Why blog? It’s a question that has come up more than once, asked by family, friends as well as myself. It’s something I asked a good friend of mine, J, back when he first started his blog years ago. He had several reasons why he personally blogged, and felt that there was a lot that he got out of the process. For J it was a way to practice writing, a skill lost if not used. It was a new world for him to explore (in a way). I got the sense that it was therapeutic for him, a form of catharsis. For myself, I’m still unsure of why I want to do it but there are definitely similarities between my friend’s reasons and my own.
The reasons of why I started this blog were brought to my mind a week ago with an article published in MedScape called “Why Medical Students Should Have Their Own Blogs” by Nicholas Genes, MD, PhD. In his article Dr. Genes states that there may be a certain benefit to using blogging as a type of expression and that the format forces one to communicate at times when communication may be at its hardest. I think this is true. I also desire to use this space to communicate a little of what I see now as a matter of record for myself so some day I can look back and remember what it was like in medical school. I would also like this space to be a way to communicate with family and friends so that they are a part of my experiences even if they separated from me by time or distance… And maybe someday it’ll be a form of therapy (maybe someday I’ll need it! That is to say more than I need it now). For the time being it fills a much needed niche.
Doc.Walk 
Hey, T.
Just wanted to let you know that I am now in your readership. I think having a blog is an incredible tool for self-discovery and analysis. If you focus inward, you will discover the relations between yourself and the world. I do not know if that is an adequate description of what writing does, but it seems to me that it fulfills that aspect of self-understanding. Keep up the good work here. I will be catching up on my reading this weekend.
JE
but don’t you think there is something about the “public-ness” of blogging that is part of the cartharsis or need to do it? millions of bloggers could just be writting in their journals or saving to their desktop, but they don’t. they share it . . . what is it about the sharing of the expression vs. the expression into a personal diary? do you think it is the confessional aspects? hmmmm . . . . i dunno i’m just getting philosophical 🙂 definitely an interesting topic.
max
Hey JE – Good to hear from you. Your blog is an inspiration and I hope someday that this one will be half as eloquent!
TW
Max – you’ve made me stop homework for a moment and think (who needs to know about metabolic bone disease anyway)
My first thought is this – the publicness is definitely part of the attraction. It is the side that I am not used to and definitely struggle a little with striking the right balance with posting. Perhaps the most exciting thing right now is that this blog so new to me that there are a number of different ways I see this “public” space evolving.
So back to your comment – I can see an attraction to sending a cathartic thought out into the vast public sphere and finding that it strikes a cord with someone else. The expression, at least for me is different than it would be if I was keeping a personal journal. A personal journal, in my mind, serves a different purpose and wouldn’t be well served in a public sphere. Yet there are those who do it – and then you think why? Why is this so important for who do it ? I have no idea – but thanks for the comment. Now back to work.