There was a time when everyone had a blog. The internet was growing rapidly and with the creation of blogging websites people discovered that they had the ability to share their own thoughts and opinions with the world without having to learn to code or create their own website. Blogs showed up for all sorts of things. People even made them for their pets. With the invention of social media sites like Myspace and Facebook, people found that they didn’t have to maintain a blog to own their own corner of the internet. They could now share their thoughts in just a few sentences without the responsibility or effort of keeping up a blog.

Now there are still plenty of blogs out there for all sorts of topics and discussions, but they’re not as popular as they used to be simply because people discovered that sending a sentence or two on Facebook was much faster than putting together entire paragraphs. At least that’s what happened to me and my first blog. I started my first blog quite a few years ago. I used it to share my thoughts with the world.

I was excited to write. I had a vision for my blog and hoped to attract a small collection of faithful readers. To achieve this vision I researched all about blogs and how to grow them. I learned about content creation, what to write about, how to schedule posts, and how to engage with an audience. I constantly thought about what my next post should be about and how I should write it to have the best impact. Turns out that my effort was largely in vain. People didn’t really care what a teenager thought about the world. Who knew? When my blog wasn’t living up to what I thought it should look like, I was discouraged. I eventually gave up.

This process actually happened multiple times and ended the same way each time. I really do enjoy writing, but somewhere along the way blogging stopped feeling satisfying. I recently read a blog post from a classmate I knew in high school long ago that made me realize why. Each time I started a blog I did it because it was fun. Soon after getting into the swing of blogging I would end up stopping because it was no longer something I did for fun but out of responsibility. It became a chore that I felt that I had to do.

This time I’m making a resolution to be different. No longer will I write and worry about if the content of this blog is “interesting”. It’s interesting to me and that’s enough. I also won’t restrict myself to posting on a schedule. I don’t actually care if anyone reads this or if I gain any sort of following. This blog is a place for me to write about what I find interesting and for me to express my thoughts and ideas. I might talk about photography, video games, books, movies, theology, or grilled cheese sandwiches. I would love it if people read them and discussed them with me in the comments, but if not then that’s fine too. This time this blog is for me. I’m being selfish. It’s mine.