I can’t remember when I registered barryknudsen dot com, dot net and dot org, but I’ve had the domains for several years–maybe fifteen, or so….

And for ‘owning’ those domains for a decade-and-a-half, it is a huge deal (come to think of it) that I FINALLY got barryknudsen.com up and running, today! For now though, it is certainly ‘nothing to write the parents about’. It is just a simple Blogspace with very minimal cost (especially in the face of this financially-devastating viral pandemic) and little else.

Now, I may have posted my very first blog on barryknudsen.wordpress.com, which I’ve had since 2014, but this is my FIRST blog on my actual website. To maintain a semblance of congruency, I went ahead and exported that very first blog over and from here on out, I’ll be publishing my blogs here—few tho’ they may be.🙄

One of my traits/challenges is that I’m somewhat of a people-pleaser, social chameleon and/or accommodator.😁 I used to think such a disposition was a disadvantage, because to some personality types, it can be interpreted as being ‘spineless’ or having no ‘backbone’ (among other things).😉 Throughout my life, it has attracted certain aggressive types and in my younger years, some interactions with those personality types resulted in having felt I’d been ‘compromised’.

For the longest time, I mistook having such a disposition as being a trait of weakness and lower self-esteem and as a consequence, believed for a much different reason than I do now, that I had little-to-nothing to offer.

These days, I believe my perspective has little to offer (aside from entertainment), but it has nothing to do with self-esteem and everything to do with: respecting my fellow human beings’ perspectives–no matter their station in life. As a result, I, therefore, have no interest in publishing blog posts if they don’t benefit anyone. I simply don’t feel THAT STRONG of a need to express my opinions, because, as I inferred in my first blog, I feel everyone’s opinions are valid, at least for the person holding them. I’ve received what I feel is significant enough feedback over the past few years regarding things I’ve written and posted, mostly on social media, to feel like I owe it to at least one person–whoever that may be at that particular moment–to publish some of my thoughts and some of my experiences, especially those that have enabled me to overcome some relatively sizeable challenges and odds.

And if I haven’t made it clear at this point, my primary motive for publishing ANYTHING is:

…that perhaps, someone who is in a similar mindset, situation, point in life, etc., just might benefit from something that I share–even if it’s just one solitary person whose ‘mortal’ experience is somehow improved, as a result.

I must say, too, that popularity has NEVER appealed to me and learning to cope with the very small bit of ‘fame’ (or notoriety, if one prefers) I’ve accumulated over the years (as a result of performing internationally in an acapella ‘vocal band’ with three to five [depending on the particular era of our family’s singing group] of my nine brothers since the summer of 1975,) has REALLY been a challenge for my introverted and accommodating disposition.🤔 As I already stated in my first blog in so many words: developing or acquiring the skillset of an extrovert has taken a lot of time and often timesvery unpleasant effort!

Additionally, I most likely take for granted and think unimportant, the variety of experiences I’ve gone through in four-and-a-half decades of traveling, rehearsing, performing onstage, rejoicing in triumphs and mourning losses with, as well as, spending a good portion of my waking hours with, my brothers for those forty-five-ish years. As a consequence: feeling that what we’ve done has been ‘no big deal’ because it’s second-nature to us by now, I suppose I feel hesitant to share much. I will simply try and keep in mind that I have experienced many things, when it’s all said and done, that the average human doesn’t get to experience.

I’ll give it a shot and we’ll see what happens….

Please be safe and well!👍🏻 Until next time….🙏🏼