Why we write a blog and why you should too !!

Last week, we successfully published our 100th blog post in ‘We Are The Living’. The journey has been very transformative to say the least. To start this blog was a random whacky idea we picked from some online expert. The blog has been helpful in surprising ways. In this 101st post in ‘We Are The Living’, I would like to state these reasons and hope that they can persuade you to start your own blog too.

Encounter my devils

The lenses that in which we view our world as children often become some of the hardest filters to get out of in our life. Mine had been about my height. Even now when I write this sentence it gives me a little uncomfortable feeling. The first time I really caught this bull by its horn was in the post ‘The Joy of Acceptance.’ I can confidently say I felt infinitely better after I wrote and published that article. It was also reassuring to know that it helped many others with the same struggle.

Another of my devil was my stinginess which I faced in ‘Why we should celebrate.’ Putting my fears, inhibitions and guilt in black and white made me take a step back, accept and handle them much better.

Follow through on my changes

Changes are hard. That’s why new years come and go , despite all resolutions, people stay obese, stuck in the jobs and relationships or lack thereof. I find it very hard to change too, despite my best intentions. But writing about the changes I intended really helped me follow through and commit to them.

By writing ‘Choose your words, choose your life‘ I became a person who chose my words more carefully. From the blog post  ‘What does it make possible‘ I was able to see the positive side of most situations. By writing ‘The other side‘, I became more empathetic to other people. It was no longer a change that I was trying to bring in my way of thinking and reacting, it became who I am and hence I followed through more often than before.

Research and Understand a vague idea

Most ideas that we have written about are ideas from some thought leaders/podcast guests/writers expressed in a passe. Some that left me intriguing, I went about exploring it in greater detail to elaborate and express in the blog. One such article was ‘How to win an argument even with your wife?‘ The metadata of the arguments really helped me look back on many a arguments I have had and gave me insights on how I could have handled those situations better.

I did the same to understand the process of habit building when I wrote ‘The Four Phases of Successful Habit Building !!‘. The chance that I would have looked into it further without the motivation of writing a post about t is zilch 😀 Lazy me 🙂

Get to know my friends better

I have some amazing friends in my circle and I have always wanted to pick their brains about how they got to where they are today. Wanderlust Anee, Would be Everester Naresh, passionate Photographer Karthik and the unstoppable Yogesh. It would have been very weird to send a bunch of questions to your friends and ask them to respond to it. But thanks to the excuse of this blog, I got around to it and made them share with me and my readers – their secret sauce 🙂

Reach out to strangers

Guess what would have been more weird than asking your friends a bunch of questions, asking them to strangers. But thanks to this blog, I interviewed two people I had never met but greatly admired by what they had achieved. Jonathan @JKB who had travelled around the world in his bicycle for two years in ‘How to travel the world in a Bicycle at under $10 a day with JKB‘. JKB’s interview gave me the confidence to plunge and take the leap for ‘India360’.

The other was an interview with Ananya, a 10 year old author of the book ‘9 Chocolatey Bites‘ in ‘10 year old Author Ananya and her ‘9 Chocolatey Bites’. Ananya and her mom gave us insight into how things work in self-publishing industry and how they went about achieving this formidable task of getting a book published. We wish to emulate their example sooner.

Express gratitude and admiration

The blogs have given me ample opportunities to express my admiration to people in my life – my friend runner Koti in ‘In Praise of Effort‘, my mountaineering instructor Prasanta sir in ‘The 15,500 ft view of life‘, my beloved hubby Hari in several posts. 😀

I have also written in admiration of legends like M.S.Subbulakshmi and also  heroes that we meet everyday.

Read relevant books and retain knowledge

I have always been a bookworm. But I have always not chosen the right kind of books to read that would take me further in the path that I wanted to tread. However, starting the book club and book summaries section, forced me to make a conscious choice of books that I read, write notes and summarize them in a single page, which made me retain that info better.

Last year, I was too lazy to even note down the names of the books that I have read, but now not just the book names , I even have summaries of the books.

A Better Writer

I will state the obvious at last. Writing the blogs, made me a better writer. It helped me communicate my ideas more lucidly. I could find a difference in my writing style as time went by, I got better. I still have those terrible writer blocks, especially after taking a break from writing. And I know I am miles away from being an excellent one. But its a journey and I am on my way through this blog.

Why you should write too?

I hope I have given you enough reasons to consider writing a blog. Let me also share my struggles.

I have also had my self-doubts about whether my language was good, whether what I was writing was worth sharing with the world etc. Does my opinion really matter ? But who is to say one drop in the ocean is more important than the other. So be your self and write for yourself.

The Audience

So does it mean that the audience do not matter at all? No, they matter. But they should not be the only reason for you to write, atleast in the beginning.

Nothing makes my day more than when I receive a response or comment from one of you when my post speaks to you. Seeing the counter tick on the shares and views feels great too. But if I would have these as the most important reasons to continue to do what we do, I would be in for a lot of disappointment. The changes  in the google and facebook algorithms have often been very frustrating causing a drop in site views. There are a lot of externalities to this part of the equation. You can optimise and do your best, but don’t let the numbers dictate your behaviour.

Do not try to seek approval and acceptance through your blog. If it comes your way, great,but there are plenty of other reasons to write a blog . The reasons go beyond popularity and monetization.

Your blog could be a stepping stone to a new world and a better you in ways you had never imagined. So set up that account with blogger or wordpress and type away. See you on the other side 😀