My blogging-turned-real-life friend Sarah wrote a post several weeks ago about the role blogging plays in her life. It made me think about my own reasons for blogging. When I first joined the blogosphere, it was simply because I wanted to write. I liked telling stories about my work and my kids and used my blog as a way to share ideas and keep in touch with real-world and internet friends.

Then I went to writing conferences and read articles that said writers should blog, need to blog to build a platform. I went from wanting to write to feeling overwhelmed by what others might expect to see in this space. Somewhere in there, I lost sight of my blogging goal: To build a little community where I can connect with, learn from and laugh with others. I also hope to share some things that work for me and maybe (just maybe) inspire others along the way.

I recently wrote a keynote speech for a client. In the speech, he wanted to relay a story he read about why animal trainers rely on stools to tame lions. When a trainer enters a lion’s cage with the four legs of a stool pointing towards the lion’s face, the lion tries to focus on all four legs at once. It can’t and a kind of paralysis overwhelms it. The lion becomes tame and weak because its attention is fragmented.

In worrying about what others expected to see in this space, my attention became fragmented. More often than not, posting became something I felt like I should do and I worried I wasn’t doing it right. But it has become fun again. I am going to continue blogging about freelancing and my kiddos because that is my little world right now, but I’m going to worry less about the ratio of writing posts to family posts and focus more on the joy I get from being a part of the blogosphere. I hope you’ll continue to come along on the journey!