Why Do I Blog?

I can tell you that I don’t blog because I think my life is interesting or exciting.  Yes, Dan and I are very active, and we both have a lot of interests and hobbies, but I don’t blog thinking people are excited to hear about my day.  I think I’m a very boring person.  Dan is the interesting one.

I blog to keep my friends and family updated.  I hate talking on the phone, and it’s really hard to have a conversation when I’m home with Penny craving for attention.  I can’t talk and drive, because I stop paying attention and run red lights.  (I only did this once, but there was a police man there, and I’m lucky I didn’t get pulled over.)

I blog so I don’t quit my job.  I have a hard time not being a work-a-holic.  I take my work very personally, and when things aren’t going well, I find it leaking into my personal life.  I hate this.  I want to not do this anymore.  But, as someone who has struggled with self confidence issues my whole life, Science was my escape.  I was always good at it.  I always lead in my classes, and I felt good doing it.  Now, I find myself at the bottom of the company (ok, not really, but some days it feels that way), trying to work my way up.  I get frustrated, stressed, and very angry with myself.  So, I blog to remind myself that work is a means to be able to do all of the fun things I do outside of work.  This is also why I don’t write about work.  Yes, a lot of what I do is confidential, but I find I only complain about work, which I am working on.

I blog to stay in shape.  I hate going to the gym.  I hate exercising, except for when I’m actually doing an activity that is fun (hashing, chasing the dogs, hiking down in brown county, ect).  I have yet to find something that I like to do on my own that is fun.  I need interaction during my workouts, and with living sooo far away from everyone, I blog about it.  It keeps me accountable, and allows me to track my progress.

I blog to deal with Dan’s cancer.  Being able to get my story out there, and record how I’m feeling, makes me feel human.  I get frustrated, scared, and hopeful, but no matter how I was feeling, I often felt I wasn’t reacting properly.  Reading back now, I don’t know how we got through it, but we did, and I know we always will.  It’s also so much fun to see how far Dan has come.  It’s scary to see now, all the warning signs we missed, but mostly because he’s Superman, so when he became human, we made excuses.

I blog for strength.  When something difficult comes up, I can read back and see what we have been through, what we have, and where we are going.  I also like feeling connected with my fellow bloggers, and learning from their experiences.  I feel very grateful to be able to see into someone else’s life for a brief moment, and learn from it.  I have so many things that I’m looking forward to experiencing in my life, and reading as someone else travels down that road, helps me prepare.

I blog to show off my dogs.  Our dogs are our children.  Every day, my dogs make me smile.  Every day, my dogs show me love, and every day, my dogs make me laugh.   We spoil them rotten, and yes, they are the best dogs for us.