Ever since I started this blog I’ve struggled with Blog Insecurity. Although I know that it’s not true, I tend to think that my blog is inferior, because my posts aren’t perfect, and I don’t blog professionally. Today, I decided to counteract the lies that I’ve been fighting with the truth.
My blog is not inferior. I blog as a hobby because I enjoy it, and there is nothing wrong with blogging as a hobby. I don’t need to have a perfect blog, or to find my “niche,” or get a lot of views to be a real blogger. I’m a blogger because I blog. That’s the only qualification.
And I’m not blogging to get lots of visitors, or to become more popular. Here are the reasons I blog:
To enjoy myself.
I love writing, and blogging helps me have something that I enjoy doing outside of work and school.
To become a better writer
Writing is an amazing skill, and writing consistently helps me to become better at it.
To remember lessons
When I learn a new lesson, writing it down helps me retain it and put it into practice. When I write posts like “Relearning” or “On Worrying Well,” I’m writing them so I remember them. I want them to help me grow closer to God, and kinder to other people.
To grow self-discipline
Starting to write blog posts every week (and this year twice a week) helped me to grow in consistency, and I’m still growing. I’m learning how to work ahead on blog posts, and how to always be open to new topics. I certainly have room for improvement, but I’ve grown so much in this kind of consistency since I started doing it every week last summer.
To encourage others
This is a tricky one, because I don’t want to blog for a view count. But I do want to encourage any person who decides to stop by and see what I’m thinking about that week, whether they read one post and never come back or read my posts every week.
So I don’t need to worry if no one reads a post that I worked on, or if my posts aren’t perfect. I’m not writing to be “a real blogger.” It’s time for me to stop thinking that way. I’m writing because I love it, and that’s enough for me.