I was surfing the net this morning and came across a list of the top 10 blogs on a site that blogs about blogs. It's true, really, there are sites that blog about blogs. I am sure this top 10 list of the best blogs are different from another person's or site's take on the top 10 blogs. I mean who decides this anyway? Besides thinking about the validity of such a claim, I wondered why humans are so drawn to categorization. I admit I was intrigued by the list and was drawn in to read about the different sites, until I became aware that most of the sites would not be on my top 10 blog list, if I had one, which I don't.
People seem to have a deep need to categorize things. It's not hard to come across claims of the top 5 secrets to weight loss or a top 10 list to become the best person ever, etc. Of course, people have personal ways of categorizing themselves as well, for instance, "I am the stupidest person ever'' or "I am not as clever as other people", or "I always come in last" or for the egoists in the crowd, "I am the best, cleverest, smartest person ever".
We are all looking for 'the formula' for transformation, and these lists are seductive. They pull for us to ask questions such as, "am I on the list?, can I get on the list?, if I accomplish the steps on the list will I be happier or more spiritual?" Having said this, I am glad to be listed in three separate top 100 lists for best blogs, it means that someone thinks and feels that my content is interesting and that is good feedback.
If categorizing and making top number lists are comforting in some way, then I suggest that people also make their own individual lists based on their own needs, desires, life circumstances. Keep it personal and use other people's lists as guidelines. If it's not pertinent to you, if it doesn't fit like a glove or make sense in your soul, then it's not your list.
