I dunno why other people blog, or how, but I do it because my thoughts used to be dead-weight. I would think a lot, like I assume most people do. Long, meandering chains of contemplation. While driving from point A to point B. While showering. Far, far too often while laying in bed trying to fall asleep, which kept me up for hours (problem now solved!).
I came to realize that often I was simply thinking the same things over and over again, walking the same path over and over. Like rewatching a movie you’ve already seen twelve times. There was the illusion of progress, due to the effort and the changing scenery, but in the end I hadn’t gone anywhere.
Moreover, this energy was completely wasted. The thoughts were contained within myself, never placed anywhere. To any outside observer they might as well not have happened. I could as well be the deaf/mute village idiot for all they knew. All this mental work was accomplishing exactly nothing.
So I took up blogging, which to me is simply taking the internal narrative that’s running through my head while I’m showering and typing it up. I’ve already put in the work of thinking up this crap, I might as well put in the tiny, tiny extra bit of effort required to permanently record it. Now it is at least visible to the outside world. I can reference it if need be. Ten years from now I can look back at what an idiot I was back when I was younger. There is something to show for it.
(That’s why the book review posts – I always find myself thinking about a book after I’ve finished it)
As a side effect, I’ve found that it greatly reduces the hamster-wheeling in my head. Once those thoughts are put down on paper (figuratively) and published (hah!) they usually cease to plague me, or do so to a MUCH lesser extent. It’s amazingly freeing.
It’s not a panacea, sadly, because once those thoughts are down and I can quit rethinking them new thoughts surface to take their place. Thus I have to keep blogging/writing/etc. But at least now I’m treading new ground, rather than chasing my tail. I think it helps.
If nothing else, it feels good.