#AtoZChallenge: J is Justification for the Blog Life

It’s past midnight.

I’ve crammed to the edges an entire day with Chick-fil-a chicken minis and meetings that flew over my head. I included lunch with a co-worker and a roast beef sandwich that got some looks as I walked with it on a plate. It ended with Rogue One and an episode of Hawaii 5-0.

And now, when normal men would check sports scores (Nuggets and Rockies win!) or gawking at their favorite Weather Channel meteorologist (Hi, Kelly Cass), I’m starting a post for the letter J in the A to Z Challenge, hours after Australian bloggers have put their posts to bed for the day.

Trying not to jinx myself, but I’m not that sleepy. I’m jumping right into this post, hoping to hit the jackpot for what I want to say. Today’s J-word is justification for the blogging life, and my 12:52 a.m. start time for this post ought to be exhibit A.

Here are seven reasons if someone you love blogs, you ought to just count your blessings.

1. Connects us to other kooks

Misery loves company. So too those of us who can tap out a thousand words on a daily challenge and forget to brush our teeth or finish our taxes. Oh shit. Oh wait, I did. See? You really want that kind of rudderless meandering on the highway with you?

2. Shows us another perspective

Without blogging, how could I ever know a dishwasher could be possessed? Lines from posts I read years ago resonate and inspire new posts and open lines of thinking I might not have thunk. Then we can put a twist on it and who knows how far it goes?

3. Provides a community

I’ve come to work and not talked to a soul all day. Yet, on any day, I can shoot the shit with dozens of talented and troubled folk just like me (or reasonably close, or not at all like me, but who have a blog to update, dammit.)

4. Creates an identity

So long as your blogger doesn’t insist on being called the name of their blog, or refer you to a contact me page when you ask for a favor, you’re good. A reasonably well-adjusted blogger will let the lift they get from their blogging persona give them a pep in real life.

5. Keeps us off the streets

Bloggers tend to be creative. That’s a fact, and also a friendly way of saying they have few other life skills. Blogging at least keeps us close to a keyboard when we let personal hygiene and reasonable nutrition go out like yesterday’s Twitter feed.

6. It opens our worlds

A frog at the bottom of a well has a view of the sky limited to what is visible through the opening. What happens if he escapes? His view of the sky changes exponentially. A frog or blogger (or even a frogger) gains that perspective through both reading and writing.

7. It can preserve our stories

I hope my girls will read these posts long after I’m gone.

(By then, maybe they’ll be able to think a post into being.) Barring a meltdown at WordPress, my words will also stick around for others, too. Rather than an ego boost, it’s a spot of humility, to consider your words outlasting your body.

Blogging’s a blast. Whether it’s at 1:18 a.m. or when you should be working or when you’ve finished your roast beef sandwich at lunch, it gives some of us an anchor that keeps us moored just where we belong in this vast ocean of humanity.

Kelly Crass probably doesn’t root for the Rockies, anyway.

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[This post by Janine Huldie of Confessions of a Mommyaholic inspired this post.]

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The rest of the A to Z to this point:

A is for Addiction to Devices

B is for Burgers (3 Lessons I learned During a Month Without Them) Plus 3 Random Smartphone Pics

C is for Interview with a Cat

D is for Do What I Do and Eat What I Eat

E is for Eight Things I’ve Left Behind

F is for  Foods That Bring Me Comfort

G is for #GirlsRock: An Interview Mental Health Care Advocate Kitt O’Malley

H is for Halfway There

I is for Ice Cream