Many expatriates take up the pen to publish their story. There´s a big variety of expat blogs and books out there: Some witty, honest or fictional, others insightful, open-minding, or way too personal. Motivations to write vary from networking via online media, documenting experiences not to forget, staying in touch with home, or helping new expats in the region.

It has been one year ago that I published my first post. Initially, I started blogging to share what I´d learned to help others going through similar situations. During the last 12 months it has become clear to me that, whatever motive we have in the beginning, blogging is also a great way to organize our upside down turned lives. Post for post we get a grip on our new reality.

The step from silent reader to up-speaking writer takes some courage, but like anything that isn´t easy to accomplish, the satisfaction is the greatest. Are you thinking of making your story public? Read along about how I eventually discovered the joy of writing publicly.

Blogging to Keep You Focused

I´m convinced that if I hadn´t started blogging one year ago, I wouldn´t have been as happy and tranquil in foreign land as I currently am. It has become one of my goals to regularly publish giving me something to turn my thoughts to whenever I feel irritated, lost or lonely. It´s an activity either to distract me from confusing feelings by dealing with them on paper or to remind myself of the great opportunities life abroad offers.

Having long term goals is necessary for a stable mind abroad and a blog is a greatly independent and steady place to retreat to, whenever and wherever you feel like. Perhaps that´s another reason blogging is so popular among expatriates? I can only speak for myself but if you feel you could use some focus or distraction in your new environment, you may want to give blogging a try.

Developing an Additional Sense for Writing

My favorite part of blogging is the writing part. Every post I write, starts with only one vague idea, memory, emotion, topic or any other type of starting point. Getting beyond that starting-point is an interesting process influenced by the desire to create a good article.

It always turns out that in the beginning,
I never know what I´m actually about to say in the end.

I used to get nervous when nothing was coming out of my hands anymore. But I learned to take my time for finding new inspiration. I let my ideas float around in my mind for a couple of days, I´m conscious about thoughts related to the topic, I analyze relevant circumstances, relive situations, and I take lots of notes to be able to connect and structure the newly collected information.

Soon I noticed that the more I dedicated my mind to my article, the more memories and insights occurred to me. I was basically developing some sort of additional sense, a sense for developing new ideas. This amazing outcome taught me that blogging is not only about entertaining, inspiring or educating your readers, it´s also very much a way to explore your own ideas while writing.

Personal Research for a General Purpose

It´s no secret that writing makes people think clearly. Writing down thoughts and feelings has been an official therapy treatment for a long time. Organizing thoughts and sharpen them in a new format, for example a written piece, gets you beyond your everyday thinking. It´s a great way for getting new insights in your own life situations, that are perhaps similar to somebody else´s.

My topics are usually related to something that´s not only of concern to me, but also to others, maybe to you… Even to people I´ve never met nor can imagine their existence. That became my goal: Starting with self-investigation which leads to a general purpose. You can imagine that this was far beyond my expectation when I uploaded my first blog post.

Getting Ready to Go Public

Although I had only written publicly in name of companies about business-related topics, I decided to use my own identity this time and publish about personal stuff. I was nervous to reveal details about my own life and struggles, but I learned that focus on your motives replaces fear by courage for doing the right thing.

It´s a fact that blogs take up to several years to become popular – if they even ever get there. The greatest thing is that also a half empty page that is still far away from being your ideal platform can offer various benefits.

Are you interested in trying out blogging? I recommend the online course WordPress Essential Training at Lynda.com. It was very comforting to have an expert explaining all the technical basics rather than having to figure them out myself. It takes only a couple of hours and prepares you to set up your blog and publish your first post.

Are you also one of many expatriates blogging about its abroad adventure? What´s your experience with this media? And don´t forget to send me your blog link, I´m curious to read it!