Why I blog

Ten years after initially posting a list of reasons I blog, I decided to completely revamp the post. I started blogging in middle school, though this blog does not go back that far.

Tortico cat sitting on bed, looking away, with sun shining through blinds onto cat.

While I did import some blog posts from high school, I’ve been editing and deleting old posts as of 2023, because I am preparing it for display advertising — a decision I’ve come to after plenty of careful thinking. I want to join an ad network beyond the generic Google Ads.

These are the reasons why I still blog — as well as why I create content — especially around my own life.

1. I’m great at it.

I understand blogging and the tech required to run a blog. Algorithms are not the enemy — they’re tools to work for you.

I’ve honed my blogging skills with my own blog, which has allowed me to include my blog in my portfolio or reference it in professional settings as reasons to do X technique/strategy.

Every skill I’ve learned blogging has allowed me to use it towards creating and running a business. Currently, I’m focusing on blog flipping, so I use new skills and what I’ve learned towards the next project.

Previously, I downplayed my blogging skills and lacked the confidence required to turn it into something.

Having the know-how to running a website and blog allows me to help my cousin’s non-profit diversity organization or even team up to start our own.

There is some irony to my adroit blog skills I find somewhat humorous, that I only discovered when talking to my cousin’s mother-in-law about our respective traumas: We each developed skills that fed into our professional lives as the result of out abusers.

2. People relate to personal content.

Society was built upon hiding your weirdness, not talking about mental health, and not sharing how much money you make.

All that behavior did was stigmatize mental health and pathologize being yourself.

I think the people who criticize my blogging and the content I put out severely underestimate how well my blog performs in search and on the internet in general.

Every time I publish a blog post, I’m connecting with a packed Walkup Skydome — with a line around the block. My blog posts are quoted or credited around the internet. I’m kind of a big deal, but I don’t brag about it.

I receive thank-yous and compliments daily for publishing the content that I do.

“There is nothing more lonely or terrifying than feeling unheard.”

~House of Cards

Knowing there are people out there who feel or think similarly, who experienced similar things — that is what saves lives…and it’s why I’ll never stop.

Healing loudly involves courage — and it forces society to acknowledge the effects of silence.

3. Putting thoughts into words and sharing my ideas + collaboration

Writing provides many benefits, including therapeutic efforts, by turning thoughts and feelings into words. It provides a wonderful release, and this is why I maintain an unjournal.

Blogging allows me to connect with people who share interests and experiences, and want similar things out of life. But it also opens the door to collaboration — and this is what propelled autistic-led research ten years back so that we have the research and progress within the community that we have today.

This can be said of one of my most popular posts, a list of DID alter roles. I update the list based off what I find. That post has so many comments that I had to add pagination to my comments and edit it into the theme in a jiffy.

I consider my comments section an open forum for feedback, discussions, questions and answers, and general back-and-forth communication between myself and my audience.

4. Connecting with people all over the world

This is the internet, not America. Not everyone understands USian slang, nor does everything revolve around USian politics.

I love how I follow people from all over the world, and various algorithms show me little USian news.

Beyond this, though, I am exposed to other cultures, traditions, research, and people. I don’t live inside the bubble I was raised in anymore — I embrace diversity, and I believe that that makes me a better person than I was when I lived in a bubble.

A downside to this is that not everyone finds diversity great discussions — so I seldom have things to talk about with people who think the US is the best country and that nothing should be questioned.

5. Blogging allows me to be philosophical.

If I were to get a degree, I’d go for folklore or philosophy — or both. I briefly considered sociology, but I don’t want to do anything with a degree specifically beyond the ability to say I have a specific degree.

And saying I have a folklore degree sounds utterly fantastical. (Though, to be fair, I would utilize this one towards writing fantasy fiction, probably.)

I find blogging to be a wonderful outlet for thought experiments and philosophical ponderings. I think a lot of people get caught up in needing a specific reason to discuss the what ifs or anything deeper than materialistic values and that which increases social clout.

