Blogging... Eeek!

This week I stumbled into the world of internet blogging. I mean... I've written on blogs before and I'm familiar with the concept, but I had no idea how huge the community of bloggers actually was! First, I found one of two blogs that were very interesting, then I followed links from their "blogroll" then all of a sudden I was falling down the rabbit hole. There were food blogs by diabetics, cancer survivors, dieters, amazing chefs, working moms, and anything else one could dream up. I'm sure that some of these blogs are uber popular and some are just "wanna-be's" in the blogworld. They all referenced each other and all of them had tons of comments on each post. This was a community with personal interactions and a lot of dialog going on. First, I realized that there are a lot of intelligent, great writers out there who are passionate about the same things I am. Second, I got very intimidated... what am I doing?

I couldn't help but question myself. Why am I spending time writing in a blog? Why do I think this is a worthwhile project when it is clearly not a unique one. What am I going to contribute that all of these other people aren't already saying? Just like the rest of my life... I guess I really have no clue. I'm wandering right now because, hey, these are my odyssey years. Despite ultimately not knowing what I hope to get out of this blog, I do believe that it is a productive step. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas. I like thinking, reading, and making connections. Since graduating from college, I don't have many places where I've been asked to do those things in a structured manner. I hope this blog can be an outlet for that type of structured reflection on ideas that catch my interest.

Ideally, I will write in this blog a few times a week, maybe even have some people read it and comment on it once in a while (the spot of first comment is still up for grabs! you better act quickly if you want to be a part of this history!) . After a few months of this (maybe longer... who knows), I would read back on my entries and be able to see patterns... something would become clear and point me towards my next step. Maybe I'll stumble across a research possibility or dissertation topic in a blog entry. I guess that is a huge expectation to have for a blog, but I don't think it's totally unrealistic. Writing and reflecting is very valuable; therefore, I envision this as being a way in which I might figure out what I'm doing with myself. It could happen.

This is how I think of this blog. I haven't sent the address to my family members and aside from the passing reference to my dietary patterns, contented singleness, or love of running on the mesas, I have no intentions of dwelling on my personal life. This is a place for me to explore ideas about food, economics, sociology, philosophy, and any other passing thoughts that might come my way. I think becoming part of the blogging community would be fun, but it's not my main goal. (Comments are still welcome, though!)