Why do we blog and why do we continue to blog and what do we receive as a result of our efforts?

No pretty pictures. No sweet songs. Nothing witty to read. But a question that has been popping back into my head over and over and over and over since reading several posts by women apologizing for their inadequate blog or blogging skills.

Over time I have read blogs where the women posted that they were taking a break from blogging due to the fact that they needed to "get on with life", "take time away from the computer", "spend more time with family", "spend more time outdoors", and the list goes on and on and on with a plethora of reasons or excuses as to why they weren't going to be around for a while. They felt as though their blog was pulling them into an abyss and they needed time to recover from the experience and to gather themselves once again.

I've also read blog entries where women have said that the stress of blogging was just becoming too much for them: trying to come up with interesting entries, pretty photos, things that others would like to read, shopping when they really didn't have anything they wanted to buy but they wanted to have an interesting blog entry...all in search of "comments" or reaching a higher numbers of visitors.

So, I've spend a couple of days looking at some of the more successful, if that's what you want to call them, blogs and also their longevity in the blogging world. Most, but not all, of those that have high numbers of visitors and oodles of comments are blogs that not only represent a hefty amount of time and talent but also represent the blogger's quest for sales of their wares, or income from the number of times a blogger will click on a link. I could post links to direct you to those blogs, but that is not the point of this post of mine. These blogging women are making money with the pretty photos and interesting chat that brings back their readers day after day after day. It's almost as though readers can't live without checking these particular blogs. We now have publications solely for the blogger. Publications that cost an arm and a leg and publications that present a bar that most bloggers will never be able to clear, even on their best day.

Most recently I read a pleading request by a blogger for forgiveness because she was going to take a break...she was worn out and she was weary of trying to please "her public" with witty and pretty blog entries. She was shopping, not for herself, but for others. One person who responded to the post was angry and accusing saying that the blogger had better get a grip on life and that it appeared she was a whiner looking for people to fawn over her and that life was rough and tough and that she had just better grow up.

What? Is this what we put ourselves out here for? To be abused with the written word when we open ourselves up to the extent that we are sorry for not providing "whatever" to people that we haven't even met and feel guilty if we don't perform to a particular standard?

Why do people blog, if not to make money as so many who make items for sale or those whose blogs exist to get more clicks and thus more checks from Google?

Is it because our society is so fast paced that we seek a connection with other human beings? Is it because we seek approval...approval that we don't receive from our friends and family? Is it because we want to leave something behind in cyberspace when we die? Is it to feed our egos and self-esteem? Why do we share so much of ourselves with people that we have never met? Do we feel alone in a house filled with people who don't communicate with us? Why do we show so much compassion to people that we have never met through our comments but barely give a sideways glance to the beggar that we pass on our way to work or to shop? Why do we post photos of our homes?

And, here I must comment: It appears that most who post a photo of their home are in the upper income level of our society. I don't see photos of homes that need their yard raked or the shutters painted or the garage door fixed. I only see homes that the average, middle class American can only dream about.

I blog because I love to write. I blog because I have always been someone who enjoys sharing. I blog to share something of myself with my family...thoughts that are important to me...things I want them to know when I am no longer on this planet. I blog because, at least right now, I have fun blogging.

But, when it becomes a chore or when people decide to become cruel to me through their comments or if I wring my hands over a blog entry wondering if it's pretty enough or good enough or interesting enough...then my blog will become an "invitation only" blog. Life is too short and too precious to spend time in worry over blog entries.

If you've stuck with me this long...reading my feelings today about blogging, thanks. Whether you agree with me or not, I respect your thoughts. But my question remains: Why do we or why do you or why does society blog and feel a need to do so?