“I guess my point is, if you’re one of these people considering giving up on blogging in exchange for paying more attention to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, or whatever they throw at us mere mortals, bear in mind you are giving up on something rather unique and wonderful.” (Hugh Macleod)

When I was in the hospital I kept wishing I could access the internet and go to my blog. I wanted to get caught up on all the great blogs that I follow. Think me strange, I felt like something was missing.

Blogging does so much for me, it is cathartic, for it has allowed me a medium to speak about those things that I care about. Things such as; mental health, healing of the mind, and also healing of the soul. I have read many times from other bloggers that it gives oneself a place where they belong, a community. This for me cannot be found in other social media platforms.

In high school I loved English, well maybe not Shakespeare, but in general. I love to read and for quite some time I did not consider myself a reader. Blogging has provided me a venue to stretch my capabilities in writing and has brought back parts of my education that I had become sloppy.

It is also a window to peak through to learn what is happening with others near and far. It also gives others a chance to read about how I am doing and also feeling. I have found that I do not stand alone in my struggles, there are many others who are, or have, faced the same type of struggles. It gives me courage to grit my teeth and power through to the other side of those struggles.

Communication, I love to engage in healthy conversations. The push and pull of talking to others and have educated debates about all the issues of life that we go through or face. It doesn’t mean that we will agree on everything because doing so would be cookie cutter humans.

Blogging brings diversity and I learned to love diversity growing up in a city of multicultural. It was the ability to learn how others live, their customs and also their beliefs. When I live in Toronto I loved going and eating foods from other cultures. My one favorite was a “Meat Patty” which I believe was from a Jamaica culture.

So dear readers, these are some, not all, of the benefits I find in blogging!