I think most bloggers fall into three different categories.

Those that use blogging as a way of communicating with their family and friends, those that are blogging with a specific purpose, such as for their jobs or hobbies, and those that use blogging as an online journal to get out their thoughts and feelings.

I think I fall into the last category, and this can get me in trouble sometimes.

Because I’m a pretty open person, I probably share more in my blogs than the people I write about really feel comfortable with. For me, blogging is a way of sharing my feelings and thoughts with (mostly) people I have never (and probably will never) meet…sort of like an online group therapy session, I guess.

The problem is that a lot of times, I write about my thoughts and feelings and those thoughts and feelings directly pertain to someone that is not me and may not feel as happy and fuzzy about my sharing as I do. As an example, sometimes one might write that one wishes someone’s penis would fall off…which can be awkward if they read it.

Not that I know anything about that, of course.

I am on the fence. Do I censor myself and not write about other people? Or do I continue to write what I think and feel and not worry about what other people feel about it?

I can see both sides, I guess. For me it’s a release, a venting. For others, it’s airing my dirty laundry for the world to see. I guess for the people reading, it might be a little off putting to read about someone’s intimate thoughts and feelings on everything, I suppose. For me, when reading, I like reading about people’s thoughts and feelings because it helps me identify with those people and know that I’m not alone.

I guess that’s my hope with blogging as well…that someone will read about the angst I am having that day and realize that there are other people out there that have the same problems they do, and maybe they realize that the world is smaller than they think, and maybe in that small way I make the world a better place.

Of course, it’s also possible that I’m totally off my rocker and need to zip my blogging lips with judicious application of duct tape.

It’s a pickle.

In thinking about it over the last few days, I’d like to apologize to anyone I’ve ever written about that was hurt or offended by anything I wrote about them, and I will do my best to limit my online brain dumps to discussing only my own feelings and thoughts and not involve anyone else.

Hopefully that will work. We’ll see.