Have you ever stumbled onto a blog and think, Oh my gosh we would totally be friends in real life? (Because obviously, blogs are their own separate reality distinct from real life.) Well, that’s how I felt when I found Leah’s blog The Ordinary Snowflake. Superficially, we have Mormonism, Californiaism, and BYUism in common, but more importantly I enjoyed her writing style, her sense of humor, and her views on feminism, pencil skirts, and April Fools’ Day. So I reached out to her to guest post here, and she graciously accepted. Enjoy:
Hey! My name is Leah, and I blog over at The Ordinary Snowflake. I’m really excited to be over here on Spifftacular today!
I decided to call my blog “The Ordinary Snowflake” to poke fun at this weird blogging culture we’ve found ourselves in. What I mean is that the internet is full of “special snowflakes” who blog incessantly about their lives as if they were important or famous or, otherwise, people cared. And I’m one of them! I’m a blogger. It’s great fun. We’re crazy, I know.
I believe that despite our (admitted) vanity and silliness, we bloggers are onto something — something powerful and important. I’m talking about the fact that we write.
The simple action of writing stuff down is incredibly valuable — so valuable, in fact, that I believe everyone should make a hobby of it! And you don’t have to be a professional writer to reap the rewards. It’s just about getting your thoughts out via pen or keyboard.
Here are just a few awesome things about writing that might motivate you to get started (or keep going) on this amazing hobby:
1. Know yourself
Writing helps you get to know yourself better — especially those parts deep in your subconscious that can be hard to get at. Creating a record of your own thoughts not only documents the kind of person you are, but also it helps you confront your own voice. It’s like when you hear your voice in an audio recording — a little weird at first. It helps you see the presence you project to the world around you.
2. Clear Mental Clutter
Do you ever feel like you have a million thoughts going through your head? In our hectic world, it can seem impossible to focus on anything for longer than a few seconds. Writing forces you to choose one of those thoughts and ponder it enough to actually form coherent sentences about it. Writing helps you sort through the junk and figure out what’s really important to you.
3. Unlock buried ideas
As I already mentioned, the mental process of writing involves intense focus. And when you’re writing about an issue or a problem at hand, you may surprise yourself with the solutions you come up with. Even just writing down a problem and staring at it on a page can give you incredible perspective. (Sometimes that perspective is something like “wow, this isn’t actually much of a problem.”)
4. Watch yourself grow
Documenting your experiences can help you track patterns of growth and change in your life. Seeing these patterns, whether good or bad, can motivate you to improve. It can also help you make better decisions to achieve a happier life. What if you looked back on an old journal and remembered a forgotten hobby that made you happy? You might decide to pick up that hobby again.
5. Recall hidden insights
“You learn something new every day”, right? The little lessons and insights you gain in your day-to-day life are so valuable. Writing about them allows you to ponder on them and document them for future reflection. I believe that focusing on those little insights can turn “the daily grind” into a profoundly enlightening life.
Again, it doesn’t matter how “good” you think you are at writing. It’s not about writing a novel or publishing blog posts or creating the perfect resume (though those things are also valuable). All I’m talking about here is taking the time to rummage through your brain enough to generate a cluster of coherent sentences. That’s all! There’s absolutely no pressure.
I hope you feel inspired to get out there and write! Thanks again to Holly for having me over on Spifftacular today. I’d love nothing more than to become writing buddies with all of you, so feel free to come visit me and say hi so I can meet you!
spifftacular. 
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