Things I’ve Learned About Life After 500 Blogging Posts

Yesterday was a milestone day. I wrote my 500th post on my blog. Believe it or not, becoming a blogger was never something I planned. I was looking for a way to network and market my book, Pretiring with the Monkey Lady. But, a strange thing happened along the way in my little corner of the blogging world.

First, I never finished my book. I became too engrossed in telling recent stories of cultural immersion on Ometepe Island. Second, along the way I began to notice the positive effects blogging had on my life. It served its purpose as an online journal, but far more than that, it forced me to look at my world with eyes without borders. I began to develop new life skills that transferred to other endeavors of my life.

Six Life Skills I’ve Learned From Blogging

1. Being an Observant Traveler
I’ve learned to be an observant traveler, honing and sharpening my perceptions of the
world and relying on more than just my eyes.  I count things, collect things, talk with
locals, shop with locals, and most importantly share my life with others in a culturally
compassionate way. Being nosy helps! 🙂

2. Writing Skills
Writing is not just about correct grammar, punctuation, and paragraph formation.
Instead, writing has become my life. I’ve learned how to decipher what is special,
unique, important, and valuable in a place. When writing, I’ve developed the skill of
putting the place in context, historically and otherwise. Blogging has trained me to
notice, to pay attention, and to be more creative. Choosing specific, interesting
details, enriches my writing, as well as my life.

3. Confidence, Humility, Humor
I often find myself pushing the limits of my individual comfort zones while blogging. I’ve
developed many new skills, but in attempting to write stories with different
slants and styles, which produce many anxiety-provoking situations, blogging teaches
me to develop my self-confidence. I dislike conflict, yet I’ve learned to write from both
sides of an issue that is important to me. I try to be nonjudgmental, but if you read
between the lines, my opinion is usually obvious.

As I force myself to know more, I run the risk of becoming arrogant and overconfident.
Blogging forces me to be introspective, to evaluate my own weaknesses, react with
compassionate and empathetic understanding of a situation, and learn humility.
Blogging has been a gentle metamorphosis and taught me to have a healthy balance
of confidence, humility, and humor in everyday life.

4. Commitment and Perseverance
My blog has guided me through the dark nights, and it is what gets me through the
difficult days. I’ve learned that success and perseverance go together. Blogging
teaches me to focus on commitment to my readers, as well as myself. I just might finish
my book one of these days. 🙂

5. Helping Others
In learning to look at the world with eyes without borders, I’ve discovered that blogging
is a wonderful means of helping others understand tolerance, compassion, and
empathy in our troubled world. Blogging gives me a way spread my stories of cultural
compassion and immersion in a different world from which I was raised.

6. Networking
Through my blog, I’ve met and interacted with other bloggers and new friends from
around the world. I’ve learned to: take Time Out for Art, minimize my lifestyle, increase
my understanding of environmental concerns, new technology, gardening skills,
photography…so many new things that I can’t begin to count them all!
I’ve been on safaris, magic carpet rides, hiked mountains, paraded
through towns and villages throughout the world…all because of blogging
connections!

Blogging has become a huge part of my life. The many lessons I have learned from blogging easily transfer to other endeavors of my life.  I appreciate my readers! You all hold a special place in my heart and world. Thank you for becoming a precious part of my life.
Here’s to the next 500 posts!