The Blogger’s High

Have you ever wondered why we bloggers spend countless hours writing, photo editing, posting, and commenting? I have. Blogging is self-expression and inspiration at its best; an enjoyable banquet of giving and receiving. This blogging has definitely become an addiction for me and I’m not ashamed to admit this dirty little secret! How can I describe it? Well… let’s see… I’ll call it    The Blogger’s High.      

     

Now I must confess to having borrowed the concept from my current educational hero, Alan Sitomer. In his book, Teaching Teens and Reaping Results, Sitomer describes The Teacher’s High as that feeling we teachers get from “…connecting with kids” in spite of how they, or the educational system, treats us (p. 19).  I highly respect Sitomer because he uses innovative methods to teach English to inner city teens and gets amazing results. My new educational aspiration is to become one of his female middle school counterparts.    

 

I know exactly what he means. In fact, last Friday I was ready to quit, throw in the towel, and scan the Want Ads for another profession. Rudeness and ingratitude topped me off; students snubbed their noses at the portfolios I  bought them to keep their projects in as preparation for the next year.      

“I don’t want that!” A chorus of voices rang out.      

“Take that with me? Right! I don’t need it. I’ve got it.” A girl pointed at her head with a sarcastic smile splashed across her face that looked like the Joker’s in a Batman movie.      

By the afternoon, I was fuming. Then it happened. One sweet girl said, “Mrs. Luna, I’m going to miss your class. I’m going to miss you!”      

“Ahhh…” I sighed and floated into the chair next to her. “You really mean that?” I was silly putty in her hands. There it was, The Teacher’s High. Alan is so right!      

So what does The Blogger’s High feel like? I can only speak from my limited experience (nine months and counting) as a heart-stopping excitement that fills your chest when you see a new comment in your email queue.      

      

“Oh my gosh,” you trill, “I have a comment!” You rush to your blog and read over the words left by a well-wisher while savoring every syllable. “Maybe I’m not such a loser writer after all,” you defend to an audience of one. “Someone liked my post!”      

Crank up The Blogger’s High to full throttle with a subscription. WOW! The first time I discovered that several people actually signed up for an email version of my posts my head spun around with delight.     

Akin to the subscription ecstasy is the rush from “Referrer links,” where people found you, and the “Search Engine Terms” people used. But the big daddy of them all is that little line graph. Those of us addicted to The Blogger’s High find our moods altering with the up and down journey of the line.      

     

As glorious as this rush is, The Blogger’s High can injure those within close proximity of the blogger. My husband has  bruises on his left arm from all of the times I punched him screeching, “Look! I have people visiting my blog from a tag search!”      

 

Yes, I hear the snarls of those spouses and significant others impatient with us addicted bloggers, “It’s taking up all of your (his/her) time.” They fume.  They even threaten, “The next thing you know, people will start Bloggers’ Anonymous Twelve Step groups!”    

To you I say, “At least it keeps us creative people off the streets. Now that can’t be all bad,  can it?”