What's the Real Point of a Blog?

Blogs are the thing these days. Some blogs sell things, some blogs sell people, some ideas, some are intended to update friends and family on life events, and some, like mine, are personal journals.

I started this journal when I first began my adoption process in July of 2007. I wanted to document and share the miracles, the frustrations and the learning curve I experienced at that time. However, I have kept the blog going now for almost three years. I love that my life is documented for my children and accompanied by pictures. It is a journal and scrapbook all rolled into one. In fact, I am in the process of printing all 400 pages of it. I've backed it up on two different sources to ensure that I don't lose it.

I started a journal when I was 5 years old and have kept it consistently for the last almost thirty years. I have volumes of handwritten pages that are priceless to me. My journals document all major life events, feelings, struggles, love interests, silly girl concerns, major mommy concerns, and the spiritual lessons I have taken. I've continued that emotional journey in this blog. I learn as I write. It is interesting to read back over the years to see how life has changed me and how much I have grown in my beliefs on life.

The thing about a blog is that it isn't exactly like my handwritten journal, it isn't privately hidden in my drawer--it is out in the open for all to see. Because of my candor, I make myself very vulnerable to judgment by others. I figure that those who do not like me or don't agree with my positions in life don't read this (which means that probably only a few people actually DO read this :). I figure that those that love me understand me and know me for woman that I really am.

But it is an interesting thing, this human need for voyeurism, and the funny thing is that I encourage it because I am so open with a constant Jessica expose. I have tried making my blog private because I have experienced some backlash from my blog (ridiculous!), and I have attempted to anesthetize my emotions, but that is the antithesis of my personality. And, as I have learned over the last few months especially, it is impossible to be anything but yourself and the more you try the more it impedes your life's work. So here I am back at making my blog very personal.

The reason I have thought about this as of late is that my children are asking to start their own blogs. Obviously, I have ensured that their blogs are not searchable and are completely privatized to keep them safe from all of the perverts out there. However, do I encourage them to open their hearts to the world, like I do, or do I encourage them to be very guarded with their feelings like my husband is? I suppose that goes back to being a victim of my own personality, which means that they will learn about blogging from me and learn to be open with the world. That is a double edged sword, I suppose. The nice thing, however, about knowing a person like me is that what you see is what you get and you never have to wonder what I am feeling, because I've probably already told you. . . at least twice. :)

So, the point of my blog is not for the people that read it, but because it is such a convenient, ideal way to document my life's journey. If there are people that judge me on my words, I now see that they are only judging themselves against me, revealing their own insecurities. If there are those that are offended, please feel free to not read this blog because who do you think you are that you deserve to be offended by me? Are you saying there's nothing offensive about you, like say, hypocrisy? But I hope that my friends, my family, my children and my grandchildren will read this and know me for who I am and what I am trying to accomplish in life because I think that is the whole point of keeping a journal.