Blogging Meme

SuzyQ at Sailing by Starlight tagged me for the Blogging Meme. And, this is a thought provoking one; even as I type this, I don't know how I'm going to answer.

These are the rules:
1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
2. Link back to the person who tagged you
3. Link back to this parent post (I'm not so much interested in generating links, but rather in tracking the meme so I can perhaps do a summary post later on that looks at patterns and interesting discoveries.)
4. Tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

And, so, hmmmm, let's see.... How has blogging affected me?

1. I think I always knew that my protected little world was just the tiniest corner of a vast universe of thought, philosophy and custom. I'm just a little Who-mom in Whoville. But, it's one thing to compare yourself to a Dr. Seuss book, and another thing, entirely, to find yourself personally debating with the disembodied voices existing somewhere outside of your dandelion puff.

2. Having been a regular visitor to the world outside my dandelion puff for a little over a year now, though, I've discovered some surprising things:

• For one thing, though my voice is small, the tiniest bit of an infraction against the status quo ~ even within the group I choose to visit that breathes the same conservative, Catholic atmosphere that I do on my little puff ~ sends some kind of cosmic vibration along the internet nerve pathway, alerting every possible dissenter with every possible excuse to descend onto my dandelion puff. This is why I go to some lengths to be as uncontroversial as I can be. I'm not on here to fight.
• But, that said, I've discovered a whole world of friends that I didn't expect to find. I've had far more experience with gracious, thoughtful, intelligent internet travelers than anything else. The blogging world, if navigated carefully, is a continual source of inspiration. The ideas and resources I've found through other bloggers has opened up a whole new world for me as a Catholic, a homemaker, and especially as a homeschooling mom. Holy Cow, there are some creative ladies out there! And the deep spiritual life of some of my blogging friends shames me to work harder on my own.
• Blogging has been a process of personal discovery for me. I'm at a kind of crossroads in my life and have been trying to refigure things in general. My oldest children are moving out into the world and onto their own lives and my youngest is about to be potty trained. It looks like we will soon have a diaper-free house for the first time in 21 years! My days of bringing new life into the world appear to be coming to an end, as God wills it, and my role is shifting. It's been a wonderful opportunity to use my own voice on this computer, and to come to grips with the balancing act of a middle aged mother's identity. I've had the chance to rediscover that my name is still really Lisa and not Mommy, but that the biggest and best part of Lisa is the fact that she's a Mommy.
• I've also learned that I have obsessive computer disorder and I've had to learn to ration my time in the blogosphere with all my more important responsibilities. It's a daily balancing act that I know many other bloggers struggle with, as well. Who knew there'd be such an addictive quality to blogging? We need to have a support group for this addiction ~ Maybe I could start a new blog for that!
  

Now, who wants to be next? Anyone out there who wants to think this one through and share it, please feel free to consider yourself tagged!