Why Do I Blog?

On August 24, 2007, Rory at CleanCutBlog asked the question, "Why Do You Blog?" You will find Rory's article at http://cleancutblog.com/really-answering-the-question-why-do-you-blog-might-put-a-match-to-it/. My answer to Rory's question is as follows:

"I blog to make sense of my life. That is what is behind my first thought of blogging to help others. Maybe, just a little bit, I like the sound of my own voice. Boy, does that sound like I have a big ego? I hope that I have a healthy ego, not an overbearing one. Gosh, you sure got me to thinking with this article."

Rory then replied that he would be interested in hearing how my line of thinking progresses. Well, here it is.

"Why do I blog?" is slightly different than "Why do I write?", but there are also similarities.
Writing could be on a much smaller scale where I write strictly for myself or to share my thoughts with a few friends.

Blogging is writing on a grander scale. Blogging puts my writing out there for the world to see. I would be lying if I said my ego doesn't get a thrill out of that idea. Does that make it any more right that I should blog? Not at all. It just says that a part of me likes the recognition. Does that take away from the fact that I blog so that maybe others can benefit from my experiences? Not at all. Does it make me a bad person for wanting recognition? No, it makes me human.

I have always written down my thoughts in an effort to understand my own thought processess. I have always written as a form of self-therapy. If I can "see" my thoughts in writing, maybe I can better understand myself. Maybe others can understand me better by reading my words. Don't most of us just want to be understood?

I, sometimes, write out my anger at myself or my husband or the world. Sometimes, I write about being hurt, or being sad. Sometimes, I just write to say, "I don't understand." Less often, I write out of despair and loneliness.

Do you know what it feels like to be surrounded by people and feel that you are totally alone? I do.

Do you know what it feels like to be so full of joy that crying is the only possible way to express yourself? I do.

Do you know what it feels like to be so full of rage that you are afraid you could hurt someone? I do.

At different stages of my life, I have written about all of those feelings. Now if I feel those things, you will read about them on my blog. My blog, now, as my writing has always been, is a barometer of where I am on this Spiritual Journey that is my life.


Back on August 3, 2007, Geoff at Tapping Creativity found at http://tappingcreativity.blogspot.com/2007/08/contest-why-do-you-write.html asked, "Why Do You Write? My answer to that question was a little different than to Rory's question of why do I blog.

"I write because I have no choice. The words come and have to be put down on paper. I have written since I was a child afraid that someone would find what I had written and know my secrets so as a child I wrote about things of no importance to anyone. Today I have no secrets. Today I write about the important things or at least what's important to me. I write because maybe I can, through the sharing of my experiences, help someone else out of their pain sooner than I was able to come out of mine. I write because I am inspired by people like you. I write because I am inspired by the struggle of other survivors."

Check out Geoff's site to find out why others write.
So here are my questions to you.

"Why Do You Write?"

"Why Do You Blog?