"Why do I…" Wednesday

You may have noticed that recently I joined the “Wordless Wednesday” bandwagon.  But I’m not very good at being wordless.  So, I’ve decided that I’ll rotate between “Wordless Wednesday” where you get a picture with no words, and “Why do I…” Wednesday.  On “Why do I…” days I’m going to try to address reasons I do things.  Like why do I blog, take so many pictures, want to have so many kids…things like that!  So…for starters, I’m going to focus on something that’s been travelling around the blog-o-sphere:  Why do I blog?  Through the website of my friend Kate, I found this post.  And a few days later I ran into this blog by my friend over at CityStreams.  So after seeing those, I started to wonder…why do people blog?  Why do I blog?  Well, a quick Google search will give you thousands of responses to that first question.  My favorite thing I saw while perusing the results from my Google search was this.  I don’t know this Anne Matthewson person, but I like what she has to say:

Herman Melville put it best when he said, “We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.” A perfect description of blogging, don’t you think?

I started blogging some years ago largely to pass time and share experiences. A small part of me, however, was selfishly hoping for admiration and affirmation; a shallow attitude I’ve long abandoned. Eventually, I discovered the joy found via “invisible threads” and “sympathetic fibers” – those human connections made along the way. Blogger tend to be a lovely comfort of strangers.

So after I tried to avoid the question I’d posed for myself by reading about other people, I figured I might as well take a stab at it.  I now know why other people blog, but what about me??  I don’t have a big “following”, although I’m finding out that I have a few “lurkers” out there! 🙂  So it’s not the feedback I’m searching for (although it is nice).  (Hint, hint: leave a comment.)

I think, for me and for millions of other people, blogging is just theraputic.  Typing out all my thoughts is much cheaper than paying a therapist!  You guys get to hear things that I would otherwise often only tell my bestest buddies or Marshall.  I would never probably never admit that I was in over my head to you guys if we were face-to-face. And I know that I would never bring up this topic in polite conversation. (Well, maybe I would…but I wouldn’t talk about it to just anyone!)  But here in bloggyland, there’s a freedom.  Freedom to speak freely.  Say what I think.  Talk about what’s on my mind.  And there is so much more on my mind, but it is time for me to go to Vacation Bible School with the kiddos…so maybe more on this another “Why do I…” Wednesday!