If Sylvia Plath had been a Blogger

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

I think that quotation (which my sister-in-law sent me, thanks Beth) from a woman who struggled and suffered for her writing, ultimately killing herself at the age of 30 sums up why we blog. Who knows maybe there will be fewer cases of depression, even suicide if we can all get it out of our systems on line. I have noticed that some bloggers even call their blogs "therapy" or joke that blogging is cheaper than seeing a shrink. There is also, of course, the added benefit that you realize as you explore other people's words and images that you are not alone. There are other mothers out there who yell at their kids , others who are stuck in a job they don't like, who have friends who let them down and many with far more serious problems.

It is, for me anyway, like the old idea of the coffee clatch, women (and now men are able to join in) getting together to bitch, to commiserate, to sympathize and to support one another. People from all different backgrounds, geographic locations and life experiences are able to come together and I, for one, find this new world interesting, sometimes bizarre and in the end, very comforting.

When I read about other bloggers meeting in person or even when I read the banter that goes on between people in their comments (I have not yet ventured on to Twitter, but I am sure it is even more fun) I feel a part of something that is so much bigger than each one of us sitting at our computers trying to balance family, work, life with the need to write and share.

I know there are many who think the whole blogosphere is strange and a huge waste of time. But it is obviously filling a very great need for so many people. It provides a voice to mothers, political junkies (and combinations thereof) and so many, many more.

Some might say suggesting that if Sylvia Plath had only had a blog she wouldn't have taken her life is rather presumptuous but it is something to think about. On my darkest days I can read what someone else has written and it can make me smile or at least lets me know there are other intelligent, eloquent and downright hilarious people out there blogging as if their life depended on it. And I know that some days my life does.