My daughter, Kristin, 21, poked fun at me last week for blogging. Mom, aren t most bloggers, like, 15-years-old? But something about my blog grabbed her interest. In fact, a week later, she joined my weblog community.
Her first blog post was a little tentative:
What’s the saying? Don’t knock it ’til you rock it (or something to that effect). So here goes…hmm…..this is hard…Because I am a little skeptical of who may be reading this I’ll just start out simple.
A blog (short for weblog ) is an online diary or journal. It s a little unnerving to post journal entries on a public blog, not knowing who may read them.
The first week that I blogged, I edited myself to death because I was worried about what people would think about my real life. To further add to my paranoia, others started posting comments to my entries, so I knew people were out there . . . reading.
So, are blogs true journals or not?
My first thought was no. Blogging seemed more like a conversation with friends than personal journaling. After all, personal journaling is all about recording private thoughts and blogs are public.
However, my thoughts about blogging are changing. A little at a time, I reveal who I am through my blog. My blog posts are evolving into thoughts and observations about life that I no longer self-edit. It s been a liberating experience.
In my personal journal, I write things that I know to be true about myself that I’m unable to reveal for one reason or another. Once I’m done journaling, I tuck the journal in a drawer, put on my mask and go out into the world.
Not being true to who I really am causes all kinds of problems in my relationships. Further, if my behavior doesn t line up with my values, it keeps me from meeting important goals, growing spiritually and compromises my physical and mental health.
It s important to keep a personal journal for my eyes only I always will. But integrating some of the thoughts I record in my journal with my public blog is peeling away layers of self-consciousness and tentativeness.
I knew I was a true blogger when I re-read a blog post and, instead of editing it, I thought, This is who I am, and, hey, I m okay!
My new philosophy as a blogger is: The closer I can get to integrating my true self into my public self, the better off I am. And, of course, Don t knock it til you rock it!
About the Author
Barbara Carr Phillips, journaling instructor, believes dreams come true when you journal your way to success. Visit http://www.journalworkshops.net to order your one-to-one journaling workshop or to sign up for her FREE ezine.
