Marty and I have been pondering lately how to better heed Elder Ballard's call to "...join [the online conversation about the Church] by participating on the Internet to share the gospel...". Our interest in vlogging had been piqued after the Church's "12 Days of Social" campaign during Christmas time. They linked to a couple of families who post a video blog every single day about their lives and their family. They don't preach about the gospel, but they don't hide the role that it plays in their lives. And millions of people end up watching and learning about what it really looks like to be a Mormon.
We wanted to share the reality of our lives, the good and the bad, the highs and the lows, in hopes of sharing goodness.
We talked about starting our own vlog, but that didn't sit right with me. I felt like it would be too easy for me to get distracted by vanity if I had a camera with me all day long. I've blogged before and really enjoyed it, and writing has always felt like a powerful tool for me. A blog felt right.
Once a blog felt right I hemmed and hawed about what the theme or the topic should be. There was no shortage of things I wanted to write about, but I was reluctant to pick something that could end up being divisive or drawing in the strongly opinionated. I didn't want to create a breeding ground for argument of any kind.
I also knew that the blog would likely change or adapt and naturally develop into something on it's own, so I just needed a starting place that still gave me some wiggle room.
Anytime I have succeeded with a habit change, it was because I resolved to do it every day. Things that are once a week or a few times a week- those have never stuck for me. It's gotta be daily. I had the thought to write a blog every day, about my day; and it felt right. It felt inspired.
I have tried to continually seek inspiration with each post, and today I realized that when I share a post on Facebook, it's easy for me to start making tweaks to what I write or share based on what I think people will want to read, or what they might click on. I don't really want that voice in my head to be too strong, while I'm still working on finding my "voice".
I restarted reading the
Book of Mormon recently and in reading about
Lehi's dream, I noticed a group of people that I hadn't noticed before. They walk on the path, they hold to the rod, they even partake of the fruit of the tree. But then...
"...after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost."
There were people who were trying to do what was right, and clinging to the word of God, and partaking of his love, but they fell away because the world was not pleased with them and they let that matter more to them than God being pleased with them.
I think I need to work on finding my voice without my internal noise of wondering what everyone else will think about what I write. I also think that will be an ongoing effort for me if this blog ever becomes something more than two people read. (Which by the way, is how many people read yesterday's post which did
not get shared on Facebook). I think it's safe to say that I'm writing all by myself for the moment.
All of that is why I've decided that my plan for now is to give things a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, to find my voice and figure out what this blog will be (and prove to myself that I'm really going to stick with this), and
then I'll put some effort into gaining an audience.
Because you see, it's difficult to "share" goodness if no one is reading it.
Labels: Blogging, Faith