Why Blog?

The other day a friend asked me why I blog. Specifically, he was wondering why someone would want to keep on online diary where they record all kinds of personal details about their life that the world can read.

I suppose there are as many answers to that question as there are people who are blogging. Undoubtedly with some common purposes. Some people blog for a specific reason only and others blog for practically no reason at all. Perhaps the latter are just doing it because they perceive that everyone else is.

When I started blogging about six months ago, I wasn't totally sure why I wanted to, I just had a few notions. Primarily, I had enjoyed reading my friends' blogs and thought maybe I'd give it a try since it seemed like a good way of letting people know what was going on in my life. After having done it a while I have a lot of value in the process so I thought I'd take a moment to share my experiences with blogging.

The value of self examination: For me, the most valuable aspect of blogging has been the self examination process. I usually spend a few days thinking about what I am going to blog before I ever pick up the electronic pen. Then, I usually spend a good deal of time deciding what to say and how to say it. For me it's somewhere between an editorial column and a diary. I can't be completely transparent but I do want to be authentic. In other words, there are things that I shouldn't say because they are either too personal for a public forum or they are inappropriate because they involve revealing details about another person. Overall, I find the process of putting thoughts and feelings into words that I want to communicate to my audience to be very therapeutic. I also find myself thinking about a lot of things in my life as if I were going to put them on my blog. I bet there are five entries in my head for every one I have actually written. This is a good thing because I find myself analyzing my experiences, feelings, and behaviors in a lot more detail.

The value of authentic sharing: Initially I thought the blog would be a good way to share what was going on in my life with my friends and family. I had planned to write factual information about noteworthy events. Instead, I found that I preferred to go beyond the events and describe my experiences. I wanted to share how I felt or what I had learned. I wanted to give some value to my readers. If you've followed my blog you know that I am of the opinion that there is great value in sharing from my heart; value for myself and for others. The feedback I have received on the blog, both online and off, has reinforced my perspective.

The value of written memoirs: The blog has become somewhat of a story of my life. I have found myself referring back to various entries several times to remind myself how I felt about something or to simply recapture the experience so I could apply it to new events. A surprising feature of the blog is the power of the written word. There have been several times where I have been challenged by circumstances in my life to shrink away from commitments I had made and the knowledge that I did it publicly on my blog has kept me on course even better than my personal written goals. On a side note I also think it's a rather cool thing to have available to give to new friends to accelerate the "getting to know each other" process.

I've learned a lot about myself over the last six months (I hope others have too). I've leaned that I care about what people think of me more than I thought I did. I suppose that is both good and bad. Sometimes I agonize over what to say or how to say it. Am I being too transparent? Am I being misleading by leaving out a questionable detail? Can I be that vulnerable? Sometimes I wanted to write something but stopped myself because I felt like I'd posted too much that week and was afraid people would get tired of reading if I wrote too much (Henceforth I won't be letting that stop me). I've had to work through a lot of these feelings and I think it has afforded me the opportunity to get to know myself better and increased my ability to relate to others.

Shortly after I started my blog I added an email subscription and Feedburner tracking which allowed me to see how many hits my blog got and how many subscribers I had. I kept checking to see who had subscribed and how many hits I had. At first I was a bit disturbed by my own reactions. Why did I care so much? One thing that I noticed was that there was a very low subscription response from my close family and friends abroad; the very people who complained they never knew what was going on in my life. I was a bit hurt by this. I also noticed that people who lived close and saw me regularly, even some who didn't have a very close relationship with me, were much more interested in my blog. Interesting… I've also seen hits from people all over the world and have no idea who they are. Even more interesting…

So, I intend to keep doing this. It's unlikely I'll ever be a world famous blogger and that's just fine. I wouldn't want that kind of pressure. But, it's fun and I am getting value out of it. Hopefully, you are too. Thanks for reading.