A new world opened up to me when I began blogging back in 2004. I suddenly had a simple to use forum to share my thoughts, beliefs, struggles, and victories with friends and family that lived all over the world. It was like writing an open letter and people who were interested could stop by and read it whenever it was convenient for them and their schedule. It opened communication lines with friends who were hard to connect with by phone because of different time zones, children’s bedtimes, and busy family calendars. Blogging has literally changed my life. So when my friend Bill emailed to challenge me to share 5 ways blogging has affected my life, I was glad to process that journey. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
1. I love to write. I have always felt that I had a lot to say along with a deep desire to be heard. By entering into the blogging world, I have achieved both. Blogging has given me an outlet for processing my thoughts and sharing what God is doing in my life. I don’t have enough time to call or write to everyone I love so we can think through things together AND keep up with my responsibilities and activities in life. By having the freedom to drop by my favorite blogs when it’s convenient for me and by writing regular posts of my own, I’ve been able to be a part of the bigger conversation of faith and life around me. Blogging is a great communication tool.
2. Blogging has challenged me to be real. It is so easy to become whoever you want to be on the web. One can choose to hide behind anonymity or create a persona that is only a faint image of who you really are. I chose to be me. That created a frenzy of emails from concerned friends and family who told me I shouldn’t use my last name, or use my family member’s real names, or tell people what city I live in, or…you name it. There was a concern that I shared too much information. I understand the safety concerns of the web and I didn’t go into this blindly, still I am deliberate in what I share. I want to be found and easily traceable. Though I have been careful to protect identities of others when I needed to be, I made blogging into an exercise of being real in my own life, sharing hard struggles my family has been through, and describing the ways God was changing me and challenging my long held beliefs in many areas. I am determined to be bold and share freely the good and the bad. The good in the hopes of blessing someone else, and the bad hoping someone would bless me. As a result of these choices, blogging has given me courage and made me a stronger, more confident person. I have become more accepting and loving of the real me, which in turn helps me better accept and love others.
3. Through blogging, I have made some wonderful friends. It’s an amazing experience to meet someone I’ve connected with online and realize that friendships don’t have to be bound by internet access. There are people in my blog roll that I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting face to face yet, but we love each other and encourage each other as we can. My blogging friends have been there for me in times of crisis, praying for me and sending me notes to remind me that I am loved. They’ve also been able to ask me for prayers when they need it. It is a great community. Blogging has connected me with other moms, artists, preachers, teens that have been in our youth groups – and their parents, old high school and college friends, people I go to church with, people on other continents, and more. Blogging has shown me what a small world we live in and that we are all connected.
4. Blogging has been an exercise in forgiveness. I have met some not-so-nice people in the blogosphere. People who aren’t interested in dialog and good conversation, but instead want to fight, divide, and condemn. It’s easier to avoid those people while blogging by just deleting their comments, but I have found that opposition can be a good thing if channeled into something productive like making me take a second look at why I think or believe a certain way. Depending on my state of mind, opposition has both upset me and spurred me on to deeper study and development of my beliefs. I have learned how to forgive both myself and others more easily because of the blogging experience. Blogging has helped me grow as a person.
5. There are million reasons that people blog, and my friends are spread across that spectrum. There is a blog for any need I have. I have gained so much knowledge and understanding by visiting some of the “meatier” blogs of my friends. There are blogs I visit if I need a good laugh, or inspiration, or a new recipe to try. There are blogs where deep theological discussions take place and blogs where the author just wants to encourage and uplift others. This can also pose a problem and it’s one that I have learned from the hard way. Blogs can take the place of real life interaction with people if I let them. On the web, it’s easier to leave when someone offends me or makes me mad. In real life, I have to stay and work things out. I guess this ties into #2 on my list. Blogging challenges me to be me wherever I am, whoever I am with, and to value relationships whether they are face to face or not. There are some needs that aren’t supposed to be met long distance. Blogging has given me an appreciation for relationships whether face to face or online, and it has made me a better person as I’ve traversed this path that is MY Journey.
