The Writer’s Coin

Last week I wrote about the five ways blogging about personal finance has helped me, and it got me thinking about why I blog. Is it because I may make some money out of it? Get a job out of it?

Sure, all of those are reasons that have kept me motivated to keep working on this blog. There are days that I simply don’t want to write about finance or even write at all. But you break through it and keep going. And yes, some sort of financial reward at the end of that tunnel makes it easier to keep yourself going.

But I didn’t start this blog for any of those reasons. It all started with the excitement of taking part in this network of personal finance advice to help people who will or have gone through the same awakening process us bloggers have gone through. Sharing that with other people is rewarding at a level that money and success just doesn’t compare.

A good example is in order: On the very first website I ever built, I put up some stories and essays I had written. One of them was about a jaw surgery that I had done and what it was like to go through. It’s a very unique procedure to have done and the mental strain you go through (your jaw gets wired shut for six weeks) is of a very specific type (yes, you obsess about food ALL THE TIME). So I wrote this long, drawn out thing about it and what it’s like from the patient’s perspective and what parents (or whoever is taking care of the person) can and can’t do to help out.

About a year after I abandoned that site I got an email from a woman regarding that article. Her son was about to have the same surgery and she was emailing me to thank me for writing the piece. She was going to print it out, show it to her son, and use it as a guide to help them both get through the recovery process.

Essentially, she was emailing to say Thank You.

And that, folks, is why I blog.

Have you had a similar experience blogging?

Tags: Blogging, helping people