Why I Am Still Here and Still Blogging

My automatic answer would be this: to stay sane. Then I may laugh as if I'm kidding. Or maybe not.

Because now that I truly think about it, I realize that the reasons go deeper than what I assume. My blog is now 2 years old, very much like a toddler, yes, and I'm still in love with blogging.

Image: http://fragrantvanillacake.blogspot.com/

Last year, during my first blog anniversary, I talked about the reasons why I blog. After another year, I still agree with those reasons wholeheartedly. But as things remained the same, a lot of things also changed. There are times when I didn't care about the numbers at all; there were (but fewer) times where I obsessed over SEO. There were all-time high traffic spikes and days when traffic would stall or worse, go lower and lower.

There were times I felt confident about my writing ability and there were times I thought I shouldn't be writing at all. And there were times when apart from the positive response I was used to (where the worse were just the insincere ones), I received personal attacks for speaking my mind.

As you may see, blogging is a volatile venture, and as a person who thrives in routine and familiar, I abhor volatile. So why am I still here?

The Attachment

To be honest, I simply can't let go. There are a lot of times, especially during the time I got hurtful comments, when I just wanted to pack up and say goodbye to the blogosphere.

But I never had the heart to. Saying goodbye would mean closing up davaomommy.com, which I treated like a trusted diary, almost like a real friend. It was (and is) more than a "side venture" for me. It was more like my own little private space which was my pride and joy.

It was less like a foodchain franchise in a busy mall and more like a little gallery in a secluded alley.

My blog is but small, but I can't just say goodbye to something that contains so much of me.

The Memories

More than 80% of the photos I take never make it to my Facebook or Instagram account. But you can bet that 90% of them are in this blog, in their resized and watermarked glory.

You see, what's weird is that I never felt comfortable posting mundane photos of my daily life on social media sites. I know anyone can access my blog, but somehow, I feel safer, away from the prying eyes of those who don't know me and don't care about me.

But with you, my dear, little community, especially those who had been reading this blog from the start and know my story, I feel safe and un-judged.

The Responsibility

Here's a stinkbomb: I wouldn't have been the mom - woman even - I am now if not for blogging. I think I would've remained the clueless mom who doesn't care about health and the environment. Why can I say this? Because I was "that kind of mom" before I blogged.

I hope you don't take it the wrong way, but honestly, writing for an audience (real and perceived hehe) challenged me to be the best mom I can be. Because people read about my life, I started to realize I had some sort of accountability. Voila, I felt like a journalist all over again.

But the great thing is that because people read about my life, I was constantly challenged to make good choices: breastfeeding, cloth-diapering, saying goodbye to plastic and unhealthy, homeschooling, and trying my best to follow Jesus.

And however strange it sounds, my words do make an impact. Most of the time, they leave an impact on people I don't know at all. For example, yesterday afternoon, I got a big shock when I received this email:

This comment is made on my post about Why Suicide is Not Unforgivable. I closed my eyes and silently cursed myself because I turned my auto-sync off; I should've received the email 20 hours earlier. But I hurriedly sent him an email, whispered a prayer, and hoped (still hoping) to receive a reply.

I believe my blog posts, no matter how many or few the views, must have helped someone who really needed help. Best of all, the people around me, especially Yuri, continue to benefit from all these "lifestyle" changes.

The Connection

At 24 years old and 2 years into motherhood, I have heard heartwarming messages about me being a "good mom" or that Yuri's lucky to have me as mom, which I truly don't deserve at all.

But you see, that's one of the best things blogging has ever brought me: a community with people I have come to consider as friends. I never did expect that to happen, but it did.

Mothering is lonely, but try mothering while being home all day? Lonely is an understatement. But blogging, it gives me a venue to express my feelings and interact with other people, especially other mothers and kindred spirits who just "know."

That's priceless. No traffic spike, no ranking, no sponsored post can ever be equivalent to it.

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I'm celebrating my 2 years of being a blogger, and I have to tell you that you won't be saying goodbye to davaomommy.com or Little Pieces of Happy any time soon. Plans may change in the future - I may rebrand or move into an entirely new domain, who knows? - but what won't change is this: I will still be here, still blogging.

PS: I originally planned to have a giveaway, but I have been so busy that I didn't get to have time to organize it. I'll try to have a giveaway next month! :-)