Why Blog?

When people find out that I keep a blog, the next thing that occurs is usually the question, "Why do you blog?" This question comes most often from people that are in my "peer" group, also known as the older folks. The question that I get from younger people, by this I mean ones who are under 30, is, "YOU have a blog?" Their eyes are usually wide with large toothy smiles on their faces. I find myself defending my blogging enjoyment as if blogging is restricted to the younger generation as in MySpace, FaceBook, etc. (I have both of these also, but for different reasons than why I keep this blog.)

When my hubby and I got together with our cousins over New Years, they did not even know what a blog was! (they are only SLIGHTLY older than we are!) I got the feeling they were very bewildered by my hobby and I found myself talking in circles trying to explain why I do this. The past couple of weeks, I have dedicated a fair amount of time to evaluating what it is about blogging that keeps me coming back to this particular web page.

Keeping this blog is a way for me to express thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, and even sometimes disappointments and hurts. For many years, I had close friends whom I confided some of these things to. And what I didn't confide in them, I talked to God about. However, after I moved away from my home of over 10 years, I felt isolated. Even though I had regular phone conversations with my closest friends it just wasn't quite the same. Then my mom was in her accident. It seemed my entire network of support was a world away and I was left to think things through, to process information, to cry, to worry, and to rejoice by myself. This was an exaggerated response because I did have my husband, my family, and those friends in Virginia really did a good job of letting me know they were thinking about me. But, it was difficult to experience the intimacy that comes with a face to face conversation, eye contact...a hug when needed.

As time went on, circumstances created more distance between some of those friends and myself. Lack of privacy for one. A shaky marriage. A conflict. Also some of the betrayal I referred to in my earlier post contributed to some lost relationships. I had not lived here long enough to have established relationships that allowed for sincere sharing and support. I know these things take time, but I still felt very alone.

Thus, the beginning of blogging. I like to write. I can express my thoughts and my heart easily with written words. It is natural and flows easily from my mind to my fingertips. When I found myself feeling like I had no one to talk to, this computer screen was always willing to listen. The more I blogged, the clearer my thinking became. I loved the way it sometimes turned out to be a testimony as to what God is doing in my life. It was not my intention, but as I wrote about my thoughts on some things, it turned out that God had challenged me to a lesson, or taught me something that He wanted me to learn. Cool. I was becoming hooked. And even though I have kept a journal for over 15 years, there is something different about blogging. It is a "letter", open to those who want to read it and many of my friends were actually reading my blog. (so were some of the NON friends, which did not please me, but what's a blogger to do?) The real friends, the ones that care about me and have my back, they found my blog interesting and even emailed me privately or called me to respond. (sometimes a comment will be posted, but the real personal responses came to me via personal contact)

What began as an outlet, a private way of expressing myself, also became a method of communicating. My friends and family can keep current by reading my blog and I have made new friends too. What started out as a way to provide a "listener" to my undiscussed thoughts that I wanted to share, turned out to be a wonderful way to share what is going on in my life with people who actually read it.

Blessings,
~Liz