Why I Shouldn’t Start a Blog
I’m Brett.
By day, I’m a 33-year-old husband and dad, working at a mid-size software company. By night... I’m trying my hand at writing- and maybe a little video-making too.
Great. Just what the world needs: Another Blog.
You’re right. I probably shouldn’t- and I know all the reasons why.
You’re already overloaded with information: At the time of writing, humans are creating 1.1 trillion MB and consuming 34 gigabytes of data- per day. Every day when you wake up and grab your smartphone you are turning on a full-blast fire hose of information pointing directly at your face. What brilliance do I have to add? Will I be helping make sense of all of this- or just adding to the noise?
I’m (definitely) not a professional: I am not a writer or even an English major. I am not a philosopher- heck I’m not even in MENSA. You read a book like East of Eden (obviously the greatest book in the English language) and you realize that there are humans like John Steinbeck or a thousand others who have both an insight into the human condition and an elegance in expressing that which you likely won’t approximate in your lifetime. Why try?
I don’t have time: Lord knows this dad of 3, full-time worker with rental properties on the side has no business starting a blog. Many days feel like full sprint from the moment I open my eyes to the second I shut them. Where will I squeeze in the time to write?
There’s nothing new under the sun: Even with the dizzying amount of thoughts that careen through my brain on a daily basis, I can say with some level of certainty that I will probably say nothing truly novel. Here we are a few thousand years into recorded history, in a world of eight billion souls. In this world, new thoughts are hard to come by- to say the least.
Even with all this, people every day start blogs, Youtube channels, and podcasts- for many great reasons. Many of those reasons, though, are not my reasons. In thinking through why I want to write, I should clarify why some of the common motivations just “ain’t” mine.
💰: I ain’t doing it for the money. Let’s be real here- if Google wants to send a check to this single-income three kid family I would not rip it up in the name of artistic purity. A side hustle income would of course be pretty sweet, but if I never made a cent I could still be extremely satisfied with this thing.
🤴: I ain’t doing it for the followers. I think that one of the worst things that could happen to someone in 2021 is becoming famous. In the age of always-on smartphones and social media- we are well-past the golden age of being famous (that age was actually pretty short in the history of the world).
🧠: I ain’t doing it because I’m the smartest person on the internet. I do consider myself someone who thinks a lot about what’s true and what living a good life might mean in light of that truth. But I’d be lying to you- and to myself- if I postured myself as someone who knows it all or has it all figured out.
“Ok,” you might be thinking, “This is the biggest bummer of a first post I’ve ever read. You’ve reinforced the argument for not starting a blog… So-why are you starting a blog?”