Why am I Writing a Blog?

The short answer is I'm writing a blog because I want to.

The end. See you next week.

Ha! Like I'd leave it at that.

(Quick side note: Isn't it funny how things can just fall into your lap right when you need it? Like how I listen to a podcast that gave me the words I needed to really explain why I'm here.)

I've been binge-listening to the Freakonomics podcast, and the "Am I Boring You?" episode played while I was washing the dishes the other day. Two key phrases really resonated with me and my thoughts on blogging. These were "mental retirement" and "meta-cognition". These two phrases are the true base of my reasons for wanting to blog.

In the podcast they were talking about mental retirement in regards to when someone is old and no longer in the work force and how mental capacities diminish as they are less engaged, but I could make the argument that mental retirement, the way they described it, can just as easily be applied to stay-at-home moms who are no longer in the work force. We just usually joke about it in the context of losing brain cells due to pregnancy. I personally love that joke with the personal twist that I tell my babies that they had better be really smart since they stole my brain cells. Freakonomics cast a new light on this for me. It's really more like a "use it or lose it" scenario. I'll be the first to admit that I really have let my abilities fall by the wayside since having two under three. I hope to reengage my mind by writing.

The second phrase of meta-cognition is my other reason for blogging. Angela Duckworth described meta-cognition as being a tool of highly successful people that she had interview. To use her words:

Every successful person that I’ve ever interviewed — and I do a lot of interviewing of successful gold medalists and CEOs of Fortune 100 companies and so forth — every single one is extraordinarily meta-cognitive. By that I mean that they are able to reflect on their own emotions, their own thoughts and their own behaviors. They’re sort of able to step outside themselves and say, “Hmm, what am I doing? What just happened there? Is that something that I liked? Did I not like it? What can I do to kind of go back into the situation and do it differently next time?”

So, I'm hoping to use blogging as my method of meta-cognition. I doubt I'll get to Fortune 100 levels of success, but I'll be happy if I am able to make my mommy life more fulfilling in my own small (or large) ways.

To be honest, I'm feeling better already and this is only my first post. The gears are turning, the juices are flowing, and changes await in my future. Wish me luck!