Why I Blog

August 20, 2024

The idea of blogging always seemed so fun and yet I went many years without publishing any content online. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since highschool (over a decade ago). I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

This post walks through my journey, which starts from total avoidance to feeling like I can write indefinitely. It’s an anecdote that maybe can help others start their own blogs to share.

Where my motivation came from

Some people get satisfaction from posting on social media like TikTok or Instagram. I felt that I’d get a similar payoff when I shared a written thought I really believed in.

It also felt like a way to synthesize the bombardment of facts, opinions, and ideas that I encounter daily. Like a tourist posting a shot of the Eiffel Tower on their Instagram, I wanted to frame and share my own perspective of the world. There are thousands of photos of the Eiffel Tower online, but taking your own photo forces you to think about what angles you like and what aesthetics you disagree with.

I find that until I actually write something down, I don’t fully understand what I even think on a matter. OK, but why does what I think need to be shared publicly?

What was stopping me

I constantly see brilliant people doing brilliant things online. In online writing, what could I possible add to the conversation? Who am I to have an opinion on something—I’m no expert. It was difficult to feel like I wasn’t wasting time and embarrassing myself by writing something I’ll regret. Isn’t it better just to write in private?

Who helped me get started

The tipping point was being exposed to more people I admired who consistently shared content online. These were people I knew in real life who I talked to frequently. Sometimes they would post controversial thoughts, and from my perspective it didn’t seem to really affect them. It normalized maintaining a blog and lowered the stakes for me. Because of them, I gained confidence and I decided to just give it a go and write something, anything.

That’s where What If Your JS Package CDN URL Goes Missing? came from. I just picked something that could probably contribute in some way. I spent time googling for a solution and it took sometime to figure out. I thought: “Well, if it just took me 30 minutes to figure this out—maybe I can save some time by sharing a blog post about it.”

I don’t have to be an expert to share something on the internet that could be valuable to others.

Why I keep going

Coming up with blog post ideas that are additive was a fun and challenging problem. To me, I had to feel like what I was writing was new in some way—kind of like a PhD thesis mini-game.

After I publish a post, I always share with my closest friends and like to hear their thoughts (Edit: Funnily enough, a few of them pointed out a few misspellings in this very post so it turns out I don’t get embarrassed that easily).

Just like my journal growing up, I can look back and see what my perspective was at a point in time. It’s exciting to think about how I’ll look back at something years later and relive my thought process. Have I changed for the better?

When will you start