I have maintained a blog now for about a decade. Posts are about my travel, my hobbies, my heroes, my thoughts & some just for the heck of it. And just last month, I lost all of it – hundreds of posts collated over this long period.
To my surprise, loosing all of this content didn’t hurt me much. Maybe the process of blogging was more important than the end result? Or, this was an opportune event to get a new start to a hobby that I haven’t been consistent with. Whatever the reason, it was time to mull over why I blog.
To Share
Anything worth keeping, is worth sharing. I spend a bit of time exploring the information superhighway. There is a lot of stuff there; not all good. I share good finds in the hope that my curated content is enjoyed or even benefited by the few who consume it.
To Get Better At Writing
Written words have the power to influence its reader in phenomenal ways. Continuously getting better at it is satisfying & will payback sometime. Especially when your present & envisaged future ha a lot of communication in it.
To Express Myself
Being reticent [adj. restrained in expression, presentation, or appearance] in nature, I often leave things unsaid. The blog is a platform of choice to express myself on certain matters.
Get To Know Me
In personal interactions, we spend so much time & effort in getting to know each other. Why should this exercise be limited to personal interactions? Isn’t it great to share common ground irrespective of physical distance or amount of shared face time?
To Clear My Mind
A LOT goes on in our heads. One of the most effective ways of clearing the clutter for me has been writing. Digitally or the traditional way.
To Journal
Some journal entries are worth sharing. Worth discussing or debating over. Worth being transparent about .. with the whole wide world. For everything else, there is the password protected app or the moleskin.
To Learn
What better way to learn than by teaching! When I am learning something with a view to share it to an audience (even if it is non-existent one) via a blog post, I tend to learn better. I organise my learning & it stays with me longer.
To Establish Accountability
Some time ago, I had embarked on a No Sugar Diet. After blogging about it, I received plenty of queries, reminders & encouragement from people. Not to mention, it became a fabulous discussion starter. All of this helped me stick to my NSD longer than I had planned. Social accountability is a powerful tool for personal growth.
To Get Over Perfectionism
The number of draft posts I have far outweighs the published ones. Most ideas didn’t the publish button treatment because of my penchant for perfect. Blogging will be a way to exercise my not perfect, but done muscle.
Picture courtesy Alejandro Escamilla.