Jesse A. Schroeder

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So I've been trying to consistently update my little personal blog for about three weeks now. Some days have more posts than others, but I'm trying to post regularly. Here are some thoughts and realizations I've had after a few weeks of blogging:

1. Composing my thoughts in a format that others may (or may not) read forces me to formulate ideas and feelings into readable sentences and coherent paragraphs. I'm one of those people that really lives inside of my own head, meaning that I tend to play out scenarios over and over again, debate ideas and theories back and forth to myself, and really feel like I have something to say or share, but never actually do. Putting these words down and thinking about how someone else may read them is helping me to get it all out of my head, but it's also a very useful practice of putting thoughts into words, sentences, and a hopefully understandable blog post.
2. Blogging is keeping me accountable - if I post that I will do something, or that I support a cause, then I have to actually live my life that way. Again, I tend to imagine what I "could" or "should" support - or the type of person I "might want to be." But I rarely take steps to actually become that person. For me, posting on my blog feels very public, a somewhat official way of saying "This is who I am world." And then I have to live the actions that back up the words that I write. And the (few) people who I know who read what I write ask questions, challenge my thoughts and ideas, and ask me about the steps I'm taking to live up to what I am writing about. I think that in a real way, blogging is helping me to become the person I want to be.
   
3. I love to journal - I have maybe a dozen or so paper journals of various sizes and designs that I've been writing in since high school. I'm also a pack rat. I like to save things from my life and keep them as memories, otherwise I feel like I never actually lived the days and the years that continue to go by so quickly. My paper journals have ticket stubs, fliers, pictures and other random stuff that reminds me of what I was doing at that time. I really love this online "web-log." I think it will be great to look back in months (perhaps years) from now, and see what I music I was listening to, what thoughts were challenging me, what events were important to me. And because it is all online, it feels like a very permanent "log." It's also easier in some ways - quickly linking to an article or another blog post, inserting music or a youtube video (something I couldn't really do in paper journals).
   
4. Finally, its great when friends (or anyone) comments or talks with me in person about things I write. So if you are reading this, and you have thoughts about me, what I'm writing, or life in general - put down a comment! Send me a note, or let's get coffee and talk about it in person.