Think. Create. EXPERIENCE.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Six years ago when I started blogging, no one knew what it was. I would say I had a blog and people would crinkle their nose, look at me funny and say "you're on myspace?"
I would then have to explain to them what a blog was and how it worked.
Blogs are a dime a dozen now and everyone has one. I tell my friends that I was blogging before blogging was cool.
That's how cool I am. {snort}
Yesterday I was talking with someone who admitted to me that they had no idea what a blog was or how it worked. He said, "I mean, I know what a blog is, but I have only looked at one once. Two years ago."
As I explained to him what blogging was, and the community one can create-- right inside your computer-- he looked at me and was speechless. He kept nodding his head in agreement as I would talk about how it connected people in ways that was not possible before. You could meet people with the same hobbies, or the same struggles and get a support system that otherwise is unavailable.
In the end he said, "This is incredible, this blogging thing, and I need to make sure I tell my wife. She needs something like this."
Isn't that true for all of us?
We all need friends. We need networks. We need to know we matter. Even if its just to the people inside our computer, those are basic needs that we all have.
Did you know that MomBabe and I have never met? Never. Not once. It's true. We talk on the phone almost daily, and it has been an incredible blessing, this friendship that has come from blogging.
How could two women from Utah and Virginia have ever met if it weren't for the Internet? We never would have. The Internet is a fantastic place, and blogging has the possibility to enhance everything in your life. It will make your hobbies, likes and loves that much better because you will connect with others who have the same interests. And that live across the country from you.
We think we like each other, but we've never met in real life to know for sure.
Over the past several weeks I have had the chance to meet several bloggers in person and I have noticed something at each event that I have attended: These women are real women, with real lives. They have real families, and they have real feelings. They are real.
Yesterday as I sat at another event talking with these women that I knew from inside my computer, I was filled with a feeling that is hard to describe. These women, who an hour earlier I had never met, were my imaginary friends. I read their blogs and would try to leave witty, entertaining comments. I felt a connection with them--through their blogs-- and it was real. To me.
As I sat watching and listening to these bloggers I had an epiphany: These women are just like me. ME. Little old me. It's easy in blog land to read others blogs and assume they have a perfect life. It's easy to compare what I'm not to what I think you are and what I realized is that in reality, we aren't that far apart.
We have more in common than we don't.
They love their children fiercely. They honor their spouse. They are daughters, sisters, faithful women, and they love God just as strongly as I do. This medium of blogging connected us-- brought us together-- in a way that never before was possible.
I can't get that quote out of my head. It's from the book The Help and it applies perfectly to blogging. Isn't that point of it all? To connect? Meet people from all over the country-- the world really-- to know each other; learn from each other; care for one another and realize "not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as we thought?"
It is.
That is the main reason MomBabe and I wanted to do the CBC. To give you a forum to grow your blog-- learn more about your chosen hobby-- and to move from having imaginary friends inside your computer to real friends in your life.
You're coming, right?!
I would then have to explain to them what a blog was and how it worked.
Blogs are a dime a dozen now and everyone has one. I tell my friends that I was blogging before blogging was cool.
That's how cool I am. {snort}
Yesterday I was talking with someone who admitted to me that they had no idea what a blog was or how it worked. He said, "I mean, I know what a blog is, but I have only looked at one once. Two years ago."
As I explained to him what blogging was, and the community one can create-- right inside your computer-- he looked at me and was speechless. He kept nodding his head in agreement as I would talk about how it connected people in ways that was not possible before. You could meet people with the same hobbies, or the same struggles and get a support system that otherwise is unavailable.
In the end he said, "This is incredible, this blogging thing, and I need to make sure I tell my wife. She needs something like this."
Isn't that true for all of us?
We all need friends. We need networks. We need to know we matter. Even if its just to the people inside our computer, those are basic needs that we all have.
Did you know that MomBabe and I have never met? Never. Not once. It's true. We talk on the phone almost daily, and it has been an incredible blessing, this friendship that has come from blogging.
How could two women from Utah and Virginia have ever met if it weren't for the Internet? We never would have. The Internet is a fantastic place, and blogging has the possibility to enhance everything in your life. It will make your hobbies, likes and loves that much better because you will connect with others who have the same interests. And that live across the country from you.
We think we like each other, but we've never met in real life to know for sure.
Over the past several weeks I have had the chance to meet several bloggers in person and I have noticed something at each event that I have attended: These women are real women, with real lives. They have real families, and they have real feelings. They are real.
Yesterday as I sat at another event talking with these women that I knew from inside my computer, I was filled with a feeling that is hard to describe. These women, who an hour earlier I had never met, were my imaginary friends. I read their blogs and would try to leave witty, entertaining comments. I felt a connection with them--through their blogs-- and it was real. To me.
As I sat watching and listening to these bloggers I had an epiphany: These women are just like me. ME. Little old me. It's easy in blog land to read others blogs and assume they have a perfect life. It's easy to compare what I'm not to what I think you are and what I realized is that in reality, we aren't that far apart.
We have more in common than we don't.
They love their children fiercely. They honor their spouse. They are daughters, sisters, faithful women, and they love God just as strongly as I do. This medium of blogging connected us-- brought us together-- in a way that never before was possible.
"Wasn't that the point of the book [blog]? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as [we'd] thought."
I can't get that quote out of my head. It's from the book The Help and it applies perfectly to blogging. Isn't that point of it all? To connect? Meet people from all over the country-- the world really-- to know each other; learn from each other; care for one another and realize "not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as we thought?"
It is.
That is the main reason MomBabe and I wanted to do the CBC. To give you a forum to grow your blog-- learn more about your chosen hobby-- and to move from having imaginary friends inside your computer to real friends in your life.
You're coming, right?!
