Tonight I am thinking back to the many benefits I have gotten from having this blog. I shall list ten that come to mind, in the perfectly quirky and sometimes flagrantly illogical way that makes this blog so special:
- Freedom from creative pressure. Especially the pressure to “market,” to “do business,” or to “network.” I wanted something where I could express myself and be done with it. Write, Publish, Repeat. Simple!
- Freedom from having to please others. I love how this blog is for me. I love how I get to be weird, joyful, expressive, neurotic, creative, obsessed, or focused in any way that feels right. I get to be Authentic.
- The satisfaction of being consistently productive. When I think of my accomplishments, the fact that I blogged every day for 365 delights me to no end. It is an uncommon accomplishment requiring consistency and discipline, as well as trust, imagination, and lots of love.
- A reprieve from stress. In particular, the 365 Day Blogging Project was a soothing tonic that allowed me to pivot from stressful circumstances I had been going through. After struggling through ordeals where I never found my footing, it was a blessing to take on a project I was completely in alignment with!
- The on-going task of focusing on happiness. One of the most amazing things about blogging is the fact that every day I get to write about something I care about, am excited about, and want to think about. I get to practice focusing on love and positivity, on enthusiasm and satisfaction. In a sense, by giving myself the job of blogging, I assign myself the task of keeping my mood high-flying. Score for sustaining happiness!
- Did I mention I do the blog for myself? It creates instant satisfaction and is intrinsically fulfilling.
- Excellent writing practice. If you want to improve your writing, publish a blog post every day for a year!
- The chance to do things my way. Running my own blog is great because I get to make the rules. I get to do what I want. I get to not do what I don’t want. I get to rule the roost. Cockadoodledoo!
- The chance to practice not being consistent. One of the benefits of creative expression is the ability to break rules, bend rules, write new rules, or just not show up at all. My ongoing blogging experiment has let me do all of these things. It is wonderful training for living a life of flexibility, openness, and adventure.
- Does it sound like I contradicted myself in #9 saying I don’t have to be consistent, when in #3 I talked about how satisfying it was to be consistently productive? That’s the beauty of it: I get to contradict myself! I am Artist, Here Me Yodel Weirdly.