Some Thoughts on Blogging

At the very beginning of the first episode of BBC's television series, Sherlock, John Watson's therapist tells him, "You're a soldier and it's going to take you a while to adjust to civilian life and writing a blog about everything that happens to you will honestly help you."

John's miserable answer is, "Nothing happens to me."

I enjoy watching Sherlock. I love the plot twists and the irony, the puzzles and the British humour. I love that there are different ways to understand so many things.

In the scene I just described, does the therapist believe that he was traumatized by his time in the war, and that writing about what happens to him as a civilian will help him put the war behind him and focus on better things in the present? Or does she understand that John misses the war, that he is bored with civilian life, and that writing a blog about every little event will help him appreciate that things do actually happen to him? The irony, of course, is that his life is about to get very interesting because he is about to meet Sherlock Holmes.

I was watching the episode earlier this week, and this scene stuck with me. It made me ask, "How does writing a blog help me?" Here are some of the answers I came up with:

1. My blog is essentially my journal. I write it for myself to help me remember the things that happen to me - the good as well as the bad. I don't write about everything that happens to me obviously. (Does anyone really want to know that I pricked my finger while I was sewing today? It bled for a minute or two. I stuck a band-aid on it for a few hours, and that was that. Maybe in one of these posts I'll reveal what I was sewing and why, but that's a tale for another day - It isn't finished yet.)
   
2. When I write about things that have happened to me, sometimes that helps shape my feelings about those events. Sometimes I sit down to write feeling offended or upset, and as I write about what happened, as I'm thinking about the events from different angles, it helps me to have a better understanding, and to feel more at peace with those events. It can help me to feel more forgiving towards others as I try to figure out what might have motivated them to do what they did. And sometimes just writing about something upsetting helps me get it out of my system so I don't need to feel upset about it anymore.
   
3. Sometimes writing a blog about a more abstract idea helps me to work out ideas and impressions that have been banging around in my head that I haven't understood thoroughly. It's a way of pondering or meditating.
   
4. Blogging is a way of sharing with others things that I think they may appreciate. My parents, for example, don't live close enough to see my children on a regular basis, so I think they may appreciate the occasional update on what they are doing, their interests, and the like. Or maybe I just want to boast.
   
5. When I accomplish something, sometimes I like to show it off, to share it with others. I was once told to "find ways of pleasing others with [my] skills." By sharing what I can do on my blog, I am allowing others to see what I can do, and occasionally that enables me to serve someone, to share my gifts and talents in a way that benefits someone else. I hope that sharing my thoughts with others will help others to maybe look at things in a different way.
   
6. My blog is an exercise in honesty. As I said, my blog is my journal and I write it to remember the good and the bad. I want to remember things as they really are, or at least how they really appear to me as I'm living it. I've noticed that sometimes as I read through old posts I see things from a different perspective, but I still appreciate that when I wrote it, I believed it to be true. The perspective is part of the history.

So yes, I feel like writing a blog does help me. And I am reminded again that I should be doing it more consistently. Now that the kids are all back in school, this is my aim.