Growing a Pair: Blogging as an Experiment in Courage

My cousin has been experimenting with gratitude. For thirty days she has committed to finding something, anything to be grateful for. Reading her posts follows the wave of inspiration striking, uncertainty creeping in, and then breaking through again – not to inspiration, but something else. I dare call it change. Because of her readership she is called to be accountable for her promise some odd 17 days ago.

If you dare to blog, you commit to change. People who blog don’t do it because they are interested in ruminating about how stale and stagnant they’ve become and their plans to stay that way Thank You Very Much. No. They talk about how stale and stagnant they are, and then, as if the effect of a million tiny miracles colliding - they change. Slowly. Foot by foot, step by step. As much as I hate to admit it, blogging has changed me. And it’s not just signing up for Blogger and saying stupid shit. It’s the self-examination that comes with it. Anyone could do it, whether they have a blog or not, but there is something encouraging and emboldening about letting your (sometimes stupid and sometimes brilliant) shit be read by total strangers who strangely seem to give a damn about what you have to say. Incredible.

No one wants to read about me crying in the ladies room for thirty days in a row. People read blogs for something different, for examples of people doing things they want to do, for ideas, for inspiration. That was my motivation to read great blogs. My favorite bloggers are not the ones sitting on their duff complaining. My favorite bloggers have balls.

And by balls, I mean hutspa, I mean good old fashioned dusting themselves off and putting one foot in front of the other. Some of them even let me whine and complain on their blog and respond with patience and seriousness. Seriousness because, perhaps, they’ve felt like me and moved past the pain.

So, I’m going to jump on the thirty day bandwagon, with a slightly different angle.

Doing one thing every day that takes courage, for me.

I’ll be twittering them daily for thirty days. Follow me, join me, dare me.