Haley
Just received this shirt (great backstory) from one of my long-time friends, who also blogs.
I love it–and it should fit a little better when I’m not 8.5 months pregnant 🙂
Very rarely do I get the question, “Why do you blog?” Instead, I get variations of “How do you have time to blog?” And at this point I ramble on about how my house isn’t as clean as it should be because I often spend part of naptime blogging when I could be doing chores.
But every so often, I reflectively ask myself why I blog. I think back to times, such as last winter, when I was lucky to eek out one post a month due to the boys’ sicknesses. But then, for some reason, when that season of illness was over, I jumped back on the blogging train. And when I think back to when I started blogging more than four years ago, I marvel at how my posts have changed from paleo-ish recipes to ramblings about pregnancy, my kids and motherhood.
Though my reasons for blogging may change over time, just as my content changes, I thought I’d recount my current reasons for blogging.
» It’s therapeutic. When I’m stressed, I either bake, WOD (workout) or blog, and I’d estimate that I devote roughly the same amount of time to each of these outlets. Baking is mostly a creative release, especially when I’m working on a new recipe; WODing is a physical release (love those endorphins); and blogging, for me, is often an emotional release. You see, I can be much different in person than the way I sound on my blog. In person, I’m not usually quick to form well-thought-out opinions and rarely adept at verbalizing my emotions. In short, I prefer to internalize overly sensitive emotions as well as stressful situations. I’m not good at talking about how I feel; instead, I close myself off and deal with life internally.
But blogging has given me a way to communicate my emotions, without having to sit down and relay them to someone in person. I no longer keep them (all) bottled up inside, but have found a release. I’ve posted about my struggles as a working mom, moments of imbalance, pregnancy scares, my decision to wean and plenty of other emotional sagas that I could never have uttered in person.
» We all crave connectivity. Even when I’ve gone through blogging lulls, I’ve still kept up reading other blogs. I follow blogs written by women who are similar to me, with young kids who stay at home. I follow blogs of women who inspire me–to be a better mom, a better wife, a better follower of Jesus. I follow blogs that excite my creativity and stimulate my brain, with healthy recipes, with book recommendations, with budget-string decorating tips, with healthy living ideas.
I blog because I enjoy the connection with the blogging community, as well as with my community of friends and acquaintances. I enjoy the connectivity of swapping recipes and real-life imperfect mom moments.
» It’s a great record keeper. I’m not diligent enough to document every holiday or major milestone, but I do blog about small snippets of our lives when I get the chance (currently, only when naptimes overlap). One day, I’ll be able to look back through old posts and read about family vacations to Hilton Head, simple afternoons with the Rowdy boys, JM’s and Beau’s first birthdays, and glimpses of our crazy days in the Hobson house.
James’ cousin’s sweet wife sent me this onesie for Scarlett.
It gives me an excuse for the fact that I’ll take a million iPhone pics of her 🙂
» It gets me out of my comfort zone. For years, I’ve bypassed talking about my faith on the blog. Faith is highly personal, sometimes controversial and oftentimes alienating for those with differing views. But during the past year, as I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve realized that it is a huge part of who I am, this little blogger behind The Hobson Homestead. I’ll admit, it can be a bit unnerving when I write posts that delve so deeply into my faith. I don’t want to offend anyone, and of course it’d be great if everyone liked me and agreed with my viewpoint. But I’d be remiss not to mention how my faith has carried me through those hard days (sometimes weeks), how I am nothing alone, how Someone Else is there to carry me when I’m weak and how all good and perfect things come through Him.
» It keeps up my skills. After working in magazines then communications for nearly 10 years, I was a bit apprehensive to leave the corporate world to stay at home full time. I knew it was the right decision, but still, I’ve always been able to stand on my own two feet and always felt mentally challenged by my job (for better or worse!). So even though I’ll continue staying home for a few more years, at least until all my kids are in school, I want to make sure I’ll be able to reenter the workforce one day when the time is right. Blogging is much different from corporate communications writing (I don’t have time to make countless revisions or ponder if I’m effectively targeting my audience), but it has enabled me to keep the words flowing, keep thinking on a (sometimes) higher level, keep the analytical side of me, keep current with what’s going on in online communication, etc.
