Some of my Baha’i internet friends started this initiative to blog each day in November and I thought it was a great way to get back into something that I used to do quite regularly. I’ve made lifelong friendships through my blog and learned to express myself creatively in ways that I never would have without an audience.
I started blogging in 2001, in my senior year of high school, before most people knew what blogging was. My first post on this blog was in June 2003, which seems like a lifetime ago. And it really is, in internet terms. Back then, it was considered strange and dangerous to meet up in real life with people that you met on the internet. Sharing personal information about oneself online was such a new concept and I remember so many people being very concerned about it…and then this little pocket of the internet where we were all sharing all the things. It was surreal to be able to connect to so many other people online, particularly Baha’is, that I could then meet at conferences or when traveling.
I think in some ways it helped me develop my Baha’i identity even further. I could learn about how Baha’is lived in other countries, and in the days before Facebook, I got a glimpse of personal connection that seems deeper than what I have now with most social media. Sometimes we didn’t even know what we looked like, all we had was a screen name and the written word, and it was somehow more intimate for all of that.
There is a certain amount of nostalgia in this blog, and I’m glad that I have not deleted it and that I’ve tried to keep it going. It helped shape who I am now in some pretty important ways, and I am grateful for that.
One thought on “Why am I participating in the Baha’i Blogging Challenge? Day 4 – Baha’i Blogging Challenge”
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Don’t forget the rest of us who are glad you didn’t delete your blog 😀
I relate a lot to what you’re saying! I started blogging just a little earlier than you did, and looking back, it’s true that my blog has helped to shape who I am now. It especially helped to bring an element of reflection into my life that I didn’t really have before. I’ve always written in journals, but I didn’t have the habit of reading back through them. I’ve always looked back at my old blog posts, though, and that’s helped me to see the many ways I’ve changed over the years—mostly for the better. 🙂