Why I wrote a blog (and why maybe you should too!)

I know nothing about blogs, blogging or being a blogger, at least nothing more than expected from a digital native. I’ve also barely ever posted on social media and have a few (dozen) projects already taking up my mental (and sometimes physical) space, but here I am adding one more to the pile - and this time it’s even public! So… why? Why am I doing this and pretending that you should too?

Well, since you’re curious - don’t be shy, I know you are! -, let me just list some of the reasons why I, at least, started a blog:

1: It’s fun!

Have you ever wanted to randomly ramble for hours on end about subjects so specific that no-one around you even pretends to care? Or if you’re not prone to rambles, how about rants? Surely you must rant on a regular basis, like I can only assume most people do? Well then it just gets better to let it all out, screaming into the void, so to say.

I mean, just imagine what you could be writing: absolutely anything you want. No-one can stop you. No-one can even know it’s you. Now go write that 100.000-words essay about your unabated love for your cat!

2: It’s free (digital) real estate!

There are so many free and easy ways to get your blog up and running these days that the most difficult part is actually choosing the one you’re going to use.

While this particular ego-trip of mine is built with Hugo (and the PaperMod theme) and hosted on GitHub Pages, you truly have an absurd amount of choices. It ranges from small non-profits offering open-source hosting solutions to literally the biggest companies on Earth: pick your poison!

3: It’s a nice way to give your impostor syndrome the finger

“No-one cares about what I’m thinking anyway” can become “No-one cares, but I don’t either!”. Or “I’ve nothing interesting enough to tell the world” can turn into that essay about your cat. And if people start reading you anyway… well, it’s kind of on them, right?

Now I know, I know: it’s usually not that easy. You’re right. It’s also important to take the time to do it the way you’d like. There’s no rush, the internet is (hopefully?) not going anywhere. Also important is the fact that you do not have to do this at all, actually. While some find an unexpected calling in personnal blogging, it isn’t, of course, what everyone should aspire to¹.

However, if you ever start a blog I don’t mind you throwing a link my way! (Ok right now there’s no way to contact me on here except maybe getting my Github name through the URL and messaging me there which is not ideal, but I’m considering some options that will hopefully not get me spammed by a thousand bots.)

See you around!