Last week I spent 90 minutes on Skype with Ashley Ambirge – better known to most of you as the mastermind and ass-kicker behind The Middle Finger Project (which is truly one of the most amazingly mind-blowingly awesome blogs you’ll find out there…seriously). Amidst talking about our basement dwelling, foreign smuggling, philosophizing endeavors, we came to a common consensus on “why we do what we do” – and more importantly, what got us started as bloggers…
Long story short…We had “shit to say”.
That, in my opinion, is the best reason anyone can give for why they’re doing this – for why one day they decided to stop writing in a diary and start writing where everyone can see. We do this because we have shit to say, because we want to put our voice out there for other people to hear. We want other people to listen – we want other people to agree and disagree with us – we want to meet new people, network, and communicate – and above all, we want to learn.
And at the end of the day, we just have shit to say. It all starts with your voice, your ideas, before you ever start to worry about what everyone else thinks.
I’m seeing a very common consensus amongst friends in the blogging game – their blogs have absolutely, without a doubt, changed their lives. If you let it, if you aren’t afraid to say “shit” – even if sometimes it sounds ridiculous, or no one understands it, or no one reads it but you (and your mom) – a blog can be a game changer – it can be your gateway to opportunities you didn’t even know existed – it can lead you to new career opportunities, it can push you to start your own business, and it can be the best damn therapy out there. Through everything I have gone through, through every up and down that’s happened to me over the past year and a half – I’ve been able to count on three things, My family, my fiance, and my friends here – the supportive community that continues to evolve. My blog.
And it all started with a simple idea. It all goes back to Ms. Ambirge’s point – “I had shit to say”. One day I stopped worrying about what other people would think, I stopped worrying about whether or not I was a good writer, I didn’t focus on planning and numbers and metrics. I focused on the writing, and I focused on sharing that writing with as many people who would listen.
Here I am today, a little more than a year after setting out on this maiden voyage, and I can’t even begin to retrospect how much my life has changed BECAUSE of my blog.
Don’t worry about being the best, don’t even worry about being “good” (whatever that means). If you have shit to say, start saying it – and don’t let anyone hold you back.
And if you start to lose track of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Remember what went through your head on day one…
“I have shit to say”.