Therapy Blogs

Well I'm back home after a two week vacation -- the first one Sherri and I have taken in a long time. We had a great time at Normal Rockstar's wedding in Nashville. We are so happy and excited for those two. It really was a special wedding. Not too many people commit themselves to their future spouse like those two did. They lived committed to their future spouse from when they were kids! The most touching part of the ceremony for me was when they both removed their own purity necklaces that they had been wearing for so many years and exchanged them. I remember when I first asked Jeremy about his necklace and he explained to me why he wore it. Seeing the day that he was able to give it to his wife with integrity was just the best part of the ceremony for me.

So anyway, we had a great time away and even had a holiday from blogging!! In fact, we didn't read or exercise nearly as much as we had hoped either. No big deal though. We were on holidays! So now we are back home, back to somewhat of a routine and hopefully back to some consistent blogging.

While we were away we got to talking with some friends about blogging and one of them was expressing their concern with blogs that are "therapy blogs". I've read blogs that fit this description and didn't think a whole lot of it except that it seemed a little strange to be sharing so much personal information with absolutely everyone and anyone. The cool thing about blogging and writing in general is that you can take the time to collect your thoughts and write them down exactly as you want. You can . . . and you should. Anything you write down has the potential to last forever though, either in a journal or especially online. Even a blogging friend of mine ended up removing one of his controversial blogs, but I know of at least one person who still has a copy of the original. From there it can be copied and pasted and emailed to millions!!

Writing about very personal things can be very helpful and therapeutic for people and can help them deal with tough life situations like death or addictions or relational difficulties or many other situations that we have to occasionally deal with. Shouldn't that type of information and sharing be reserved for relationships that have reached a level of honesty and intimacy that you can never have in the public forum of a blog? In fact, it not only seems unwise but maybe even dangerous. To me it has potential danger in a few areas. The first obvious one is that writing is permanent and could come back to haunt you later in life when you are in a completely different place. Second, in the heat of the moment you could write something you regret which may only create a more difficult situation. Third, there are some freaks on this thing called the internet who may want to know about your weaknesses so that they can use that against you. I don't know! Weirder things have happened.

For these reasons I will try to stay away from writing anything resembling a therapy blog and if I find myself reading one I will stop and move on.

Am I being too hard-nosed?

GL