselves, rather than pointing and staring or following. i think it makes the world a little smaller when you meet in person someone you have only been acquainted with/friends with online. i would be delighted to meet you if i saw you. i think you and johan seem like lovely, interesting people to know.
ReplyDeletei'm happy you wrote this! :)
ReplyDeleteI have always seen your photos as very brave and honest.
ReplyDeleteYour words are not only brave and honest, but eloquent too.
I hope your lightness of being returns to you soon.
~all the best
hooo
ReplyDeleteim a little far away from your country. :(
i follow you from Chile... and always is nice to see your work (sorry my english..its sooo bad, and always have to say this ajja)
hugs!
Oh Sandra, I won't meet you anyway quickly, but I can imagine what it feels like, although I don't feel like you.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I will see you - wherever it is - I will defenitely say hi!
Sandra, it's so amazing that people know you like that although I can imagine how it would feel weird not knowing them :-) Congrats on all your blog successes and I am hoping you get some kind of piece of mind with this.
ReplyDeleteI will defenitely say hi, Sandra! :)
ReplyDeleteBra sagt och skrivet! Det är väl av vanlig plötslig blyghet många inte vågar säga hej antar jag. Vad ska man säga osv.. Uj, men jag förstår dig.
ReplyDeleteOm jag någongång skulle se dig skulle jag absolut säga hej:) Jag har ju följt din blogg i flera år nu och det skulle vara jättekonstigt att inte gå fram och prata med dig.
Så, hoppas jag ser dig nästa gång jag är i Berlin:)
Oh I can very much understand how you feel. It is the reason I often omit personal things on my blog and I don;t really post picture sof me either.
ReplyDeleteI bet now that you live in Berlin it will happen even more often. You are a celebrity :)
I will send you a picture of me via email so you know what I look like and if I ever see you somewhere I will def. say hi!
thanks for saying something. It's something that never crossed my mind as a non-blogger. I once was in the same room as Willem DeFoe. I could not speak. Air just kind of gasped out of my throat. Another time I was in NYC, in an elevator with Gene Shalit from the Today Show. I froze. He spoke up and said "If you want to go somewhere, you have to push a button." I did manage to do that but I am not sure it was the actual floor I was going to. I hope you are kind to petrified fans.
ReplyDeleteI guess this problem can come with the teritory....I have wondered about bloggers like yourself, who are very open about your private lives, and those close to you. Hope you can resolve this.....
ReplyDeletehi!
ReplyDeleteon a much smaller scale i totally relate to what you're feeling:
ReplyDeletei also blog and have a flickr and take pictures of me with my pieces (t's a really hard thing exposing myself that way), so i also receive e-mails from people who saw me and recognized me and didn't say hi...
on the other hand, it's kind of awesome to have people following your work and that like reading what you've got to say and liking and admiring you and what you do.
with time i came to the conclusion that some people really think that speaking to you may not be something we'd like.
now that you've written this i bet you're going to meet a lot of your shy readers!
and if i ever see you somewhere, i promise i'll say hi! :-)
I understand and I would love to see you and say HI to you!
ReplyDeleteYou also have a really cool look !
Love also everything you make!
i know your feeling well. i had another blog before IF and had such a large following i finally closed it down. i was not 'famous' as you are (people recognizing me on the street) but a lot of people "knew" me but didn't "know" me and would say "oh you are k from tht"... and it was very strange. then, when i closed it saying i was going private, i had over 400 requests to follow, from so many people that never had commented and many i had never heard of... it was a strange experience. i ended up simply moving locations and not making it public, and that site is no longer listed in my profile. you do what you must. and it was a family/adoption blog and i needed it to be more "private". so, i completely understand your feeling on this.
ReplyDeleteand i would be honored to meet you and would not only say hi but would probably spend some time laughing with you about that weird dream i had with you in it a while back!
Jag skulle faktiskt rekommendera alla att hejja på dej för du är trevligaste trevlot! :) ps. jag tycker även att man ska bjuda dej på ngt gott om man ser dej, uppmana till det i nästa inlägg! ;) kram!
ReplyDeleteHi, Sandra!
ReplyDeleteI understand you very well, but maybe people had thought that you wouldn't like. Please be sure that if some day you come to Lisbon and I see you, I´ll say Hi to you! :))
Next year I'm going there, so if i see you, promise i'll say hi :)
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra I can imaige so well that it feels very uncomfortable when you don't know when your watched, very smart and brave to just get it out here. I promise to introduce myself properly when you expand your 4 hours walks and accidently cross the border to the Netherlands ;)
ReplyDeleteI hope you may feel free & happy in Berlin
(does the german language already feel natural for you?)
wee.. must be a bit weird feeling, i totally understand.
