One of my goals of 2016 is to write more. I journal fairly regularly these days, but I really want to hone in on my writing skills. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by simply writing more. I’ve already started a blog called Andrew Does Reviews to reflect on the shows, movies, podcasts, and books that I ingest on a regular basis. But I also want to simply be better at blogging.
At this point, I’m not really sure what that looks like. It’s amazing how much I’ve changed since I started this blog in the late summer of 2009. I was fresh out of college and just a few weeks away from starting seminary. When I go back and read some of my older posts I’m sometimes embarrassed by my writing. But that’s ok. Life is a journey, and as I grow as a person I hope to see that reflected in my writing.
I’m guessing this blog will perhaps be made up of various types of posts. I kind of want to make this a hybrid between a journal and a place where I can share essays about current events or reflections from my experiences.
I still like my original name for this site: “Stepping Back.” That’s my goal. To pause. To reflect. To step back and think through intentionally about the world around me and how I can continue to grow as a human being.
In the past I’ve not publicly shared all that much of my story and what is going on in my life. I can think of a couple reasons for that being true. One, I didn’t think people would necessarily be interested in my personal life or story. People are busy enough. Why would they care about what’s going on in my life or what I think about it? Two, I think I’ve been afraid of sharing aspects about my family life out of embarrassment and out of fear of potentially offending my family members.
Ok, so I’ll address those two concerns.
I still don’t think many people are interested in my personal life or my thoughts about it. But, at the end of the day I’m not writing this blog for the world. I’m writing for myself, first and foremost. If people want to join in on my journey with me, then they are more than welcome. In fact, it would be an honor. But I’m not going to let people’s interest dictate whether or not I write. I love to write. It’s therapeutic for me as an INFJ and as someone who doesn’t get to interact with other adults very often.
As far as being afraid of sharing the more personal details about my family life, I’m still working through what this looks like. I think a lot of people probably struggle to know how to find balance in sharing the personal aspects of our lives while trying to remain wise about protecting our privacy and the privacy of our children, family, and friends.
I’ve had a lot that I have wanted to write about over the course of the past year. I have experienced a lot of changes and growth and transitions this past year. And many of the circumstances or situations have given me great insights about family life, boundaries, self-care, and emotional health. But so many of those insights are directly tied to situations that have involved my family members. And I just don’t know where the line is as far as how much I share about those situations. One, because the very people I’m talking about could read it and potentially be offended. Two, because it may not really be fair to them that I am sharing all that personal information about them without their permission.
But I see well known bloggers and authors write about their family members in detail all the time. They include the specifics of the drama and the particular wounds that are left by the various unhealthy relationships or interactions with those people. Bloggers reflect on their childhood and the details of their personality that have been negatively shaped and formed by their parents or family in general. I don’t know what that looks like for me. I have plenty to say, but am still afraid to really address these things head on. If anyone is reading this and has suggestions about how to go about this, I am all ears!
So maybe I’ll start with baby steps. I’ll start safe. Keep things simple overall. The blog posts might not be all that interesting or insightful, but at least I’ll be sharing from my heart. If you are interested in following along with me, would you let me know somehow? I’d also love to follow your journey. Maybe you could give me some hints about how to better blog while you’re at it!
Stepping Back 