Evolution of a Blog
Scott Benner
Arden's Day began in the summer of 2007 - it was never intended to be what it has become.
There have been two moments in the evolution of this blog that I see as pivotal. The first came after I became disenchanted about blogging. I was certain that there were plenty of people in the world doing what I was and that the community didn't need my voice. This feeling came to me after I read a number of blogs during 'Diabetes Blog Week' and saw many similarities between my writing and the other people participating in blog week.
I did stop writing for a short while, but I missed it so much.
When I realized how much I missed writing and contributing to the diabetes community, I searched for a way to share that I didn't think was repetitive.
Things were going along just fine until one day a reader told me something that changed everything...
I was speaking on the phone with a mother when she told me that sometimes she can't read the blog because it made her feel badly about how she was handling her child's diabetes.
I was momentarily confused, but she went on to explain that when things go right for us it can magnify when things go wrong for her. In short, hearing about good things sometimes made her feel like failure.
Well, that was about the most debilitating thing that I could have heard, but I understood. I gave that conversation a great deal of thought and then began to share everything, even the moments that made me feel like a failure.
These two moments have shaped everything that I've done here on Arden's Day, they transformed my writing and they are the only reason that my book is well received. Saying that I am grateful doesn't begin to cover it. Two moments, two people that opened me up to a part of myself that I was ignoring - it changed my life.
If you like this blog, you have Diabetes Blog Week and a mother who wasn't afraid to say that she felt like she was letting people down, to thank for it. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Who or what are you effecting and where will it all lead?
