Digg ThisVia Brewed Fresh Daily:
Duncan Riley, the editor/publisher of the Australian The Blog Herald, reports that blogging is good for you.
Gosh… I could have told you that…
The fact is that blogging *is* good for you. I feel better each and every day knowing that I have an outlet for what gurgles deep down inside, the healing potion and the venom, the cure-all and the poison.
Most writers could tell you that, too. Ask any writer his or her thoughts on becoming a better writer, and the answer is always the same: write every day. The truth is right there, no banter, no blather, no nonsense: write every day. As a blogger, you don’t have to hit the “Publish” button each and every time; save the draft, as maybe something will strike you about that post later on: perhaps an experience, or a thought straight out of the blue will coalesce your thinking in a particular draft and make the article click.
I don’t hit the “Publish” button every time I write. I can’t. Well, I could, but then you probably wouldn’t want to read me very often; you’d probably think me a Recto-Cranial Invert. Self-editing is a skill that I still need to master, but I’m learning; if I have something to say, and it’s relevant, I’ll say it. If it’s pertinent, and I can validate my arguments and structure, then I’ll hit the “Publish” button.
Sometimes, I’ll go through an entire draft, edit for about twice as long as it took to write the piece, then decide that it’s trash and dump the entire work. To me, that’s still writing. It’s advanced editing, too: knowing in your heart of hearts that something will simply not travel well is an art in itself.
Did I waste my time? Absolutely not: writing develops critical thinking and logical order. Writing well insists your thoughts to be well organized and logically arranged in order for your points to communicate. Well-developed thoughts create well-developed, critical thinking, an essential for good decisions in the business world.
There is one more thing about blogging (and writing) for me: after a while, writing becomes a habit. A serious habit. In my case, it’s something I started many years ago, and it’s more addictive for me than smoking: you can take away my cigarettes (which my wife will — soon), but I’ll be danged if I’ll let you take away my word processor (and my word processor of choice is WordPress and my DSL internet connection).
Further, there is something about writing that validates me, as if writing something makes things real, makes them a part of me, and makes me able to put an issue down and move on to the next of life’s tests. I’m more complete, more confident — and more relaxed.
A more relaxed me helps keep my blood pressure down. Lower blood pressure means a lower risk of heart attack or stroke. The lower risk of heart attack or stroke means more days to stay alive and write. See where I’m going with this? It’s a vicious circle, only a healthy one (I *knew* I’d find one of these, one day!!).
<facetiousness>Further, a more relaxed me means I smoke less and drink fewer beers, which also means lower blood pressure, lower risk of heart attack or stroke, AND the fewer beers I drink means the less I weigh (another benefit). It also means I can drink higher-quality beers and have more money in my pocket, which makes me even more relaxed.</facetiousness>
Beyond this, a more relaxed me makes my life a whole lot easier: it eases my currently difficult professional situation, it allows me to address challenges with greater detachment (a quality I greatly admired in my Uncle Jack — which his brother, my father, didn’t have, oddly enough), and it helps me see the larger realm when my loving bride and I aren’t seeing things exactly eye-to-eye (which, thankfully, doesn’t happen all that often). It helps me make better decisions, which keeps me out of a world of hurt, and that helps me be even more relaxed…
Whew! With all of this relaxation going on, you’d think I’d be a little more laid-back, don’t you? Well… keeping tension going in my life is also one of my talents, which… well… is best kept for another post, which… well… I’ve been working on…
