Why I blog…

I’ve been thinking about my blog a bit over the past few days. Not so much about the blog per se, but more about why I write it and how I feel about people reading it. When I started blogging, I wanted my pages to be like those from authors I admired. Witty, funny, exciting and chock full of “EMS goodness”. As I’ve now got over a year into the blog, my focus has changed a bit. Instead of an empty page aching to be filled with exciting tales of EMT daring do (which I don’t have many of), I now see a place where I can simply “empty out the day.” It’s my private place to take off the calls, like taking off my jacket, so I can leave them outside my home. Do I do this out of some self-preservation or unconscious urge to distance myself from my patients? Perhaps. I also believe it’s because I don’t feel it’s fair of me to come home and subject my wife to the stuff I see all day. I know we all need, and want, to talk about our job and the calls we did. I know we all have to let it out somehow. I just choose to do most of it with my blog, rather than over the dinner table with my wife. Don’t get me wrong … I tell her about my day, but it’s usually the funny calls (like Mr. Itchy Feet) or the experience between calls. Honestly, some of it is beyond her level of understanding or what I feel comfortable telling her. For true understanding, I’ll keep pouring it out to you … my EMS brethren.

Now, having said that, how do I feel about you all reading my blog? Well, it gets a little less weird every day. I’ll admit, in the beginning, I was pretty self conscious when writing posts. It didn’t really matter, because nobody was reading the damn thing and it was my own little on line journal. Now, folks comment on my posts and I get 20 or 30 views a day. Admittedly, that’s not much, but it’s still twenty new people reading my thoughts on an almost daily basis. the other side of this is, do people I know read the blog? Sure. Some people with whom I’ve shared my ‘secret identity’ read it and comment. I’ve found I like that. Trust me friends, If I didn’t like and trust you, you would never know about the blog. But no matter if I know you or you’re just an anonymous internet user, if you comment on my blog, I thank you for your time and words.

So, I guess the point of this is, after much reflection, I’ve decided that I’m going to continue sharing my experiences with y’all. I’m going to chronicle my day to day life as an EMT and what I’m going through in Paramedic School. Boring or not, I’m going to keep writing about it. It makes me feel good, dammit. I hope you continue to read and enjoy what I put out there. If you don’t, well that’s OK too.