Facing The Charge Of Narcissism

I have long wished to start a blog, but have felt inadequate without having a mandate from an organisation to hide behind. How can I consider myself qualified to post about politics or history? Without this validation I have been waiting for some divine strike of inspiration to give me a clear recreational theme. I’ve considered the usual culprits. I love to travel, but I would never have enough content for a regular blog. I enjoy baking, but can only ever play the perfect housewife in small doses. Anyone who knows me will understand a fashion blog would be laughable.

I love to read about everyday lives, but I have always felt that I need to be extraordinary to be worth listening to. Why have I been so hesitant to write freely about my own life?

Sure, a genre-less blog has no clear ‘market,’ but this is a pointless objection to a personal blog. Total freedom of expression which does not need to ‘sell’ itself was the original utopian vision of the blogosphere.

I suppose I fear the charge of narcissism. God I hate that word. I never use it to shut down someone else’s writing, but I let it limit my own. Writers think so much about being ‘objective,’ and it is true that we should always try to see outside our own limited interests and perspectives. However to pretend that our world doesn’t both start and end with ourselves is futile. We can’t escape the filter of our own experience. But don’t worry, you can still escape mine.

If you stick around you will find I write about the things I care about, both serious and frivolous; from one ordinary mind to another.