Why Blog?
Initially I thought I’d give blogging a go because it’s being used by an increasing number of companies as a marketing tool and I thought it would only be a matter of time before the university I work for decided it wanted one/some. Since there was a high probability that I would be asked to help the chosen blogger/s to get it going I figured I should probably know what the hell all the fuss was about and how the blogosphere worked.
There is a perception that folk with their own webpages/blogs are either a) geeky and spoddy, b) self-obsessed and arrogant or c) all of the above. I confess to being a bit geeky but I don’t think I’m especially self-obsessed or arrogant, at least no more than anyone else. I just thought I’d try it as a bit of an experiment - if you want to understand something there is no substitute for rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck in (as any anatomy student will tell you).
So what have I learned so far? Well, blogging is time-consuming and rather demanding. It’s a bit like a garden lawn - you mow it, turn your back for a minute, and its time to mow it again already. Some people choose to mow their lawn once every week or two, but if you want a really nice lawn you need to mow it every day, or twice a week at the very least. Some people become completely obsessed with their lawn and some people turn lawn-mowing into a career (see any golf-club for proof). I started out simply wanting to know what it was like to write a blog but I’ve discovered that blogging has a completely surprising and not unwelcome side-effect - motivation. I find myself thinking up things to do at the weekend, places to go, new things to try and not just so that I can blog about them. Blogging forces you to look at the way you spend your time and perhaps more importantly the speed at which your time is passing. I’ve been forced to confront the fact that my life is whizzing past me at an alarming rate and I don’t seem to be doing a great deal of actual living. I seem to be spending most of my time working, sleeping, eating, watching telly, doing housework, and generally feeling knackered. Blogging has made me realise that life has been passing me by and that I need to make an effort to seek out new and interesting experiences, joy, delight, passion, beauty and in particular sunlight. These things certainly won’t come looking for me so it’s up to me to go out and find them.