Comfortabe with Paradox

I had time today to visit a lot of social work blogs and others as well. I didn't have an agenda or a clear purpose, and I didn't realize the amazing journey I had started until I realized hours had vanished and I had only scratched the surface. When I stumbled on Social Work Blogs, I found an amazing listing of all current social work blogs and the recent posts. What a great resource and source of inspiration for those who are new to blogging in social work. There a LOT of social workers who are sharing their stories in the blogosphere!

Along the way I posted several comments and signed up to follow several blogs. As I read these blogs, I was struck by the variety of

• blogs design (use of color,format, photos, font)
• themes (clinical social work, self-reflection, new social workers, adovacacy, blowing off steam)
• simplicity vs complexity
• length of posts
• frequency of posts per month

There were many commonalities as well, but the one that struck me hardest was how social workers are constantly dealing with ambiguity and paradoxes. As much as

Image via Wikipedia

we try to systmatically work with clients, there is never a clear path to walk with our clients towards goal attainment. In fact, if we do stumble upon an easy case, we stop and scratch our head and wonder, "What's going on here? What am I missing?" Easy and clear are not terms that are common to social workers. This is one of many realities of the social work that shapes our personal and professional lives every day. The "grist for the mill" in all of the social work blogs I read today touched on this reality in one way or another - which was drew me into reading and commenting on all of those blogs today.