When I began my blog last summer I felt I needed an outlet for all my emotions regarding coming out of religion and losing faith. When I confided to my therapist that I was struggling with losing my faith, she questioned me about this, then eventually said,
“It seems you are completely comfortable with your loss of faith, what you seem to be struggling with is how others are responding to this change”.
I think that hits the nail on the head. For the most part, I am comfortable with who I am. What I hate dealing with is all the peripheral nonsense, mostly my close loved ones who are religious and don’t know how to deal with me now. And also, I have a hard time dealing with the loss of church community.
So, here I am 6 months after starting my godless blog, and I’m not sure all that godless stuff is as big of a deal anymore. It seems that each day that goes by I feel more and more comfortable in regards to my atheism and communicating with others about it. I am also building a great network of secular buddies which helps with the lost church community. While it’s not quite the same as church, that’s a good thing!
Then, at the end of January, I started the Zero to Hero blog challenge that forced me to publish content and move my blog forward. Through this whole process I find myself less interested in communicating about my atheism and more interested in communicating about my life in general. So, I guess I need to ask myself, is it even necessary that I continue to have a blog geared toward my lack of belief? Someone even pointed out the other day that when reading my about page, if you cover up my title, you might think my blog is about fitness. I feel that there are other things that really make up who I am. If I were to describe myself to someone, I don’t think my description would start with atheist. I would use words like: mom, wife, athletic, compassionate, nice, runner, aspiring yogi, friend, fun, excitable, passionate, etc. I am not sure I care enough about atheism as a large movement to try and work it into my conversations on a regular basis. I did enough evangelizing as a Christian, I really don’t want to proselytize for non-theism. That said, I REALLY want to stick around and blog more! I thoroughly enjoy being in the blogging community in order to maintain my sanity as a stay at home mom.
So, what should I do? Should I continue blogging but change directions and focus on fitness and motherhood? Or should I keep a secular slant as a part of my blog since it will likely come up from time to time? I welcome your input. And if you made it this far, thanks for listening to me think out loud!
Life Sans God 
Late to the party!
First of all, after reading your blog for a while, I can safely say that your atheism is the LEAST interesting thing about you. This is exactly why you said the following: “If I were to describe myself to someone, I don’t think my description would start with atheist. I would use words like: mom, wife, athletic, compassionate, nice, runner, aspiring yogi, friend, fun, excitable, passionate, etc.”
Second of all, I can definitely see why you would start blogging from the atheist angle: it’s popular! There are countless blogs where people chronicle their journey away from religion. It’s a welcoming thing to do. It is also for that reason that I recommend you move away from it. I would like to hear about something else for a change. You say you are a former track athlete? How about some stories about that! Mix in some life applications and you have a unique and interesting blog post!
Finally, not everyone (atheist, agnostic, theist, or otherwise) enjoys discussing religion. For some people it’s like politics: not something they have an interest in. You won’t alienate these people when you talk about religion, but you won’t really interest them either.
Just my 2 cents!
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I said to you from the outset that I didn’t think the athesist/godless slant was necessary. If it comes up you are honest but I haven’t read anything that you have written that leads me on a path to questioning spiritual topics. You have certainly spoken about relationship issues but they are the focus not the athesism. I certainly would continue to blog and I would do what the other commenters have suggested – write about what ever you feel like writing about. Look forward to the future and see where your passions take you.
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You did say that didn’t you? Thanks for your continued input 🙂
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You’re welcome. 🙂
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I think you should write about whatever you feel like writing about.
Being an Atheist doesn’t define you. It’s just a part of you. I started my blog because I’m going to be older than any Dad I have ever known. But it’s hardly the only thing I write about.
I have a friend from High School who acts out in CA. He has always said, “I don’t act because I want to, I act because I need to.” Do the same! Write about what you need to write about!
If you really feel that the title of your blog gives people the wrong impression of the new and improved you, then change it or start a new blog. You can always link to the new blog so people like me can keep following you.
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Thanks so much for the feedback! I really appreciate the statement, “Write about what you need to write about”, love it!
I think perhaps I WAS thinking that people were getting the wrong impression of the new and improved me… atheism doesn’t define my whole being as you mentioned. Time will tell whether I change things up I suppose 🙂
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If you still want to think aloud sometimes about the God stuff then you may as well keep it as a category. Your blog can morph as much as you like without the need to make a major decision about it. If it’s less of an emphasis for you then you could change the title to reflect that. I am glad you will be sticking around though.
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Thanks so much for the encouragement. I’m obviously considering changing the title so I appreciate that feedback 🙂
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That’s really neat what your therapist said!
I guess I have to ask about your passion. What do you really want to tell me about? Is it fitness, or being a stay at home mom, or being an atheist dealing with theists who somehow think you’re different now – or ALL of the above?
Whatever it is that you feel passionate about – write about that. And for what its worth, please stick around!!! Reading your blog is now part of my daily ritual 😛 HUGS
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Yeah, I thought was my therapist said was pretty awesome too, it sure helped me clarify some stuff at the time.
The answer to your question is all of the above. I think you’re right that I should write about the things I’m passionate about, that’s when the best writing happens, right? I think I was starting to feel like I HAD to write about the thing my blog was supposed to be about…
All that said, so glad you’re enjoying my blog so much! I certainly wan tot stick around. Hugs back to you 🙂
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I just read the other folks comments and I agree – you can have more than one blog if you wan to keep the topics separated. It means more work though 🙂
I’m really hoping that I figure out what I want to write about soon. I’m all over the damn place. LOL.
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It can certainly be a challenge to focus in or channel ideas in a general direction! Good luck 🙂
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