Blogging is My Journal

There are a lot of perks about blogging! The Blogger of Jared was initiated as a means whereby a few friends could continue our philosophical and doctrinal musings even though we have since moved apart.

Furthermore, I feel as though I have gained at least a couple new friends (even though I don’t even know what they look like). Specifically, I thoroughly enjoy hearing what Eric has to say every Monday evening or Tuesday morning. And I always enjoy reading Tyler’s remarkable writing.

But there are other perks too — this blog serves as an automatic compilation of my thoughts, or in other words, as my journal.

There have been a few times in my life in which I was pretty good about keeping a journal. While on my mission, I was fairly consistent: I filled about 150 pages or so during my two years. After my mission I wasn’t as consistent. And during the past few years, I’ve been terrible. But a few months ago a thought came to me: why can’t my blog posts be considered my journal?

Well, I’ve since thought that they can be; and indeed, in today’s Elders Quorum lesson (on journal writing) some of the brethren in my quorum agreed with me.

The truth is, I continue to blog primarily because I have a desire to keep a record of my thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy writing and having an ongoing discussion about various topics with really smart people like you guys and gals. But honestly, the concept of having a continuous record of my thoughts is what keeps me posting. In fact, I had a dry-spell in May and June wherein I didn’t post anything because I was really busy with trying to find a job etc. I seriously considered giving up blogging for good. But the thought of refining my writing skills and preserving my thoughts made me decide against giving it up.

So yes, I consider my contributions to this blog as my journal (just think of that, you guys get to read my diary whenever you want). Another perk: I have learned I can have this blog bound/published for only a few dollars. There is a web-site called blog-binders that can publish blogs run off of blogger (and many other programs). I plan on getting this blog bound every year in October; and I’m sure some day I’ll be glad I never quit blogging.