ReplyDeletei will for sure come and say moi-hello-tjänare! if we meet one day, here, there or elsewhere.
and thank you for sharing, your blog has been a joy already for years for me:)
Thank you Sandra for being so nice and for sharing all those private moments with us, even if you have unpleasant moments sometimes, which I'm sorry to hear and I hope that that will resolved.
ReplyDeleteStay wonderful forever! Wish you and johan all the best.
<3
Hey Sandra, thanks for that post! I appreciate your way to deal with that subject - you're very honest about it and tell your readers straight forward what you think - I find this extremely refreshing, thank you. I can totally understand your feelings, and hope you'll feel better about it soon.
ReplyDeleteIf I should ever see you, I will stutter a few words and probably talk about the weather or so... Haha, but I guess I won't recognize you anyway - you change your hair style way too often, madame ;b!
I've never thought that a blog can convert into a popular person.I'll be more carefully in my new blog that I'm starting. I'm in Barcelona, so I think that it will be difficult to meet, but If will be, with not doubt,I will say `hola que tal`
ReplyDeleteb;
Trodde du skulle säga "What I now wish for is that if you see me somewhere - please take a photo of me". Hade varit kul det med ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed about this story!
ReplyDeleteAnd find important and well the way you write about this situation.
I totally agree Rita's comment and suppositions about why some people do this. My own think is that these people are certainly nice, but have a fail of self-confidence, they are projecting some dreams throughout your blog, and when the it happens they meet the reality, they feel as if the dream was broken, like a bad wake-up morning.
Anyway, I hope you will be heard.
Kommer definitivt til å komme bort og si hei hvis jeg ser deg i Berlin. Skal en tur nedover til uka. Kanskje vi sees? :)
ReplyDeleteIT WAS ME !-)))
ReplyDeleteNO, no, I am kidding, it's to play down...
But, i'll be in Berlin at the end of the month, who knows...
Becareful, in a while you might ask people to stop saying hello !-))
Anyway, you're lovely and cute too, that is maybe the reason. A girl from sweden in germany... non ?
thank you for reading and commenting :)
ReplyDeleteyou are all showing so much insight.
i admire you!
Although a fellow Friedrichshainer, I haven't seen you anywhere yet, but promise I will say 'hi' if I do :)
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra,
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how that must feel, to be recognized so often! Your blog is so great, its inspiring how many followers you have. I'm in the U.S., but if I'm ever in Berlin and see you, I will say "Hi" :-)
For the people that email you later saying they saw you, maybe they couldn't say "hi" easily because they were walking on the other side of the street, or they were sitting inside at a cafe and saw you outside walking. Just trying to play both sides here:-)
xoxo
How about a discreet hand signal that says, "Hi, I'm too shy to have an actual conversation but I recognize you from your blog, hello." I'm half serious. I think this could be good. Maybe we can co-opt the Star Trek Vulcan thing.
ReplyDeletehe he, I love Anonymous' comment above. My best friend and I had a hand signal growing up- when we needed to chill and be more vulnerable. You interlock your thumbs and first fingers together like links in a chain. Then you can do the same thing with each other. It's a secret way of interconnecting- an unspoken way of recognizing the other person for a second.
ReplyDeleteSandra, I completely understand your request. I wish I could bump into you in a shop, a cafe or anywhere so I could tell you in person that I think your blog is great and I love your art. You are an inspiration to me. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKelly Mitchell
i understand what who are saying, must be weird, but probably i would be one of those not saying anything, because i'm shy and feel that i don't have the right to disturb you "just because i read your blog".
ReplyDeletebut i never thought that it would be unconfortable for the blogger too :)
well, if i ever recognize you on the street i'll say hi, but like someone said above, you should be careful: everybody will stop on the street now and before you know it you are using sunglasses and a big hat :)))) ah just joking!
I would find that really hard to deal with for sure.
ReplyDeleteI guess it is like a couple of people have already said - it's so much more about how the readers are feeling (shy or whatever), and not actually to do with you, but I would really struggle to not let it affect me!
And yeah, I also think you have dealt with it in such a lovely way, I hope it works!
Totally understandable - if you ever come to San Francisco and I see you, I'll definitely say hi :) Come visit the west coast!
ReplyDelete