It is the start of a new year. Great things will take place this year, both globally and personally. What better way to start a record of the year than through blogging or journal writing.
Blogging has become more widely accepted during the past few years. Simply put it is journal writing on a website, thus the term “web log” or “blog” for short. There are a multitude of reasons why you should blog. I’ll cover some of my personal reasons to blog. Feel free to comment and tell the reasons why you blog.
1. To Write About What Interest You.I enjoy writing. I don’t pretend to be a good writer, but I like to write. In fact this was actually a weakness of mine when I was in grade school. But the Lord is able to make your weaknesses become strengths if you but let Him (see Ether 12:27). However, writing is still hard work, just like physical exercise, you have to do it often to get the results you are looking for.
2. To Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I may not be the most social person out there, but having a blog is a why to share my beliefs and testimony with others around the world and especially those whom I might not ever contact or meet otherwise.
3. To Provide Context. Photos and videos by themselves provide very little by way of the context of events in which they were taken. What events led up to the specific moment that was captured? How did I feel when the photo or video was taken? Without some kind of written record, the context is lost.
4. To Compensate For a Poor Memory. One of my favorite lines in the Indiana Jones movies is when Dr. Henry Jones Sr states, “I wrote it down in my diary so that I wouldn’t have to remember.” And besides, the Book of Mormon teaches this very principle in Alma 37:8 that the records that were kept and preserved “enlarged the memory of this people.”
5. To Stay Connected with Friends and Family. The world has shrunk since the Internet has become more accessible. Blogs provide a simple way for family and friends to stay connected from different parts of the world by sharing stories, photos, videos and more.
6. To Speak Your Mind. I speak. You listen. Where else could someone get their own personal soapbox. (but you can still leave comments).
7. To Share Advice and Recommendations. Many blogs are written to help people who may be going through similar situations that the blogger has experienced. Many parenting and health-related blogs are written for this purpose.
8. To Market or Promote Something. Blogging is a great marketing tool to promote yourself, your business, your product, or your service.
9. To Establish Yourself as an Expert. Blogs are wonderful tools to help bloggers establish themselves as experts in a field or topic. For example, if you’re trying to get a job in a specific field, or if hoping to publish a book on a specific topic, blogging can help legitimize your expertise and expand your online presence.
10. To heed the counsel of modern-day LDS prophets. Possibly the most often ignored exhortations by modern LDS Church leadership are also the seemingly most mundane: doing your home teaching, keeping a year’s food storage, or journal writing. President Kimball from the December 1980 Ensign says:
Your private journal should record the way you face up to challenges that beset you. Do not suppose life changes so much that your experiences will not be interesting to your posterity. Experiences of work, relations with people, and an awareness of the rightness and wrongness of actions will always be relevant. Your journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them.
What could you do better for your children and your children’s children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? Some of what you write may be humdrum dates and places, but there will also be rich passages that will be quoted by your posterity.
So, what other reasons do you have to blog?
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I started a blog for several reasons
1. to keep track of my poems- and not lose any
2. to share them
3. it’s a free way to be published-
4. it feels good to share from my heart how the gospel and scripture reading has lightened my mind
And now I find it the most rewarding when I see people from all over the world visiting my blog. Not in any huge numbers- just to get a new country is so exciting. Sometimes I see what they are searching for and I smile that they accidentally ended where they did. The internet is wonderful
[...] Other related posts: Effectively Keeping a Journal Why Write a Journal? 10 Reasons Why You Should Blog [...]