My daughter, Kristin, 21, poked fun at me last week for blogging. 'Mom, aren't most bloggers, like, 15-years-old?' But something about my blog grabbed her interest. In fact, a week later, she joined my weblog community.

Her first blog post was a little tentative:

'What's the saying? Don't knock it 'til you rock it (or something to that effect). So here goes...hmm.....this is hard...Because I am a little skeptical of who may be reading this I'll just start out simple.'

A blog (short for 'weblog') is an online diary or journal. It's a little unnerving to post journal entries on a public blog, not knowing who may read them.

The first week that I blogged, I edited myself to death because I was worried about what people would think about my 'real' life. To further add to my paranoia, others started posting comments to my entries, so I knew people were out there . . . reading.

So, are blogs true journals or not? My first thought was 'no.' Blogging seemed more like a conversation with friends than personal journaling. After all, personal journaling is all about recording private thoughts and blogs are public.

However, my thoughts about blogging are changing. A little at a time, I reveal who I am through my blog. My blog posts are evolving into thoughts and observations about life that I no longer self-edit. It's been a liberating experience.

In my personal journal, I write things that I know to be true about myself that I'm unable to reveal for one reason or another. Once I'm done journaling, I tuck the journal in a drawer, put on my mask and go out into the world.

Not being true to who I really am causes all kinds of problems in my relationships. Further, if my behavior doesn't line up with my values, it keeps me from meeting important goals, growing spiritually and compromises my physical and mental health.

It's important to keep a personal journal for my eyes only ' I always will. But integrating some of the thoughts I record in my journal with my public blog is peeling away layers of self-consciousness and tentativeness.

I knew I was a true blogger when I re-read a blog post and, instead of editing it, I thought, 'This is who I am, and, hey, I'm okay!'

My new philosophy as a blogger is: The closer I can get to integrating my true self into my public self, the better off I am. And, of course, 'Don't knock it 'til you rock it!'

About the author: Barbara Carr Phillips, journaling instructor, believes dreams come true when you journal your way to success. Visit http://www.journalworkshops.net to order your one-to-one journaling workshop or to sign up for her FREE ezine.