This week Emily posted a 2-part series on refining your blog. And if you haven’t checked it out, you need to.
In part one she asked readers why they blogged. My own comment to that question was a blog post in itself. I feel like I need to pay rent on the memory space my comments take up over there. {I always get a bit chatty over at Chatting at the Sky.} Why do I blog? It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times and have yet to articulate well or definitively.
I struggled to answer every. single. question. They were not difficult questions, but they were nearly impossible for me, which posed yet another question. Why? Why are questions that get to the heart of who I am and what makes me tick, questions pertaining to why I do the things I do so hard for me to answer? Why have they always been hard for me to answer?
I have my own ideas about that one and while I am a pretty open person on my blog and in the comments I leave on others’ blogs, I certainly don’t share everything. And the complicated answer to that one is still being worked out privately. As it should be.
But in a nutshell, I think I can’t answer what should be simple questions because that would require really knowing myself well. And I’m not sure that I do yet. I know who I have wanted to be at various stages of my life. I know who I have been in the past. I know who others would like me to be. I know who I’m not.
But I’m still neck-deep in the trenches of figuring out who I am.
Look at my blog’s tag-line for crying out loud. “A little scoop for every slice of life.” Hi, Avoidance called and thinks your blog is perfect. That tag-line is code for, “I don’t want to be pinned down, pigeon-holed, or defined. I want to be a little bit of everything to everybody. I am a people-pleaser extraordinaire.” To echo Miss Whitney, “I’m every woman.”
But I’m not. I want to be. And that simply cannot be.
My Maker did not make me to be. I just wish he would have sent a Certificate of Authenticity or Instruction Manual upon my arrival. Figuring it out on my own is painful and exhausting.
Emily’s questions made me swallow hard. Maybe it’s because deep down I do know the answers {sort of} to some of those questions and answering truthfully forces me to accept realities I wish were otherwise.
Defining my blog? It’s a good thing to do. It’s something I resolve to do.
But I’ve got to define myself first. And that may take some time.
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I’ve been kind of lurking at your blog for awhile…sorry for the no comments! I do have to completely agree with everything you said above. Emily’s first post on that, I thought I had the answer to my purpose. Then she wrote the second one.. and I am not so sure anymore! Something I am working on is defining who I am and who God wants me to be first… then I will be able to answer that myself. Thanks for being truly honest! Have a blessed weekend! 🙂
Oh girl… I just love this post. Define yourself first…you are so right. She challenged us with some big questions, didn’t she? 🙂
Every word you wrote could have come right. out. of. my. mouth.
Really!! 🙂
First off, I loved, loved, LOVED meeting you yesterday!!! Seriously, let me know when you are visiting Waxhaw!
This is a great post. I have not yet been able to answer Emily’s questions, either. I thought I knew what my purpose was when I started at the beginning of this year, but I have been all over the place. Then I sort of had a break over the summer — not planned. Now I am back and delving deeper than ever before… and still not “on task” with what I thought I would be doing in the first place! I think I am going to just let it be God’s blog… I can’t go wrong there.
I am going to start following you now. Blessings!!!
Wow! Okay, now I totally wish I would have read this before the swap cuz we could have chatted it UP girl. First, I’m so glad those questions have helped you. I know they helped me, but you know, everyone is different. Second, I’ve never thought about that with your tagline, but wow…that is a revelation, huh? I can’t wait til some of that definin’ and refinin’ starts to take place. Around here, but more importantly for you, privately…Wouldn’t I love to sit with you and do coffee? Yes, yes I would.
i did emily’s questions too.