Do Real-Life People Blog?

I love the title of Annie's post on her blog: "My real-life friends don’t blog but if they did they would be good at it".

Annie's post hit on something that I was talking with my friend, Justin Jackson, about after he published his 2024 year in review post. It's very normal among my online friends to post year in reviews of all kinds for anyone to read. And, I assume, it's also very normal for people to privately journal that kind of thing. But among my real-life friends, I don't know a single one that posts any of that online, other than an Instagram slideshow template.

Why I Blog Instead of Journal

I write on my blog to get thoughts out of my head and somewhere else. The main reason I don't just journal it privately is that I'm not motivated to write in a journal the same way I am with my blog.

I write on my blog when I've figured something out. If I went through the trouble of learning how to fix or do something, someone else might need that someday. (And 9 times out of 10, that someone is me because I forget what I did and end up finding my own blog post.)

I write on my blog about things I like or enjoy. Whether it's music, technology, movies or tv shows, a book, my kid's shovelling the driveway... I try to limit my complaints about the world to the 280 characters in most social media posting boxes because that feels like enough negativity. Sometimes it spills over into a longer blog post, but only when I feel like I can stand behind it long term.

I'm also just vain enough to hope that someone else out in the world might appreciate or agree with my point of view. That by saying it out loud online, someone else might have the courage to go say what they want to say out loud as well.

Context Matters

Going back to Annie's post, I resonated very much with this paragraph:

Very occasionally one of my friends or acquaintances will mention something I wrote on my blog and that is a weird moment for me. Like, What? You read that? Crazy. I guess I don’t expect anything I write to leave the small online circle I inhabit. So if it shows up in the small offline circle I inhabit, it’s odd. Like when you have two different friend groups and they all show up at the same party.

I've realized over my years of being very online, that real-life friends often miss context for why something is interesting or important enough to me to write a blog post, tweet, or record a podcast episode about. Something that's a huge deal in the Apple online world rarely escapes containment enough to be a topic at dinner with my extended family.

And even when political news crosses over, I rarely have to worry that any of my real-life friends or family have read what I've written online.

But sometimes part of me wishes they did, because it could be an interesting conversation starter to dive deeper from. My 1,000 words on a given topic could be a diving board into some deeper water we might be able to get to.

Which is Why You Should Start a Blog

Lately I've been trying to encourage people to start a blog—both online friends as well as real-life friends. I really believe it sharpens my mind to have to string words together to form coherent sentences, as well as write something I know might be seen by another human. Who might ask me about what I've written. Or send me a spelling correction note. (Please do!)

Going back to Annie's post once more:

It’s kind of a shame that my real-life friends don’t blog, because if they did their blogs would be interesting and kind and creative and funny. And it’s too bad my blogging friends don’t live close to me in physical terms, because they’re also interesting and kind and creative and funny. We’d have some good parties.

In addition to blog, I'd add podcasting or YouTube if they're inclined to speak more than write a blog post. Being willing to be vulnerable enough to show up and be seen. Having (some of) your opinions and thoughts out in the wild for others to see.

Brené Brown's inspiration from Theodore Roosevelt's Man in the Arena speech comes to mind:

This is who I want to be. I want to create. I want to make things that didn’t exist before I touched them. I want to show up and be seen in my work and in my life. And if you’re going to show up and be seen, there is only one guarantee. And that is, you will get your ass kicked… If you’re going to go in the arena, and spend any time in there whatsoever, especially if you’re committing to creating in your life, you will get your ass kicked… If courage is a value that we hold, this is a consequence. You can’t avoid it.