It’s an age-old question. Or it would be if “age” described the 20-odd years that take us back to the 1990s when blogging began, which seems like only last week to me.
Anyway, it’s a question that appears to unite all bloggers at one point or another, no matter how big or small their audience. It is asked at the start, probably many times in the middle and one last time at the end.
Why blog?
I imagine there is more of a list when you are a pro-blogger; hopefully there is still a love of writing but also income, readership, contracts signed etc. What about for us folks for whom blogging is a more of a hobby? Why do we start and, perhaps more importantly, keep going?
My story.
While I’ve consistently kept a paper journal since I was 18, I found it was a lot easier to grip a phone and type one handed while holding a finally sleeping baby than to attempt to write with a pen in a notebook and still keep said baby from rolling on to the floor.
Blogs had also kept me company in the lonely wee hours of those early months of motherhood when I felt like I was drowning. They helped me find the energy to kick my legs and get my head back above water.
So when I was feeling a little less overwhelmed, I thought I’d have a go at telling my story too.
It wasn’t completely new to me, I had blogged anonymously in the early noughties (full of angst following a nasty breakup) but much has changed in the online (and offline) world since then – not least the advent of social media.
As it happens it was thanks to social media that I got a reminder of why I blog.
A Twitter friend kindly re-shared an old post of mine from more than two years ago, which I clicked on to re-read.
Freya had just turned one and, as well as celebrating, I was also reflecting on what a hard year it had been and why it didn’t seem like the “done thing” to say so.
Amid my ramble was this paragraph:
At first I thought: “Wow, did I really include that?” I shocked myself! Maybe I should have edited that out? It’s hardly ideal to admit I was so low that I thought about harming her or me, even if I didn’t do it.
Then I realised, this was a huge moment in our lives – one I had all but forgotten until now.
As I read it again, I was back there, standing at that junction with the pram, the bus coming towards us. I can still feel the deep-down despair, the absolute certainty that I was a terrible mother for not being able to ease her reflux and stop her suffering and that this could be a way to stop all our pain. And I can still feel the whoosh of cool air hitting my face, blowing my hair back, as the bus drove by.
It was a turning point.
I was at my lowest but I decided to fight on.
Look at us now, how far we have come.
Yes, reading it again was like a hug for me, a “you got through it, you survived” but it was more than that. I continued to read and discovered a couple of comments on the post (including from the lovely Jenni, who I remain in touch with). To this day I am still surprised and delighted when people take the time to comment and especially if they can relate in some way to my experiences. I also remembered a couple of emails I’d received from other mums who were struggling, possibly even as low as I was. They said the post made them feel less alone, more able to keep going – exactly as those blogs that I read when Freya was tiny did.
It’s that connection, along with preserving the memories (good and bad) and the fact I love to write that keeps me blogging and reading blogs (so please don’t stop writing).
I’m not suggesting that every post will hit the mark, especially when I write about falling in love with a lemur, but sharing our stories – the joyful moments as well as the tougher times – matters on a personal front but also on a wider level, possibly more than we think.
Why do you blog? I’d love to know.
After The Rain 
I started blogging as a means of therapy. Therapy from things that I should have already been “over”, but wasn’t. My ex husband cheated on me, we got divorced and I didn’t know how to make heads or tails of it for years. Even though, I had moved on, I am remarried and have a wonderful family. I too journaled when I was a kid from about 10-26. I stopped when I got married. Writing is so cathartic to me. When I first started it was just a post here and there, for over a year I had only made it to 19 followers. Now, I post nearly every day and have over 800 followers. AND…back in April, I realized that one of my fellow bloggers is my ex-husbands current wife, now we are friends and it helped us both heal A LOT.
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Wow, that’s amazing! Writing is so therapeutic. I’ve written several posts where I’ve felt lighter afterwards, like they really needed to come out so I could move on. I’m so pleased it’s helped you heal.
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I started for therapeutic reasons too. To help me cope with all the worry associated with being a first time mum and to get my s*** together again.
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And has it helped? I hope so.
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I believe it is helping 😊
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All brilliant reason to keep blogging hon and even though I feel really inspired by this post, I still unfortunately need to follow through with my blogging break.
*Hugs*
Oh honey I had no idea you had such a hard first year of motherhood. Xx
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I understand, Sandy. I take break s too, I think it does us good. As long as you come back, that’s the main thing! 🙂
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That first year is hard, we want it so much but are unprepared for the isolation and sheer hard work of it all.
On a brighter note, I started blogging after a broken shoulder stopped me from making curtains and doing upholstery (I changed direction and set up a soft furnishing business), I was going stir crazy so Mr CW suggested that I go out to galleries and somebody else suggested blogging.
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I can’t imagine just how hard twins would be, I barely survived one! You are my hero 🙂 I love your blog, it really inspires me into wanting to do cultural things (and when I can’t I get to live through you).
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Thank you xxxx
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I blog because as a SAHM I often feel unheard (no jab at my husband intended, he’s swamped with school).
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That’s a fabulous reason to blog. I’m so pleased you’ve found a voice.
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I think the social connection without the pressure of face to face friendships helps a lot with blogging – I know for me personally it has helped me through some lonelier times. But what a credit Freya is to you and your care and persistence. She always seem so happy in the photos and you seem to have a wonderful bond, so if blogging has been part and parcel of helping you achieve this and finding a way to find support, yay blogging!! X
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Yes, I agree. I am close to my friends but I feel I can be freer with my feelings behind a screen than face to face. Thank you for your kind words about Freya. I like to think she is happy (when she’s not being three).
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Tara, I’m so happy that you write your blog because I love to read it weekly! I started blogging just because I love to write and I got to the point of wanting to share my ideas and life in the country. It has amazed me how many wonderful bloggers are out there, willing to read our blogs, commenting and sharing their lives too. 😄
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Aww thank you. I love reading yours too so I’m very pleased you started (and carry on) 🙂
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Hi Tara, that paragraph came from somewhere deep and lonely and it was a brave thing to write it. And how many Mums could relate? That one paragraph may have been like a lifeline to other women. Women who think they are alone in feeling like they do,
I am so glad you came through that period in your life stronger and wiser and as you said it must be good to read back and know that you survived.
xx
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Thank you, Debbie. It is definitely good to look back and see how far we’ve come and I wouldn’t have that without blogging because I couldn’t physically record it with pen and paper.
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Your post was the first blog post I read that really resonated with me, it made me feel less alone. And although I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, it was comforting in a way to know that there were others out there in a similar situation and who were struggling too – that it was normal to struggle and that it wasn’t just me.
I love that blogging gives us the chance not only to share, to help others but also to be able to look back and reflect and see how much things have changed. It’s wonderful like that.
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I think this is the first time I’ve actually read back over some posts. It’s amazing what I’ve forgotten/blocked out. I felt really pleased to have it there.
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Obviously I blog for the freebies and the glittering social life. 😉
Honestly I have no idea why I started, I never was a blog reader beforehand- just one day the urge struck and that was that.
As you say it’s a great thing to look back on, I’ve never journaled so otherwise these stories would have drifted off with the mists of time.
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Hah! You have got a nice flask! How funny that you’d never blogged or journaled before. You’re a natural, obviously 🙂
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