What Blogging Has Taught Me

April 24th 2018

I have been on my blogging journey for over 2 years now. After a slow start, overcoming some mental roadblocks, and learning quite a few lessons, I feel as though I have gained the wisdom to sit down and write this post about what blogging has taught me about life and about myself.

I began blogging as a way put my writing out there in the most gentle way possible. When I first made my account on WordPress, I didn’t share my posts on social media, tell anyone I had a blog, or even tag my posts because I was that nervous to have my posts seen by other people. That was the first year of my blog. It was a year with no writing schedule or production calendar or direction in general. I just wrote, candidly and openly.

If you go back to the very beginning of my blog, you will see posts with scattered dates and on varying subjects that all tied back to personal introspection. I have grown considerably as a writer since then, but some things remain the same like my love for introspection. However, now I write for an audience. I think that this has helped my writing in some ways and hurt it slightly in others.

I do not write as candidly as I did before because I know that what I am writing will be promoted on social media to my peers which, despite me feeling comfortable letting them read my writing, does cause me to censor a bit of my feelings to avoid uncomfortable interactions. However, I definitely feel that writing for an audience has helped me way more than it has hurt me.

Writing has made me a better reader and a better audience member. I write things that I would be interested in reading myself and as a result I find that more people are able to engage with my content now than ever before. I have also realized that writing from my personal experience has resonated with some of my readers which, in turn, has helped me feel less alone and more encouraged to share the happenings in my life with people who I feel may be experiencing similar thoughts and feelings.

Blogging has also lit a new fire within me and it is the spark of inspiration to someday write a book. You see, I do not view myself as a novelist and I don’t see myself making a book filled characters and heavy plots and symbolism, but instead something in the realm of personal growth and self-help. Blogging has inspired me to get my hands on more book and experiment with different styles of literature in order to help myself grow as a writer. I have been told that the best writers are the best readers. That has inspired me to take more time to read (however, I don’t always follow through which sort of sucks).

Lastly, blogging has taught me a lot about authenticity. The more I write, the more I realize the value in writing from a place of honesty instead of a place of “flexing”. My goal in blogging is not to be someone with a picture perfect blog, but instead to write content that sticks with people and helps people.

With over 200 posts written and 2 years under my belt, I know I still have so much more to learn, but I am excited for where I will go from here!

Jess~