Why I Blog

This was originally posted last December but I thought that it fits with the prior post and thought that I'd throw it up again.

Why do I blog. Why do I spend so much time sitting here at the computer staring a monitor that is filled with the fingerprints of tiny people. Why do I surf the net and engage in 21st century voyeurism.

The very simple reason is that I derive a tremendous sense of joy and satisfaction from using words to express my thoughts. I have a great love for the language and I appreciate those people who can use words to construct a mental image. I appreciate their ability and craftmanship and wonder how it is they can take my mind and send it on a journey out of my body and into another world.

For surely it is a bit escapist to sit at the keyboard and scroll down the pages and read about the lives and trials of others. And in a different way I find it comforting. I am part of a community of bloggers, a part of the overall blogosphere and at the same time I am also part of many other groups within the blogosphere.

I am able to reach out and click someone. I can see that there are others who are facing the same challenges I face or have already overcome them. I take strength in their words and I offer my own.

Here at the keyboard I commune with others and speak about my life. I offer my insecurities and my beliefs. I open my mind and try to learn about the world around me. I am always searching and seeking for new things to learn. I am an educational hedonist.

I have many refuges. There are places I seek during times of trouble and uncertainty. There are physical locations that feed and nurture my soul, places in Ojai and the Los Padres National Forest. There are areas around Malibu and beaches in Hawaii.

Around Jerusalem, in the Negev and near Joshua Tree. On top of Yosemite Falls and elsewhere. These are places that I seek because I find them to be relaxing. They help me find myself and reconnect.

The problem, the challenge is that often I cannot get to these places as easily as I can get to the keyboard. So I compromise and sit here where I share my thoughts. I offer my joy and release my pain.

I post and comment and speak, but I rarely read my work again, at least not in its entirety. I refer back to it because I know that it relates to current work, but I tend to post and pretend that it never existed because I am rarely satisfied with it.

But this is too important to ignore and too important to waste time by trying to be something I am not. This is where I show my humanity, my good and my bad, my strengths and my weaknesses.

This is where I blog.