Blogging and content creation helps me connect with people on a deeper level, about human behavior and dystopian possibilities — or topics such as time travel and the spacetime continuum.

6. To document my life!

I mean, obviously? Pretty much the biggest reason people love TikTok so much is because they learn things and get to see how other people live their lives.

Humans need story to survive. Our brains are wired for it, so anyone who says they don’t like drama is either 1) the drama or 2) actually really interested in other people’s drama.

Old school blogging relied heavily on documenting our lives — and, well, I’m definitely an old-school blogger.

7. To inspire/entertain my audience

People consume content because the want the following:

  1. to learn something
  2. to be entertained
  3. to feel inspired
  4. to relate

My blog is a mix of all of these, as I don’t seek to serve only one need. I consider my blog readers and social media followers people who contain multitudes, with all of these needs, and create content that I feel I need or want to create in the moment.

8. My blog is my platform/playground.

Every playground has its own rules. My blog is a place where anything I want to create can exist, as long as I want it to.

Social media networks and platforms do not suffice well, because they’ve their own content rules and restrictions — and can take your content or account down at any time, without warning.

Hosting my own platform works a bit different, in that the content restrictions are more lenient.

I think more people should have blogs, or at least their own website — the same handle, at the very least, as their social platforms. Too often, I see content creators losing their accounts and having to start over completely.

A blog could help avoid starting from scratch, giving at least a jump off point. It’s a solid hub to point everyone in your audience to, instead of a Linktree or similar.

9. Because I want to.

Ultimately, I have a blog because I want to.

A lot of good has come from blogging and me having a blog. I’ve received access to events as press, a direct result of having a blog to begin with.

Until blogging is no longer enjoyable, for a long period of time, I will continue doing it.

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Comments on this post

[…] first, my mom didn’t understand why I blog. For a while, she stayed up to date with my posts. Toward the end of 2010, her schedule filled up, […]

Thanks for the link!

Blogging is so personal for each person, regardless of whether or not a personal blog is involved. I think it’s fascinating to look at what makes each blogger tick.

I like your reasons for blogging, and one day, I know that you’ll go farther in your work on abuse and mental awareness, and your blog posts will serve as useful material to work off of in the future.

As with many other personal bloggers, I blog for me, and to communicate with a group of people that I’d never hear of without the Internet. I blog to learn about other people and to see worlds that I’d never see from my own bubble. I blog to speak, because I like speaking, about things that my audience may not think of. Blogging is wonderful.

I blog for many of those same reasons, but the biggest reason is that I don’t know how NOT to blog. I’ve been online since I was 13 years old. I’ve had an expage, a geocities, a livejournal (still do, I just don’t update it anymore) and domains. I don’t know how to “function” without a space to write openly even though people have told me that as a teacher I shouldn’t have such a presence online. It’s true though, I don’t think I’d know what to do with myself if I didn’t blog.

I love that you blog to teach. I really hope that you can raise awareness about abuse and help a parent, a child, or a sibling recognize situations and occurrences in a way that can save a life.

I definitely blog for me. However, I have periods when I don’t like my blog or at least wonder what’s the point with it, and then it’s only because I have some lovely readers and commenters that I go on blogging. But in whatever case I would never blog for money. I think the blogs that are there just for the sake of being famous and/or rich are so boring and uninteresting.
I don’t really like social media anymore, I have accounts on Twitter and Facebook but I prefer using my blog for sharing stuff.
It totally sucks how people think they can express just about any opinions about your blog content?! What’s wrong with people??? It’s quite easy to click away from a site if you don’t like reading it…

I blog for myself as well. I don’t know if I’m teaching anyone with what I post because all I usually do is rant and rant and sometimes, even hate.

