Dear Reader......

Dear Reader,

This post is all about you.  Well sort of, but I'll get to that.  Let me start with a story.  

I've been blogging for over a year now, sharing some family history, sharing my thoughts, my beliefs, etc.  It has most certainly evolved into something I didn't expect or start out to do.  After the 1st few posts, I discovered a love for writing that I didn't know I had.  As I discovered this, I also discovered that I wanted more and more people to read it.  That might seem rather vain of me.  I prefer to think it is simply a desire for validation.  I think we get those 2 things mixed up a lot.

So let me shift gears and tell you about Vision Boards and my experience with my board.  I learned about Vision Boards in a workshop called Access Your Personal Power.  I think there might be different ways to go about creating one, but what I learned was simple enough.  You basically put things up on your board that you want to accomplish, want to be, want to have, etc.  Simply put, it's a wish list, but that really doesn't do it justice at all. There is a pattern to actually putting it up and some dos and don'ts on how to put your wishes on it.  Once created and filled with your wishes, you look at and read it everyday.  We were told to think of things we wanted.  Categories might be health, relationships, finance, spirituality, career, and what you want to be know as, etc.  There could be other categories too, it's flexible.  We were told to think way outside the box, in other words, don't think of things that are easily accessible or already in the works to accomplish.  Do think of things that you would want or hope for, but don't see how it could ever happen without a miracle.  We were given 3x5 cards to write a few of our wishes on.  We were to write it as if we already had it, using 1st person, positive verbiage.  So instead of writing something like, "I want a new car", we were told to write, "I have a new car".  When 1st introduced to this idea, I struggled with actually writing something down.  I certainly had wishes, but putting them on paper seemed extremely bold.  I did get over that feeling though and did create my version of the Vision Board. 

So I'm getting to the part where you come in.  After discovering my passion for writing, I put this statement on a card on my Vision Board, "My blog is read and loved by many all over the world."  Okay, I kind of feel like you might be laughing at me right now.  It certainly was a BOLD statement and would most definitely require a miracle.  After all, I had only recently opened my blog to the public (no password required to read) and had started putting my new posts on Facebook for my friends to see.  So there sat my card on my Vision Board, stating that "my blog is read and loved by many all over the world." 

Finally, here's your part.  I've been blogging now for about a year and a half.  I did finally open it up to search engines.  I have to admit, that was a little creepy at first, but it feels okay now.  There is a page I can go to and check the stats on the "hits" my posts and pages get.  Yes, an obsession, but it just is what it is.  I'm sure in the world of blogging my numbers, in comparison to others, would seem relatively low.  But in my world and my head they are quite
impressive for the 24 posts I have so far.  Not just the total number of hits, but where the hits are coming from.  Remember my statement on my Vision Board?  I want to share those numbers with you.  Here they are:

United States          646
Russia                       53
Australia                   11
Switzerland               11
South Korea               6
Italy                            4
Canada                       3
Ukraine                      3
China                         1
Germany                    1

For someone with a slightly obsessive personality, these numbers create a lot of curiosity.  So this next part is all about you and could be quite fun.  I'm asking and hoping that you will click on the word "comment" at the bottom of this post.  You have the option to be anonymous if you choose.  Tell me where you are, city, state, country, etc.  If you want to tell me more about yourself, feel free to do that.  I will just say that all comments come to me via email first to review.  So you could even comment and ask me not to publish it and I will happily keep your comment from going public.  I realize this could really backfire and I get nothing back.  That would be sad, but I'll get over it.  I'm hoping to make those numbers seem more real, less statistical, but that will only happen if you comment below.  If you're one of my readers that I already know about, I want you to play along and comment too.  The more the merrier.