Why Blog?

Why blog? What is the purpose? It seems that I haven't blogged in ages. I have wondered why I just couldn't find the time to do it this last year or so when I used to be so excited about it and really enjoyed doing it.

I have decided that I lacked purpose. At first my purpose seemed to be detailing the everyday adventures and misadventures that we had in our family. I wanted to remember those little details for myself and for my children. I also wanted it to be a link between my family and our relatives who live far away. But then I found myself drawn over and over to the number of visitors that came to the blog. If no one left comments I would immediately think to myself, "self, you must not be very interesting. No one wants to hear what you have to say." or maybe I would say, "self, I don't even think your mom cares what your child said or did." or I might even say something like, "self, Why put yourself out there--you'll probably just offend someone." All of these thoughts plus about a hundred more would float in and out of my mind. I ran through the possibilities of countless posts in my brain only to discard each and every one of them for one reason or another.

It seems that what I thought was my original purpose (documenting the comings and goings of my own family) weren't the most important thing to me after all. Otherwise I probably wouldn't care so much about what anyone else thought. So...What is my purpose then? What is it that IS important to me?

I have decided that blogging is a way to mold opinions. We are sending forth the strength of our opinion in order to influence the opinion of someone else. Whether we are encouraging someone to try a new recipe, read a book that we liked or vote for a particular candidate, the posts that we feel strongly enough to blog about are there, in purpose, to influence someone else's ideas, thoughts and actions in some tangible way. That is why the comments, or lack of comments bothered me so much--I'm not influencing anyone. Or at least that is how it feels since you see no tangible proof in the land of cyberspace that anyone is "hearing' you.

If then, my desire is to influence opinions, or at least to participate in the process, and give voice to one man's (or woman's) thoughts, for the reflection of someone else, what are the ideas and topics that mean the most to me? What are the subjects that are the most important to me? What do I feel strongly enough about to attempt writing something that will inspire another person to some sort of further action? Those are the things that I should be writing about. That is what gives a blog passion. That is what gives a blog purpose.

I'd like to introduce to you a brand new blog. www.liberjewels.blogspot.com I hope that you will visit it often and that you will find pearls of wisdom that will INSPIRE YOU TO ACTION.