My Blog Is Really a Journal

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I've been thinking lately about what this blog really is.

I suppose the simplest answer is that it's a journal.

I don't have a huge audience. For quite a while I had only a couple of people who seemed to read regularly. Lately that number has gone up to maybe six or seven, which isn't exactly going to set any records, but I'm glad to have them.

There have been some strange exceptions over the years. At one point, for reasons I still don't understand, I suddenly had about 250 people from Moldova reading my blog. They stayed for two or three days and then disappeared. I never did figure out what attracted them.

Over the years I've written about all kinds of things. I've written about what I'm doing in my everyday life, things happening in the world, computers, money, bicycling, getting older, and whatever else happens to be occupying my mind.

Years ago, during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, I even wrote about some theories I had concerning what might have caused it. Looking back, some of my speculation wasn't supported by what we now know. But that's another interesting thing about keeping a journal. A journal records what you were thinking at a particular moment in your life. It doesn't mean you were always right.

In fact, maybe that's part of its value.

When you go back and read something you wrote five, ten or twenty years ago, you aren't just remembering what happened. You're meeting an earlier version of yourself. You can see what concerned you, what excited you, what you believed and sometimes how much your thinking has changed.

My journal just happens to be public.

These days I write about rebuilding old computers, trying to keep physically active, bicycling, finances, things I've learned, and occasionally just what happened during my day. None of those things may seem historically important while they're happening. But put enough ordinary days together and eventually you have the story of a life.

That's one reason I think journaling is worth trying.

You don't have to write something profound every day. You don't even have to write every day. And you certainly don't need hundreds of readers. You can use a notebook, a computer, or even start a blog.

Write down what you did. Write down what you're thinking about. Write about something you learned. Write about a mistake. Write about something you're looking forward to.

Then keep it.

Someday you may discover that the person who gets the most value from reading it is you.

And if six or seven other people happen to come along for the ride, that's pretty good too.

Later

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