ANDRE BEGIN

When I first started blogging, the idea was to give myself a break from my quarter century public sector career where writing was functional and purpose-driven. My blog was intended to be a space to sharpen my creative writing skills in preparation for the freelance writing projects I wanted to pursue in retirement.

Even though I didn’t have a specific vision at first, intuition suggested I should follow my heart and my affection for Erma Bombeck’s style of writing funny stories that I enjoyed and that resonated with me. With Erma’s inspiration, I put pen to paper and started writing stories of observational humour and of the funny things that happened to me.

Through my first blog articles, I knew I was on to something. It was most validating and encouraging to hear from readers when they shared how something I wrote made them laugh or how a point I made resonated with them personally.

A fresh pair of eyes on my blog

A couple of years later, I was introduced to a colleague who, in his spare time, was a stand-up comedian who also produced funny videos. After seeing his brilliant work, I truly came to value his opinion. One day, I asked him if he’d be interested in checking out my blog, inviting his feedback and comments. He said he would and graciously accepted my business card with the blog’s URL on it.

A few days later he stopped by my cubicle with many compliments on my effort, commenting that some passages did indeed made him laugh out loud. What better compliment could I ask for? He went on to say that my space was “a cool place to vent.”

“A cool place to vent?” Is that what he saw?

I wasn’t offended by his comment but a space for venting wasn’t what I was aiming for. Even though I tried to cleverly shroud my observations in puns and humour, I was a bit surprised that this was the tone that he picked up.

Did some of my observational humour lean a little too far into ranting, bordering on the complaint department? Maybe my shrouding wasn’t quite as effective as I thought.

That wasn’t what I wanted my blog to be known for. It was time for another look.

Fine-tuning my approach

After a review of my articles, I could see what he meant. I decided to adjust my blog’s GPS to make it a more positive and inspiring space, trying to tip the balance into the direction of stories where gratitude, joy and lessons learned were the focal points without getting sickeningly sweet. If I needed to vent humourously – and who doesn’t from time to time – it needed to be mindfully downplayed.

Those were my new marching orders.

The right decision at the right time

Who would have known that the recalibration of my writing with a more positive sense of direction would also become an antidote to a crazy world that sometimes made me want to scream?

In the period that followed, to say that I was challenged with adversity would be an understatement.

The weird thing is that I was usually the happy guy that people would seek out to share and unload, whose resilience and listening skills could take it on and let the words flow like water off a duck’s back. But at that time, I was the one seeking to unload some psychological cargo. Thankfully, with a clear boundary in place, those thoughts and feelings didn’t make it to the blog.

Blogging with a more positive intention became my oasis, my unstructured play time for the soul. It was my private little island where my mind and my thoughts were my own. Forcing myself to write stories with a more positive tone became a form of therapy to escape from what was stressing me out.

Whether I was jotting ideas, writing or editing, I looked forward to my weekly commitment, helping divert my attention from the challenging times and casting sunlight on the days that felt dull and gray.

In following through on this vow, it forced me shift my focus my attention on life’s positives, when life’s negatives were blinking at me like a neon sign on Las Vegas Boulevard.

The unexpected benefits

In the years that followed, the revised direction for my blog offered me balance which helped to rebuild my confidence. It even allowed me to set my OCD free, picking away at my grammatical errors and spelling mistakes and rewriting sentences as many times as I wanted, to make me feel like I was in control of something, when I felt powerless outside of my world of writing.

In a nutshell, the shift forced me to think happy thoughts and get my mind off my own problems.

I’m not saying that a positive mindset will fix everything, but maintaining a more positive-focused blogging space gave me the break I needed from own rumination to strengthen my resilience and to better deal with the week ahead.

Lessons learned

When life dishes out adversity, blogging can become an outlet to channel energy into a more positive pursuit.

By choosing a topic that stirs up the writer’s passion in a positive way, whether it is a hobby, travel, photography or some special skill, the creative process can offer the writer a welcomed escape to their happy place where they can put their concerns aside, even if for a limited time.

The bonus is that the writer may end up engaging with like-minded folks who share in the same interests, reciprocating the writer’s positive energy, which can only be beneficial in getting the break needed to recharge and to replenish their strength for the bumps in the road that may lie ahead.

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Sincere thanks for reading!
Have a great day,
André