ProBlogger: 5 Ways Blogging Can Make You a Better Person

5 Ways Blogging Can Make You a Better Person

Posted: 14 May 2011 06:00 AM PDT

This guest post is by Jamie Martin of Steady Mom and Simple Homeschool.

When I first began blogging over two years ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I started merely as a way to promote the book I had written and thought of it as another chore to squeeze in between an already full writing schedule, three young children, and loads of laundry.

Image is author's own

How wrong I was! Looking back, I stand amazed at the ways blogging not only launched my writing career, but also transformed my life. I know I’m not the only one who stumbled into the blogosphere for one reason, only to discover other blessings and benefits as well.

Here are just a handful.

1. No doubt about it: blogging improves your writing

Many of us who read ProBlogger started our blogs with the hope of growing a readership and eventually earning an income. Blogging opened doors for me I didn’t even know existed (Who knew it could be a job?), but it also has done wonders for my writing ability.
Am I the only one to inwardly cringe while rereading some of my earliest posts? Two years into this gig, I now feel much more comfortable in my blogging skin and my virtual corner. The daily act of writing cannot help but improve our skills. With each act of pressing Publish, we gain experience, insight, and feedback we didn’t have the day before. Collectively, this momentum refines and improves our abilities as encouragers and providers of information.
William Zinnser, author of the bestselling On Writing Well, said that “writing is a craft, not an art.” Craft improves with practice, practice, and more practice.

2. All that practice rubs off on your character

Just like a runner training for a marathon, we learn about endurance on the race to better writing. Fitting blogging into an already busy life has taught me both perseverance and self-discipline. It has also thrown insecurity and self-doubt my way, at the same time giving me the urge to overcome them.
Haven’t you had days when you wanted to shut your laptop and call the whole thing off? Days when the stats don’t add up or readers aren’t responding? Yet those of us in this for the long haul, sense a deep conviction—something within that pushes us to keep going. That resolve can’t help but spill over into other parts of our lives.

3. Blogging increases your life span (well, if it encourages you to change your eating habits)

I have the blogosphere to thank for introducing me to the whole foods movement. I’d always attempted to feed my family well, but had never seen nutrition presented in a simple, manageable way until I began following links from one foodie’s blog to another.
Coconut oil, brown rice syrup, tofu? These once-strange substances now feel like familiar friends. I even found the courage to make my own yogurt and become a vegan for 30 days earlier this year.
Bloggers add a personal voice to the nightly news statistics we hear about food, health, and disease. A snapshot inside someone else’s kitchen transformation serves to inspire our own.

4. An active presence in the blogosphere can transform your real-life relationships

There’s no question that I am a better parent since I started my first blog.
As a blogger who writes about motherhood, I expected to share my knowledge and experience with others. But I never imagined the depth of inspiration I would find myself. Whether it comes from a comment someone leaves, a random link that points me to a much-needed resource, or a post that reminds me of the bigger perspective in the midst of the daily grind, there’s no end to the ideas I’ve gathered. My three young kids have the blogosphere to thank for the mother I’m becoming.
On top of that, I now have a built-in community—virtual kindred spirits to approach when life gets tough or questions arise. Our fellow bloggers become friends in every sense of the word, and mentors too.

5. Blogging and social media raise your awareness of global need and give you the chance to respond

Anyone who doubts the power of the blogosophere hasn’t heard of Compassion Bloggers. Comprised of over 30 writers who have traveled to seven countries, Compassion has proven that blogging gives a personal face to massive global issues, releasing children from poverty in the process.

Or consider the example of Love146, a global charity seeking to abolish child sex trafficking and exploitation. My husband serves as CEO of this organization, whose blog and social media presence have sparked a worldwide movement of abolition. William Wilberforce didn’t have Twitter on his side when stirring up advocates against slavery; we do and we can use its power to influence the world for good.

I would never have believed that blogging would become my job, alter my eating habits, improve my relationships, and help me fuel global change. To those who think blogging is dead, let me reassure you otherwise. We’ve only just begun–to grow, to change, to influence, to become better.

Each of us reading today has been influenced in some way by the blogosphere. How has it changed you?

Jamie is mom to three cute kids born on three different continents. She serves as editor of Simple Homeschool and writes about mindful parenting at Steady Mom. Check out her book Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood.

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