Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Blog Insecurity

When I first began writing this blog - it was primarily a personal communication tool. I was planning on phasing out Facebook (yeah right - WAY too addictive and stalktastic!) and wanted a way to keep people in the loop with the goings on in the lives of myself, Travis, Bella and the cats. The more I blog, and the more I investigate other people's blogs, the less satisfied I am with my own.

What I am realizing is that most people's blogs have a "theme" which allows for more cohesive posts, more opportunities for followers, dialogue, and discussion, and is just more interesting. I've read blogs of complete strangers focusing on babies, organic living, photography, crafts, art, fundraising, and more. The more I read - the more inadequate I feel about my blogging!

Realize that this entire post is written with a touch of sarcasm. I'm not losing sleep over this, nor do I believe that the integrity and substance of my blog is of dire concern to anyone, let alone myself, but I am THINKING about it - right now this minute - so I thought I'd shout out for feedback.

I've thought about writing soley about fundraising - it's what I do after all. But I think seperation between work and personal life is important for me (workaholic, much?) and that I'm very young in my career to be preaching and advising about donor advised funds, IRA's and planned giving, and major gift solicitation. While I feel well established in my field, I don't think I'm at the point where what I have to say has MUCH benefit to others.

I could write solely about my family - and our adventures. But to be blunt - we're kind of boring! I mean, we're not BORING exactly, but we just came off a year where we did all kinds of life-changing things within the span of 12 months: Planned a wedding, HAD a wedding, went on honeymoon, bought a house, got a puppy... I mean, if there had been a good time to write about our lives - last year would have been it! I could have written a kick-ass blog about wedding planning... ah well.

I could write solely about the arts. The arts are important to me. Sadly though, I'm still working on fitting the performing arts into my "adult" lifestyle. It's so easy in high school and college to participate in EVERYTHING. Nowadays I rarely play flute or sing (good thing I have that music degree!) and can't even find the time to create my wedding scrapbook (even with my new basement craft room!). So until I find the balance - there's not much to dedicate a blog to there either.

Balance is kind of what it all comes down to really, isn't it? Travis and I have been joking around a lot about new year's resolutions lately (being 2009 and all) and I've unofficially made approximately 1,256 of them. But what these "resolutions" really boil down to me is that now that the flurry of 2008 is over - I need to find BALANCE. I need to eat better, and exercise (yeah, yeah I know), I need to not only keep my house clean and tidy (now that I have one of my very own!) but keep on top of the never-ending list of home improvement projects as well, I need to continue my education and professional development so that I can continue to be successful in my career, I need to get the performing arts back in my life, I need to find time to putz around in the craft room and work on projects, and I'd LOVE to take a photography course, some dance classes, and some art classes this year.

Phew. Balance. Maybe that's a subject for a blog?

I've also noted from this post that I use a LOT of parantheses, capitals and exclamation points. Don't hold it against me. I'm a passionate person.

Feedback?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

One blog for your personal life, only updated when needed. One blog for your professional life, with other professional blogs on your blogroll. And maybe even a third for your hobby. My hobby blog is the Agne family website and only gets updated when there are family announcements. Though I admit, Facebook has nearly replaced my personal blog.

As for the balance, I'm still working on that one.