Secret's Out!

Well, the secret is sort of out...
Yesterday I told one of my best friends about my blog. Yikes! Why is that so scary??
Up to this point no one in real life has really known. Well, except my husband who I made promise not to read it until I say it's okay. And my sister who I told a few months ago after a few too many drinks and hoped she wouldn't remember the next day. And she must not have because she hasn't brought it up! Phew!
I didn't mean to tell my friend yesterday. We met for a lunch date and we were catching up on our jobs and I was whining about how I would rather be a full time crafter than a nurse (don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job... but I'm PASSIONATE about crafting/decorating/organizing/etc.). And she said something along the lines of, "you can do that. Lot's of people have those blogs...."
I half whispered across the table, "I have one."
Then the butterflies in my stomach started dancing around like crazy and I got all hot and panicky. WHY?!
She actually seemed excited and interested. So I told her about my fears... I'm not a good writer. I'm not a funny person. I don't know how to take good pictures. So what do I have to offer the blogging world other than my crazy craft-wired brain that sees DIY inspiration everywhere I go!? She basically told me "so what!" You'll become a good writer. You can learn those things. She was very supportive. Which is why she is one of my best friends. Because she's the best!
I didn't tell her my blog's name, but I will one day I'm sure. Or she'll find it on her own. And then she'll see this post and know I'm crazy :)
But I came home after lunch and thought about it.. am I crazy? Is it weird to write your heart out to a bunch of strangers but be afraid to tell your friends and family that you blog?
Apparently not. I googled it. (Yup, you can google anything.) Tons of bloggers have posted about how much anxiety they get from friends finding their blog. People even use the term friends IRL (in real life). So I'm not alone. 
Read about it here (this post is my favorite. The commenters at the bottom make me feel so totally not alone in this), here, here, and here. Clearly I needed enough evidence from other bloggers to prove I'm not totally crazy ;)
The weird part is, the more I get into this whole blogging thing, the more I learn about how most bloggers are driven to gain followers. And I know if I would just post to Facebook or Pinterest, my traffic would increase overnight. But I'm just too afraid to share with people IRL (I can say that now!). I don't know what I'm afraid of exactly. It's just weird to tell people I have a blog. I don't even talk about anything super personal on my blog. But somehow, it makes me nervous!
And then I think about some of the blogs I've been reading for years. They were around before Facebook hit it big time and before Pinterest and Twitter even existed. They managed to gain followers and succeed without all the hype and promotion. Totally gives me so much respect for them now that I know how hard it is to start out in the blogosphere!
Then I stumbled across these two posts that gave me a little inspiration and encouragement. They reminded me that every blog starts somewhere. I can do this.
And so for now, I will continue to keep things on the down low. When I feel like my blog is ready to share (more content, better layout, more user friendly, better photography skills), I might think about telling my IRL friends :)