I try my best to write awesome and hardcore comments but I suck at writing so they end up in really really bad and short comments. -_-

Thanks for the comment on my blog! :3

I think blogging for yourself is great, and I usually find personal blogs more interesting than other types. I like blogging as a way to keep my memories too. Whenever I look through my archives for my “year in review” posts, I’m amazed at how much I had forgotten.

I’ve actually learned a lot from reading people’s blogs. Sometimes it’s tips, and sometimes it’s just seeing experiences through other people. I also think it’s a much better hobby than other things. I mean, I feel like my writing has gotten better because of it (which used to be a big weak point for me).

I blog because… it’s just nice to have some place to “talk” and get some sort of feedback. It’s a place where I can go more in depth, rather than short messages on social sites. And as you’ve said, I think blogging is a great way to keep my memories too.

I blog for myself as well~ It nice (and sometimes not so nice hahaha) to go back in time and read though the archives and see how far you’ve come or remind yourself of goals you had in the past that you still want to work on.
Through blogging I’ve also become friends with amazing people~ Those are the things that are special to me~

Keeping a blog to keep memories is one of the reasons I blog. In the past I have looked a previous blog posts to see what I was doing at a certain period in my life. I try to keep a paper diary but that usually fails as I forget to update it. But I never forget my blog. 🙂

I blog because I like to moan about things! Things annoy me and having a blog provides me with somewhere to vent this anger.

Thank you for your advice regarding WordPress. I almost resorted to installing from scratch but I was determined to fix it, and I finally managed to. I’m not 100% sure how, but it works so I’m happy!

My boyfriend suggested I take my case on to the internet as people would be able to advise me, but I think I may have found a flaw in the application for legal aid. It’s income based and looking more closely at the details I believe they have calculated my income totally wrong. I’m trying to get in touch with them again and see if I can appeal this decision.

I blog for me.
I think that is one sentence that every blogger should live by, unless they are doing a magazine – writing for other people.

Why I prefer a blog is for many reasons. Sometimes, I wish I could have a blogging device in my brain – I (feel like I) think of the darnest thing every single time. But forgot what is it about when I reach to my admin page. I like blogs that are raw with emotions instead of something over analyzed.

I sometimes blog so that someone who is genuinely interested in my life read about it. Much better than telling to people who are not listening. My blog is like my teddy bear.

“My blog is like my teddy bear.” That’s cute, and it’s a really nice (metaphor? analogy? hm…).

i blog for myself too.
my blog is a creative outlet for me in the form of words, photos and sketches.

I think the best reason to blog is to blog for yourself. The bloggers out there that just do it for the money, it just doesn’t seem genuine or sincere. I would definitely say I blog for myself for many different reasons. One, it serves kind of like a diary to me. I like to not only document my days so I can later look back at the memories I had, but also to get my thoughts and feelings out. Plus it’s nice because it’s like my diary talks back whenever I need advice or suggestions from other bloggers. Two, it serves as a creative outlet, because I like to write. I like to maintain a website and I think it’s fun. Three, I can rant and vent and, again, let my feelings out in a safe manner, so I’m not throwing things or yelling/hurting other people.

I used this plugin where I could mass-edit tags, but I stopped using tags because they became superfluous, and, you know me – I cut down on useless shit as often as I pick up useless shit. 😛

Blogging is my outlet when nothing else will suffice. It’s not that I am really into social media – but I do value my blog more than social media. I find that social media lets me share things (food, thoughts, whatever) and sometimes I want to share with other people. But a lot of the time, I want to document that on my blog because my blog is like a diary, and it’s something I see as a history of my life (or part of). I even look for things on my blog when I have forgotten something. It really helps me remember things.

So many people seem to judge you for your blogging habits/style/whatever. That’s not pleasant at all. 😐

I blog for me, to organize the jumble that is my brain and confusion that clutters my consciousness.
Like you, I also need somewhere to put down my thoughts and feelings, because I forget them after a short time. Maybe if I keep this up, I can begin to figure out patterns in my brain’s behaviors.
And because I can. Though to do so, I had to make a new blog.