This is the second post in a short series on my changing identity as a blogger. Part 1, Part 2.
Why do I blog NOW?
I have a NEED to blog, but sometimes I choose to keep quiet because the things I NEED to write aren’t what I’ve written before. The changing identity is tough. I want to blog about some of my worries about parenting and how these are fueled by pressure from our culture rather than my reality, I want to blog about extended breastfeeding and weaning and how these decisions were made and the EMOTIONS, I want to blog this pregnancy more as a journal for me to remember how I’m feeling instead of a checklist of weight gain and cravings, I want to be able to look back and see substance in addition to the scrapbook of our life.
You see, I’ve changed. I started this blog when I was 25 and dating. In the last six years, I’ve gotten married, had a baby, parented a toddler, and am expecting a second baby. I’ve been employed, unemployed, a freelancer, and a grad student. Both my personal and professional journeys have changed me.
I know many people who start a new blog space after a life change – from infertility to parenthood, from personal to professional – but I like my space as a history of who I am. I share it with my family as I write about them, but it is primarily mine. My journey has led me to want to write more about topics I care about. To use this space as conversation without fear of differing opinions.
I have a few goals for how I want this space to grow:
- I want to blog some things just for me about things on my mind or that I find important.
- I want to take more pictures with an actual camera and post these.
- I want to make times for blogging because I’m having a hard time keeping work to what I consider manageable hours.
- I want to both enjoy and record our life.
- I want to comment more on other blogs. Part of why I don’t is my irrational fear of commenting and part is that when I want to comment I want to leave a thoughtful response, which requires my computer, which is way more work than using my phone. I need to get over it.
I like this! Your blog is whatever you want it to be!
This post has inspired me. Helped me nurture that NEED inside of me to just write. Part of it is what you have been talking about in this series – your audience and how much of yourself you want to share (and how). The other part, for me, is what one is expected to write about (and how) as part of the IF community. The “hidden curriculum” if you will, though my perception of it is different than another blogger’s might be. I have the hardest time with the second prong.
I think I might steal your bullet points, is what I’m saying.