Today is my blog’s 10th “birthday.”
10 years ago, Ryan suggested I start blogging. I figured I’d give it a try, but I didn’t write very much at first. I didn’t really think I had anything to say, and I sure didn’t know who would want to read what I wrote!
But 2008 was a very big year for us. We decided to homeschool that year, and then Moose was diagnosed with autism, and he started his own school journey. And I wrote about those things. I still don’t know if I was just trying to sort out my own thoughts and feelings, or if I was hoping to connect with people having similar experiences, or if I thought maybe what I was doing and going through could help other people somehow. But I started writing more and more frequently, and in 2011, I had my first full year of daily blogging, and I never looked back. I have now blogged every day, at least once a day, and sometimes more frequently, for over seven years straight.
There have been times when I have really felt like a successful blogger. Many months, my website has had over 3,000 views, and while I know that doesn’t mean people are really reading what I have to say, it’s still a lot to me. I’ve come to recognize seasonal ebbs and flows of certain posts. I’ve had days where my blog traffic has really spiked. Several things I have written have been viewed thousands of times. I was even recognized in public once as a local homeschool blogger, and I won’t lie…I felt like a celebrity!
There have been other times, though, when I have wondered why I bother. When I can see that people just aren’t reading what I’m writing. Where I’ve put a lot of thought and effort into a post that I think is really interesting and it has fallen flat. When I can’t think of what I want to write about, or can’t find the words for what I do want to say. When we’re busy or there’s illness in the house, and it seems like I just can’t find the time for anything. And of course, worst of all, the moments when I see other bloggers who are somehow able to make money, or even just get gifts of things they like from various companies, and I wonder, what am I doing wrong that no one has even reached out to me like that?
I keep at it, though. Because in the end, it doesn’t really matter to me who is reading what I’m writing, and I’m sure not in this to get some kind of compensation. What matters is that I found my voice, that I know I have something to say, and that I’m putting myself out there, every day, sharing my thoughts and experiences, and making a tiny little corner of the internet mine.
If you’ve ever considered starting a blog, or picking up a long-abandoned blog, I challenge you to give it a shot. There is so much benefit to putting your thoughts down on “paper” and expressing yourself, and even one voice can make a difference!
