So this is what happens when you get hit with some good blog fodder. Even if you have a million other things that HAVE to get done, you can’t do them until you get this one thing out of your head first.
TLW, my Active Rain “Mom”, did a very nice thing for me today, and part of it was “The Paradoxical Commandments”.
The one that gets to me the most is:
“Honesty and frankness makes you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.”
That spoke to me because I think that is the very heart of my blogging.
I don’t mind putting out whatever of me needs to come out in a post. If I feel the post needs it, I’ll tell you about being an abused wife, being shot at or feeling lost. I’ll tell you about my daughter’s disabilities -- with her blessing, because like me, she’d rather say it if it will help you.
I never mind saying when I feel out of my element or that I worry too much. Or how much I love my kids. I’ll even tell you my age! Why hide it, I’m happy for every year God chooses to bless me with!
I’ll let you in on past and present conversations with my kids. Sure, there’s stuff I won’t tell you. But the stuff that makes me vulnerable doesn’t scare me.
I watched my Grandma age and forget things sometimes. She’d laugh and move on. Nothing embarrassed her.
I’ve seen my daughter go through hell with her disabilities, and I couldn’t carry any of it for her. She still smiled, she still grew and made friends and went on. Why hide?
If you’re going to write a blog and you want people to read it, you need to be real. If you want people to come back, let them into your life a little. Good and bad. Be real. (If you only read one link here and you blog, read that one.)
Trust me, you are interesting and people will want to hear what you have to say. Yes, you should talk about work and things your clients want to know, too. But I think one of the major points of a blog is that it is by definition a log or journal of your thoughts.
You can argue with me and tell me that this is a business network or that I should be more professional, and it won’t make much of a dent. I don't care about following anyone's rules but my own. (And don't tell my friends how to blog anymore either, they're doing just fine.) If you want to write it, do. Don't even think about what "should" be in your blog. It's yours, you make it up as you go. Yes, this is permission if you need it.
I blog because I almost have to. The words want to come out and I don’t really even have that much control over them. I have other things I should be doing but this post insisted on being written first.
I am a blogger.
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