Numerous times, you all credit me with honesty. I have to come clean again with some thoughts I have experienced over the past few days. Writing gives me clarity and two posts I have recently written did just that. First, I wrote a guest post (check it out) for Chelsey’s blog. Then, I wrote yesterday’s post about 20 Things To Keep In Mind. Both of those had me questioning my current approach to blogging.

Before moving on, please note that I’m not segueing into an announcement of “I’m not blogging anymore”. Not by any means. I truly feel called to share myself in this crazy thing called blogging. I love blogging. I do not hesitate for a moment to call it a passion of mine. However, that passion can take a negative spin sometimes and I recently realized it had done so for me.

I will say it outright. I have goals for this blog. It provides a wonderful creative outlet and the flexibility to do something I love. It suits me perfectly right now as an adult outlet while staying at home and as a way to bring in a little extra side money for our family. I cannot deny my hopes that when the time comes for me to return to work in a few years, I can involve blogging in some way. By no means do I expect my blog to become my full-time income (& likely wouldn’t want it to). I still wouldn’t mind it working well alongside whatever other path I choose to take (personal training? wellness coaching? writing?).

However, in reaching that possible goal, I do not ever want to lose sight of why I blog. I fear I had started to do that. I emphasized developing my blog over the aspects of blogging that bring me true joy. I reflected. And reflected some more.

Why do I blog?

I feel an immense purpose in telling my story. With time, I knew the things I had experienced had some meaning. They weren’t simply to make me stronger or learn some important lessons. They did those things, most definitely. But I have no doubt in my mind that I lived through the depression, hurt, binges, self-hatred, tough relationships, and more to tell my story. God has a plan and something in my gut tells me this is part of it for me.

Nothing matters more than loving others. The innumerable connections and relationships possible through blogging matter to me. I don’t want to get so caught up in my own blog that I can’t make those true connections and friendships important in the blogging world.

I believe in being real. I share 100% openly and honestly about all things body image, balance, motherhood, fitness, weight loss, fears, etc because I think we too often put pressure on ourselves that is not realistic. Heck. It’s what I’m currently experiencing with blogging and something I believe not talked about nearly enough. I want to show the truth in all ways, so we can learn more to uplift one another in struggles and not hide behind false fronts.

And lastly, its fun! Its a great way to learn more about myself, share anecdotes of my family, capture life, and experience new things. I don’t want to lose the fun aspect!

Those are the reasons I blog and those are the things I do not want to forget. What does that mean? For myself personally, It means taking off the self-imposed pressure. It means keeping blogging a hobby and pleasurable pastime and trusting God to develop it as a part of my life in His own way.

And for FFF? The main difference you will notice is that I may blog less often (1x/day) so I can keep my focus on what I care about most in blogging. I hope I can more genuinely reflect why I blog, my mission and purpose in blogging, and who I am as a person – a busy mom/wife/friend working towards personal goals and loving life – in every post.

Who cares what it does to page views? Who cares if its not the standard for blogs trying to grow and develop? Who cares if it makes me slightly nervous as to how that will affect the styling of my posts and if they become too long for you to want to read? All I care about is that I stick to my reasons for blogging. I follow my gut. I do what I know is right. I continue to have fun so it remains a passion. Whatever path that ends up leading down…so be it. I will have blogged with purpose, dedication, and compassion. Yea…so be it.

With all of that being said, if you like what FFF stands for, I would be honored to have you nominate me for Women’s Health Magazines “Blogs We Love”. Pretty please?? 🙂 Just click HERE and take a short moment to enter my site.

Question of the Day – Why do you blog? Have you ever lost sight of that? What caused you to do so and how do you keep focused?

I’ve heard about plenty of studies claiming that writing down and then tracking progress plays a key role in successfully achieving goals. The key point in this reasoning is the accountability of a place to look back over goals and progress. This always made me wonder if I didn’t set goals well enough. I don’t have tables and charts with my goals saved on my hard-drive. I don’t have an inspiration board hanging on my refrigerator. I don’t carry around my monthly goals on a 3x5 index card in my purse. The closest I get to written goals is my daily to-do list – which I lately don’t even have the time to write that.

Then, when I thought about it, I realized I do in fact have a place of written documentation – this blog. This blog helps hold me accountable in a variety of ways and I like that. I have fitness goals I shared on the blog. Even though I certainly feel no pressure from anyone out there reading, the fact I am working to achieve them in front of plenty of others never leaves the back of my mind. It undoubtedly will help motivate me at times to get in that workout or try that new recipe because I want to share it here.

The community of support also inspires me to believe in myself and push towards every goal I put out there. Including some scary ones I possibly consider working towards. I haven’t told you yet that I have my eye on a longer race (a 1/2) I would love to do at the end of the year if I end up liking running as much as I started to before getting pregnant. See…blog accountability. I’ve been trying to keep that a secret because its not certain. Then, it feels so good just to put that possibility even out there in public. It holds me accountable to not fearing new goals and dreams, even if those new goals could change.

Blogging also holds me accountable to myself. Every day I write a post I must reflect on myself, my day, my life. How’s that for accountability? I can never forget the blessings of my life when I showcase it post by post for all of you. When I have struggles, posting about them helps me to learn and grow from them much differently than silently allowing it all to swirl around in my head. I have a reputation I like to keep by not giving up on my beliefs and what I present here – like consistent honesty and realness in ALL things.

Sure, I can (and will) always do what works best for me and adapt goals accordingly as I go along. However, simply having the blog as a sounding board of my thoughts and reflections helps to always keep things in perspective. It always puts things into the light for me to clearly see. It always holds me accountable. To my goals? Certainly. But mostly? Mostly to myself.

Question of the Day – Do you feel your blog (if you have one) helps hold you accountable in some way? What about reading blogs?