Why I Keep Coming Back to Blogging

I've been writing professionally for over six years. In that time, my content, my writing style, my interests, and my business have changed dramatically.

In 2013, I started a podcast. A couple of years after that, I started putting videos on YouTube. In this post, I predicted that Periscope would change the world. I've bought cameras and microphones. I've recorded thousands of hours of audio, hundreds of hours of video, and been a guest on dozens of podcasts.

But, for some reason, I keep coming back to blogging.

Just a few minutes ago, I walked out of our apartment in downtown Cincinnati and stepped into the warm spring air. The sights and sounds of early-afternoon traffic flooded the senses.

A girl in dark aviator sunglasses walked her dog. Through a window, a leasing agent presented a contract to a new tenant while his young daughter rolled across the granite floor while perched on an office chair. The church bells chimed 4 o'clock.

As I rounded the corner and turned onto 6th street, I couldn't help but think, “Man, I can't wait to sit down and write!”

I got fired from my job on January 17th, 2014. Now, four years later, Corporate America is but a distant memory. In the years since I last swiped my security badge to get into an office, I've written blog posts, recorded podcast episodes, and learned the ins-and-outs of content marketing.

Several things have sparked my interest, but there's one thing I keep coming back to, and one thing that has remained a constant.

After it all, I keep coming back to blogging.

There's something deeply therapeutic about writing. I love how an idea forms in my head, like a tiny spark that could be gone any second. If I get distracted or lose focus, the idea could slip away into the ether.

However, if I give the idea some attention, if I pause and put thought to the spark, it might turn into something bigger. Ideas are almost worthless. Anyone can have an idea. We have thousands of them every day, and most of them, like sparks, burn hot for a millisecond and then leave with the same intensity with which they came.

But every once in a while, an idea comes along that I find fascinating. An idea, that when I look at it, takes hold and burns brighter.

These ideas are the basis of my writing. After a conversation with a client, while walking through a business that could benefit from what I've learned, or something I've done, these ideas, these sparks, present themselves.

And I love it!

Blogging gives me a chance to shut out the world and focus on the idea that's just a spark in front of me. I can either hold it in my hand and breathe life into it, or I can ignore it and let it die.

Blogging allows me to explore my thoughts. Blogging, well, writing in general, gives me a chance to lay my thoughts out and see where they take me. Writing is therapeutic. It's deeply personal. It's raw. It requires focus and dedication.

Over the past few minutes and as I've written this post, I've fallen in love with blogging all over again. I've tuned out the conversations around me and I've ignored all of the distractions the world has to offer.

I let the dog walker pass by. I let the father sign the leasing agreement or not. I heard the church bells chime but I paid them little attention.

Writing allows me to retreat into a world of possibilities where almost anything could happen.

And that is why I keep coming back to blogging.

Are you a blogger? Do you love writing? Do you hate it?