Why does somebody start a personal blog? While there are many reasons the more people you ask you will see overlapping patterns. But since this is my first post I think I have to elaborate anyway. At least for the future me to remind him of the specific reasons – and ideally motivating him to keep posting… ;)
Produce
The last couple of years I was in a state of mainly consuming. This had several reasons, mainly work exhausted me so much that I could not think of doing anything related to a side project. Also I thought that I needed my hobbies to recharge my batteries to cope with life effectively. This was true for a period of time, but it is no longer the case. Everytime I consumed something (videos, blogs, news but also games, series and movies) I had the strange feeling: Is this really recharging my batteries?
This slightly changed in mid 2023 where I bought myself a GoPro (there will be an independent post about that in the future) to record my motorcycle tours and vacations. With that decision I had to invest time (and money) to make something out of it, I was producing something. This rekindled an interest in video editing and what can I say, I love it. So this was the first small step for consuming less and producing more.
Now back to the blog, it is one of the several main reasons I started this blog too. Consume less, produce more. For whoever, but mainly for me.
Thoughts
Writing down one’s thoughts involves the process of thinking really hard on them. This begins as early as coming up with the urge that a thought needs verbalization. Of course the process does not end there, that’s just the beginning. You structure your thoughts, connect them to others, you may do research on them or just gather information as life goes on. They might appear randomly and disappear in the next second, or they live on in the back of your brain. The construct of a thought is so weird.
So yeah, this blog will become a collection of my thoughts. What I was thinking of at a specific time of my life. What I have experienced with a given event or product. What my intentions are any why. And so on. And the best thing is that they have already been filtered by me. Since a blog post takes some effort to write (not to mention to choose) that filter helps me to investing time only on subjects I am really keen about.
Of course I cloud have started a simple private diary for that too. But there are some more specific reasons it became the blog format, so read on why.
Journal
Life is busy. And as time goes on it flies by faster and faster. One habit I came up with to get a better feeling of what happens in life and ideally remembering them was that I started to make notes in my calendar (retrospectively). That way I can exactly say what I did one year ago today (I had burgers with friends for lunch) and bring back feelings and emotions I had. So yeah, time might fly by fast but that way I can always look back and think for myself: Oh, OK, I did a bunch of things, so I made good use of the time I was given.
Though this helped me a lot to get a broader feeling of what happens in life it is also very restrictive. My notes are one liner calendar entries. No excessive wall of texts, just barely a reminder. So the urge to make more of that increased and so I made another addition to creating this blog. It’s kind of a journal but for more deeper thoughts (see #1).
Playground
I am a techie. I always was and always will be. And it happens to be that a blog is a great way to tinker around in code a bit (if not that is an option too). Should I use a standard CMS or a static-site-generator? Where and how to host the content? What theme should I choose and how should I integrate that to my existing site?
Those were all questions I had when starting a blog. Many people say: Do not bother, just start writing. But for me it was one aspect I was looking for when starting. And since technology always evolves I can come back and tinker around anytime I want. So this is another very specific reason for me getting things started.
English
The thing with languages, as you may know is, that you have to actively use them to get better. While I was consuming (see #2) media like movies, series, videos games and web content generally in English, that was only passive. Ok, here and there I wrote or asked something in an English speaking forum but that was it. In my last job I had around 20% international contact thus using English there as well. But in my current job that dropped to around 5%. Too little to get any better.
So, what better way to transit from passive to active usage of a language? Writing is a great tool for that. It does not rely on another individual and you can use software to suggest improvements or correct mistakes. Of course I could also join some kind of online groups where English is spoken, but I really wanted to improve my vocabulary and phrasing. And I think writing suits this goal better since you can more thoroughly think about what you are going to write as when you speak with people. Maybe I am going to do that too one day, but for now let’s settle with the blog.