re: why I want to blog daily
As mentioned on this post, Mondays are typically my day off.
My typical routine is thrown out of the window in favor of running errands, taking care of chores, and spending quality time with the family.
The fun adventure today was visiting an old spot to play some basketball! My husband and I played a game of horse, which I humbly won. Honestly, I surprise myself with still being able to sink in shots — I attribute this to Filipinos loving basketball.
Growing up in Southern California, my parents loved the Lakers. My siblings and I were the kids on the block who had a basketball hoop, often inviting neighbors to play ball on the streets with us. Both of my siblings joined the school's basketball team, and while I wasn't on any team, I sure enjoyed being competitive and seeing gradual skill improvement.
Like anyone, I like winning, but I value having fun more than the outcome of a game. I guess this is why playing ranked in video games started losing its appeal at a certain level. For example, playing ranked CSGO was fun until I hit LEM, then it became impossible to have fun with randoms because players often took every mistake and loss way too seriously.
Anyway, let's address the title of this blog post. Why do I want to blog daily? How long can I sustain this challenge? Will I be forever disappointed when I inevitably break my streak? (Spoiler: I broke my 450+ daily streak on Duolingo and I'm really not heartbroken about it.)
Earlier, I read Ava's post on why would you want to do this daily? and felt called to respond.
Ava mentions,
As someone who does that often, there’s no advantage to it. I don’t feel more productive or organized, I don’t suddenly feel like a “real blogger” or a better writer, I’m not earning a medal from keeping up a streak. I’m not becoming more important just because there’s more consistent output. My written words don’t hold more weight, I’m not automatically more right about a topic. My life isn’t more interesting because of it. It doesn’t always lead to some good thoughts or ideas.
I can't speak for Ava, but my intention with writing is because I am compelled to. I can't not write, and it's something that I do daily regardless if I'm posting publicly or not.
I generally believe that creating, no matter what medium or form it takes, is inherently productive. If blogging every day makes you happy or fulfilled in some way, then that is productive.
Personal blogs are an interesting beast, because it shows the many faces and contemplations one person can have. Even if Ava states that there is no advantage of writing daily, they continue to do so. There is clearly some advantage to doing so, it just may not be clear to them at the time of writing.
For me, I have this on-again off-again relationship with blogging since I was a pre-teen. I craved being able to express myself through the written medium. If journaling in my private entries were enough, I wouldn't be pulled to the aching desire of hosting a blog, let alone posting to it daily.
After spending so much time restraining myself from blogging because, "what purpose would my blog serve?", I decided to remove the need for the blog to be anything and just let my words spill out onto the page.
I don't write every day hoping that I'm more "right about a topic". I will admit practicing daily does make me feel like a better writer, or at the very least, like I'm becoming a better writer.
Similarly to playing basketball or competing in CSGO, blogging daily gives me an awareness of how I'm performing and what I would like to improve. It's just a natural inclination for me to assess if my actions are fulfilling to me or if I could explore avenues into becoming more satisfied with myself.
I don't see this as setting goals to achieve external validation, but as setting goals to achieving internal fulfillment. I want to be a better writer because I know in the act of writing, I find out what I'm capable of. This is extremely valuable to me, as I'm wanting to know myself more deeply and writing is a great vehicle in that endeavor.
I guess this all boils down to I want to know myself so intimately and wholly that I'm willing to put in the daily practice and work to seeing what stuffs I'm made up of.
Every action is a way of discovering more about what I'm willing to commit to or what can be postponed or ultimately dropped. For now, I am finding great pleasure in writing daily. It doesn't matter how long I keep the streak, nor will I be disappointed when the streak ends.
I'll respect when my journey of daily blogging or daily anything comes to an end because it will happen naturally. I recognize the end of a focus is a signal for me to pivot, to discover a different facet of self through a different medium instead. When one door closes, another one opens.
Daily blogging just happens to be the most rewarding path to exploring my inner landscape right now. It's been fun to revisit old memories and document newly made ones, honoring what I've experienced and how it has led me to who I am today.
Plus, knowing self is an incredible advantage and benefit in every life scenario.
If that is not enough reason to create something, anything, then I don't know what is.
Thanks for being here. ♥︎
Sincerely,
Nadine