Why I blog...

Recently I’ve been wondering why I blog. Mostly I’ve been wondering because another blog made me think about the entertainment value of my blog. Is it funny enough? Is it well written? Does it matter if it’s well written if the content is good? Does it have enough pictures? Are the pictures of anything that anyone else would care about? Why would anyone even want to read my blog? (Can you tell I was a Philosophy minor in college? Yes, I admit that I think too much, but admitting it is the first step to recovery)

I started getting a little self-conscious and thought that my blog isn’t nearly as entertaining as others. But really, is that why I have it? To entertain? The conclusion that I came to was, not really. It dawned on me that I have this for no other person than myself. It’s great that I do have readers (believe me I appreciate you all for your wonderful insights) but this blog is not for them. It’s for me. It’s for me to express my love of knitting and occasionally write about my life and what’s been going on in it. (I realize that recently I’ve been writing much more about my life than about my knitting and but hey, I’m knitting some pretty boring things at the moment) And I find that I like to read blogs that are more personal. Ones that do talk about life, rather than ones that are all knitting all the time. After all, how much knitting can one person read about without having anecdotes to go along with it?

I used to write in a journal. I say ‘used to’ here because as soon as I started my blog, my journal writing fell by the wayside. My blog is very much like my personal journal. Obviously I leave out the part where I talk about my inner feelings and perhaps the parts that are a tad bit too personal for anyone on the web to find. But, in essence, it is the same thing.

I don’t know about you, but I’m the type of person who is drawn to things that are therapeutic. Knitting, as many of us know, is extremely therapeutic. I’ve heard it phrased “knitting is cheaper than therapy and you get the same results.” I’ve also read somewhere that people who write in journals tend to be more balanced (maybe that’s not the right word) than those who don’t because you write out what’s bothering you, you think through the problems, etc. I have found this to be so true. Even with the bad things that have gone on recently (for instance, my venture to the allergist, and me cutting my finger and needing stitches, etc.) they don’t seem so bad after I write about them and I can even find the humor in it.

I suppose my point here is, even if I had the most boring blog in the world and I mean so boring that it physically hurts to read it and you’d rather be poking yourself in the eye with your size two double points, it wouldn’t matter, because it’s all for me. And the most ironic part about it is even though it’s personal and all for me, I’ve met some pretty amazing people through it. The kind of people I’d like to know in person. And I feel like I’m a part of something great, like a community, which really is a nice feeling.

I think I’m going to step down off this soapbox now. And next time I start getting so long winded, somebody just slap me, k?