Hello people of the Internet and welcome to my first ever blog post! As an amateur blogger I am feeling fairly uncomfortable and stressed about having others read my writing. I’ve googled about 10 different silly questions about blogging do’s and dont’s. Also, I have started writing about five different topics that have all been shit. I have gained a lot of respect for the blogging community by attempting this post.
These feelings of stress come from the fact that I am forcing myself to try something new. This reminds me of times in my life when I was an amateur at things like surfing and rock climbing. I am trying to force my way into being part of a subculture that I haven’t associated with before. I keep telling myself that the feelings of uncertainty and tension shouldn’t hold me back. This is because the tension of trying to be something I am not is what promotes personal growth. One way I have found of doing this is by experiencing different subcultures.
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs. Subcultures have always been a part of any society. Wherever there is a group of people that do not conform to the social norms of the larger society there can be found a subculture. These cultures can be great agents of social change. For example, think of the hippies in the 1960’s and how their subculture impacted music.
The subcultures that have had the biggest impact on my life made me feel uncomfortable. The people I meet in the surfing and rock-climbing subcultures straight up made me feel dumb when I first started. I can’t even begin to count how many times I felt out of place or in over my head. However, these experiences lead me to grow into the person I am today. The people that made me feel dumb when I first started have become my closest friends.
Attempting to be something I am not has provided me the opportunity of learning a lifetime sport. Given me an excuse to travel to new parts of the world. All while put me into contact with individuals and organizations that have broadened my thinking.
I hope that as a gain more experience as a blogger that it will not take me a week to write a post. Hopefully I can cut down on some of the grammar errors too. Thank you for reading and I hope you can find a subculture that forces you to be something you are not!
Matthew Young- An east coaster who moved to Montana to get away from the shitty snow and get himself an education.
First, kudos for pushing through and publishing your first blog post!! There will never be another first one! I appreciate your honesty about how difficult it was and how stressed you were about it. I think you are right about grammar errors, but you will get better with those the more you write. I would love to hear more details about the subcultures you now belong to, and what types of personalities are found there. Also, some more elaboration on your personal experiences – where have you traveled? examples of your broadened thinking? Your title is catching, and the image is humorous. I think you have a good foundation to build on, and could definitely follow this with a series of posts with more in-depth stories. Good job!