Connect with others through blog

I want to connect with others — do good work that makes a difference for someone.

That’s what I did in newspapers, every day for our readers. It’s also what I helped do in assisted living, every day for residents. Connecting with others has been important in my career.

Now, I think that’s what I need to focus on.

I write for myself and my (mostly) friends and family readers. When I started my job search, I thought I wanted to edit for others, because I love editing. What if I combined writing and editing to be able to connect with others – with readers?

Then, let’s take it one step further: What if I wrote and edited for others in the form of this blog?

Musings to myself

What I’m getting at, in a roundabout way, is that I want to make my blog into something more than musings to myself. I know I have an audience, albeit a small one, and I keep them in mind when I write. That’s why some of my blogs never get published. I need to write them, but you don’t need to read them – yet. Maybe you will, when the time is right.

Writing lets me get things out of my head. I can put them on paper – or iPhone or laptop – and then they don’t bother me anymore. Well, usually. Sometimes they still bother me, but not in the same way.

I’ve had instances – more than once – when I’ve written something and then COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN that I wrote it. Seriously. I have written blog posts on my phone, and then come across them later. Surprisingly, I had forgotten I wrote them, and I certainly couldn’t remember if I published them. I actually had to go to the website to see.

And those just weren’t the unpublishable ones. They were legitimate blog posts – well, as legitimate as my posts get, I guess.

An inside look is a way to connect

My readers – friends and family mostly – get a peek inside my thought processes or how I’m feeling or what I’m doing. When I write, I think about them. I wonder if they’ll think something is amusing or sad. Or, I wonder if they will connect with it in some way, other than by knowing me.

I love reading others’ writing, particularly when I know the person. It feels like I’m getting an inside look into someone’s life. I don’t feel like a voyeur, though, because the writer has opened the door or window for me, and invited me in.

Connect with others

Perhaps other people are like me and want to read what goes on in other peoples’ heads. I suppose it helps us feel not so alone.

One of my blog posts that generated some traffic was “Night time’s the hardest.” I think it resonated with readers, because we’ve all felt that way from time to time – alone or lonely, particularly at night, when we are more aware of being alone. It even got an anonymous comment from a reader who expressed feeling that way at times.

When we feel like we share something – our thoughts, feelings, joys, sorrows, hopes or fears – it makes us feel connected, even if we are far apart or even if we’ve never met. We feel better. It’s one of the benefits of connecting with others.

Importance of connecting with others

One of my favorite volunteer experiences as a support group facilitator for the Alzheimer’s Association shows the importance of connecting with others. Once a month, I’d get together with caregivers – usually family members of people with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. We’d always have time for sharing. That’s when the caregivers would be able to talk about what was happening – with no judgment – in their lives. They could ask or answer questions, vent, cry, laugh, offer support or praise, offer a shoulder, give a hug, sit and listen – whatever they needed that day in their journey. And without exception, they would say it was good to know there were others in the same situation – that they weren’t alone in their experiences.

We all need that. We all need to connect with others and know we are not alone – even if we choose to be alone, physically, socially or otherwise.

Maybe this blog will work out as a way for me to connect with readers, and for us all to know that we’re not alone. We do have similar thoughts (sometimes, anyways), feelings, wants and needs.

I need to write. Maybe you need to read. Together, we can make this thing work. We can connect with each other.