Thought of the day

The other day, somebody asked me why I wrote things on my blog. And I couldn't quite explain. "Is it the comments?" No. "Then why do you not just use a Word file and save your thoughts on the hard disk?" Well...I didn't quite know.

Today I thought about that again (I was out dancing with myself thinking all the while - I tend to do that). And I came up with a reason. Don't know if it's any good - it only contains four beers, though. It's not really original, though. Basically, it's like this: Lots of thoughts ramble through one's brain - usually pretty incoherently. Sometimes you ponder them for a while, sometimes you let them go. And sometimes you feel like writing them down so you don't forget. Now you can write those into your diary. But that's basically the same as keeping them in your head, only more organized. Of course organizing your thoughts is also a bonus of blogging, because if you want to write about something you actually need to think it through. To put vague thoughts to paper (virtual or not) usually requires some effort. With a diary, all that effort is basically wasted on oneself.

If you write thoughts down and publish them, though, it's like you release them to the world. That means you can share good thoughts and get rid of the bad thoughts. Which is probably why people (including me) tend to complain a lot on their blog. If you release a problem it's no longer yours alone. I guess some people actually do that to get comments - people telling them: "oh, it's not so bad - look at XYZ". Comfort and all that. But I think the act of telling alone relieves pretty much of the tension (if tension is the right word for it - it's more like not being alone in thinking about things).

Also, sharing your thoughts probably makes you feel less insignificant. You wrote something that people might like to read. In my case, it's actually not that important that someone actually does (though I like checking my stats file and I do appreciate comments). It's more important that someone MIGHT read them if they wanted to. If I just wrote them down for myself I could just as well let it be.

To get to the point where that's not really original - it's like a Pensieve. Put your thoughts out there - sometimes they get clearer, sometimes you get feedback, sometimes you don't. (Though a Pensieve is more like a diary as other people aren't really supposed to root around in it.)

Of course, sometimes I just write things to let people know or to actually elicit comments or to share something I found or just to blab about my day - or whatever. Can't attach deep meaning to everything I do. Most of the time it's probably crap. But then again, deep, meaningful moments are scarce in life anyway. And some I don't feel like publishing, some I do. Some people read, some they don't. Some get commented on, some just float around with not much attention directed towards them. Such is life. Does that make sense? It did somewhat when I was out there on the dance floor.