Last night while emailing with a friend, I got to thinking about the amount of time blogging takes up in my little world and how this affects the people around me. I started thinking about how often I ask Hank to be a part of whatever it is I'm doing, and how lucky I am that he's happy to oblige. He's absolutely a part of this little online world of mine, but more so behind the scenes than anything- most likely taking photos for me, or listening to a rough draft of an idea I have. But even though Hank's fine with helping me out, he isn't one to share personal things about himself; he dislikes Facebook and rarely posts anything outside of computer, music, or sports talk on Twitter. He's just not into sharing in that way.
Over the years I've scaled back a lot of what I put out there. Sure, I talk a lot about topics that are relevant to my life both in the past and present, lessons I've learned, hopes for the future...but that's really just a small part of everything that makes up my day to day happenings and ultimately me as a person. But still, I share, on one level or another. Most of my "real life" friends don't even have blogs, or have any interest in ever starting a blog. Some of them are astonished when they learn about the size of my audience here, and I usually get the same questions about privacy, safety, and of course the big question: why?
People don't always seem to "get" blogging, and I sort of feel like you either get it, or you don't. A lot of my friends poke fun at me, saying things like, "this better get its own post" when we're out and about, and on the flip side I've even had friends tell me it made them feel uncomfortable to read my blog because they just felt like another "reader," and not like my close friend. I've had all sorts of reactions ranging from super positive (make me one!) to the very negative (you're going to get stalked!). As far as my family, my parents are totally supportive and think it's actually really cool. I've caught my Dad explaining my blogging and writing accomplishments to his friends like he was recounting my soccer highlights back in the day, which is really funny and sweet. And like I mentioned before, Hank is incredibly supportive too- he kind of has to be I guess, since I do love writing and blogging here so much- but he's genuinely and enthusiastically supportive, which is even better.
On the other hand, I have other family members who do not know about this space and probably never will. They wouldn't get it, they'd get freaked out that thousands of people come here everyday, and probably try to convince me to stop. For that reason, I stick to blogging mainly about my immediate family; it just makes things easier to not have anyone else involved.
But why am I telling you all of this? Because I am so, so curious about your blogging experience, as far as the people around you. What do your friends think? Parents? Partner? Are you supported in your endeavors or do you find that people think it's weird?
I'd love to hear what you have to say, so feel free to share in the comments below! :)