Why Blog?

~ MaryG

I’ve periodically kept diaries and journals over the years.  (I have a whole crate of them in the attic.)  At one point, in my 30s, I read through them all in an attempt to figure out my own personal “theology.”  (I did this for a class led by a minister at my Unitarian Universalist church.)

One embarrassing thing that I had forgotten about myself became clear as I read through those old journals: I was a cheater.  I had been caught numerous times in school passing notes or looking at other people’s papers.  Ouch!

Another thing I learned/remembered was that there was one song that had made a particularly big impression on me.  Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young,” which was released in 1978, basically became my life’s permission slip to blow-off some of the more restrictive tenants of the Catholic Church.  (Google the lyrics and imagine yourself a heretofore “nice” Catholic teenager.)

So why blog?  I mean…it’s public.  Why not just keep journaling – in private?

I guess the answer for me is permanence and connection.

All my old journals could easily get tossed out in the next move, or ruined by the next interior water mishap…or God forbid, burned in a fire.  (Our attic, home of my old box of journals, narrowly escaped a lightning strike last year!  See photo.)  If you put your thoughts on-line, they’re basically permanent.  I realize I may come to regret that, but at the moment I like the idea of having some sort of permanent record that I existed and had thoughts.

The idea that someone else might read my blog, and perhaps relate to it in some way, is also appealing.  As someone who was born and came of age in the pre-internet world, it sometimes seems sad that people are now so glued to their various screens.  Still, I’ve come to understand that meaningful human interaction and connection can and does happen on-line.  Some people seem to find great joy sharing their lives on Facebook and other social media.  I thought blogging might be like that, but with just a bit more room to expand.

Lightening strike
My son in front of a tree that was struck by lightning in our front yard in August 2015.

 

10 thoughts on “Why Blog?”

  1. Wow, that is powerful! And I agree, we don’t know how this could come back and haunt us. Believe that if it is with good intention, there can be no harm. I know what you mean about journals and sitting in a box somewhere, I have many too. I write mine to share my life experiences with others as a Reg. Prof. Counsellor with the intent of helping others with their choices, life transitions, losses,etc…

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  3. Mary, I think it’s admirable – and brave – to reveal yourself in the quest for connection. I enjoy reading your thoughts, thanks for sharing them with us.

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  4. I love your reference to journals. I used to journal and at times have re-read some of them and have even found myself pleasantly surprised by the thoughts I once had. Every time we move house my husband picks up my bag (it’s a nice bag!) of journals with a questioning look, and I always tell him I’m not ready to let go of them yet. But now you’ve given me the idea to tap into them when I’m stuck for something to blog about! Yes, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head: to blog is to connect and does lend some sense of permanence. Even if we do delete a post, has it really been deleted? And perhaps it has sown a seed in someone else’s thoughts that we will never know about. A little bit scary but also quite exciting. I look forward to reading more of your posts.

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  6. Mary. I applaud your intentions and creative sorcery. I too have kept some salicious and emotionally filled journals that I worry about others reading, but will never throw away. I just wrote a short piece for BetterAfter50 relating to an obsession of mine: “thinking about moving and growing older”. I believe you do what feels good for you and if self expression works, do it. I do it in my little essays, which I keep for myself, I do it in face to face conversations each day, and I have begun, like you, to make more public writings known (though not on Facebook). I look forward to your BLOGS, and remember, “You Catholic Girls Start Much Too Late”.
    Beth Nast
    p.s. I am thinking of taking a writing class at Grubb Street in Boston soon as a friend turned me on to it.

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