5 Best Reasons to Blog

After spending 3 days at a blog conference last week, I decided I needed to change things up around here. I’ve been blogging for a long time, but I admit it’s getting old and what I really want to do is find the love I had for it back when I first started. So I dug up the reasons I wanted to do this crazy thing in the first place and came up with my 5 best reasons to blog.

Writing clears your head so much more than just thinking.

I’m tired of thinking about things. It’s actually quite exhausting to sit with your thoughts running wild in your head. When you write, you are getting them out of there and releasing them to the wild. Thoughts act much differently when they are in print. Whether you actually type them out or hand write them on paper, the words hold different meaning. They might seem silly… or frivolous… or they might be more serious or scary. In any case, they aren’t swimming around your mind over and over and you can sort them out and figure out what those words are really telling you. Do you act on them? Do you forget about them?

It’s a creative outlet.

I can’t figure out if I consider myself creative or not. I kind of think I am and then I’ll see projects or read stories from other people and wonder why on earth I can’t even compete. It really doesn’t matter, though, because being creative is subjective. I used to do a lot of scrapbooking and doodling. These days, I find that writing takes the place of more artistic endeavors. Everyone needs some type of creative outlet… and writing is a great place to start.

It’s a great time capsule of memories.

I picked up my laptop and started blogging when we decided to take a road trip along Route 66 when the kids were small. I thought it would be a fun way to keep the family appraised of what we were doing… but in reality, it ended up being more of a trek down memory lane. Scrapbooking used to hold those memories for me, but it’s so time consuming that I can’t even remember the last time I scrapped a page. This blog has taken the place of a memory time machine. I can look back on our family vacations, our ups and downs, birthdays, and our general day-to-day living. This blog holds my most treasured photos and I can go back and read comments from friends and family.

You can make life-long connections.

When I started blogging, I lived in my own little world. I rarely left my city and I didn’t really have friends who lived throughout the country. Blogging opened my social circle up and gave me opportunities for work, for meeting new friends, and for contributing to national causes that were important to me. Some of the best people I know I’ve met at blogging conferences or just online in general. A blog is a journal you share with the world… and that world shrinks when you do.

It keeps me out of trouble.

Well, seriously. What would I do if I actually couldn’t write down what I’m thinking and feeling? There are thousands of blog posts I’ve started and never published because we all know that not every single thought and feeling actually needs to be put out there for all the world to see. It’s cathartic to write it down and then hit delete. You know, the things that you would probably only tell your best friend… or the things that you couldn’t even tell your best friend. When you absolutely need to tell someone and you’ve got no one to tell… write it down.

What are your 5 best reasons to blog?