One Thing I’ve Learned From Blogging

I have been asked over the last few years why I blog. I have pondered over my goals and intentions and motives many times.  I have asked myself soul searching questions:

Am I trying to be famous?

Am I trying to help others?

Do I just want to be heard?

Is my blog my creative outlet?

Is it a place to record my thoughts and feelings for future generations?

Am I wanting validation or acceptance?

Am I trying to prove something?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I’ve honestly answered these questions.  And I’ve decided, while it is nice to have recognition and respect, the main reason I blog is to help others.  I drive myself crazing thinking so you don’t have to.

This truthful answer spawned more questions: How many people need to read my blog in order for me to feel like the time I spend blogging is worth it? How many people do I need to help?

I see other blogs with hundreds of comments, and self-doubt starts to creep in. I get insecure that I am making a fool of myself or that I am wasting my time. I found my “blogging worth” getting caught up in how many Facebook likes, shares, or blog comments I would receive on a post.  I attached my significance to large numbers.

That is until I starting pondering on some scriptures:

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God”

Doctrine and Covenants 18:15

“And if it so be that you should …. bring, save it be ONE soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”

Matthew 18: 12- 13

“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and ONE of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”

And then there is my favorite definition of success by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“To laugh often and much, to win respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even ONE life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

All of the above thoughts are about the ONE, not the masses.

So when I write a post On Grace and I only get one comment, that’s okay. Because the commenter said she had never understood grace before and this post helped her understand it better.

“I really like this analogy and can relate. Just last week we raked a bunch of leaves in our backyard and I was obsessed with getting every leaf. But no matter what I did I couldn’t get them all with our old plastic rake and my kids kept thwarting my efforts by playing in them and scattering them everywhere. But then, like your story, my husband got out the mower and sucked the stray ones up and the yard looked great in no time. I have never really understood how grace works in relation to the atonement but this totally makes sense and helps me understand it so much better. Thanks, this post really helped me tonight!”

I helped Christina.

After posting some summer schedule ideas, Leah Mae said,

“Thanks so much for you great chore chart idea, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for! My old ones weren’t working for the summer and I couldn’t figure out how to switch them up.”

That post helped Leah Mae.

Or when I posted a quote that helped me through a difficult time, Evaly responded with “I love this and needed it today. Thanks.”

I helped Evaly.

All of my posts don’t help everybody.  That is an impossible task. But one post helped one person and that is good enough for me.  And, sometimes, the one may even just be me.

I don’t need hundreds of comments, thousands of blog followers, or to be “liked” lots on Facebook.

I am content with knowing that “one life has breathed easier“.  I will consider my blog a success just helping the one, not the ninety and nine.

We don’t need to be the big dog on campus, the Relief Society President, or chairman of the board. We don’t need to have thousands of Facebook friends or hundreds of Instagram likes.  We don’t need big numbers to validate who we are and what we do.

We just need to be a neighbor, a friend, or a visiting teacher to the ONE.  We just need to be moms doing what we do with our kids because we are making a difference to them.

Influencing ONE life is just as significant as influencing hundreds.

That’s one thing I’ve learned from blogging. 🙂