Here’s What You Told Me: Your Survey Responses

Last week I offered a survey. In your responses, the number one thing you mentioned was my honesty and openness. That aspect of my blog is what makes it unique, many of you said. Or my openness has helped you in some way.

“I could have told you that without a survey,” Ivan said.

He mentioned that, too, in the very first email he sent me, back before I had any idea who he was and thought he was just one of my hordes of admiring fans (wink, wink). “As a fellow Anabaptist/Mennonite, I appreciate your honest answers to some hard questions,” he wrote.

As many of you know, that innocent first email escalated into a marriage. And THAT—our love story, our wedding, our married life—proved to be the most popular subject of everything I have written. Many of you named one aspect or another of our relationship as in your favorite posts.

Many of you said you find my posts to be upbeat and encouraging and noted that I find joy in everyday things. Many of you appreciate how my posts stretch your thinking. Many of you love how relatable my posts are. “I feel right beside you when you write,” one person said. You think I have an interesting perspective that comes from a combination of being Mennonite and conservative and broad-minded at the same time. You like my writing style, and you don’t think it sounds like I’m putting on airs.

A few of my favorite quotes:

• “I love when you address subjects that aren’t popular with the Anabaptist people. We need to live our lives with open eyes.”
• “I feel like it’s easy to stereotype Mennonites (all people really) and your open writing helps me see that most of my assumptions are not accurate.”
• “It helps me understand my emotions, that they are real and not unusual.”
• “I’ve found hope in your response to sorrow, and a sense of worth in the ordinary.”
• “I finally understand why we don’t vote.”
• “You do well at expressing thoughts that are common to everyone regardless of upbringing and culture.”
• “You are a Mennonite women with a clear voice.”

Thank you all for your encouraging comments.

In other news:

• 172 of you filled out the survey.
• Only 5.3% of respondents were male.
• Of those who responded, your most common age bracket is from 25-34, at 28%.
• Most of you come from the U.S, surprise, surprise. Canada is the runner-up, at 9.8% of respondents. Furthest respondent? Australia. Most exotic? Tanzania. For those who live in the U.S, your most popular home state is Pennsylvania, at 21.9% of respondents.
• It’s Personal (posts that share from my daily life and perspective) was far and away your favorite blog category, as 91% of you chose it as one of your favorites. In Every Life a Story (stories from others to encourage and inspire) was the runner-up, as 62% of you chose that one. And yes, you were allowed to choose more than one, so no, the percentages don’t need to equal 100.

A few conundrums:

You all have quite different tastes. A number of you would just as soon not see reviews and recommendations, while others asked specifically for more. Some of you prefer not to see guest posts or posts about others’ perspectives, while others of you name those posts as among your favorites. A few of you felt uncomfortable over my openness about marital intimacy, while a few others mentioned it as something you especially appreciate. What’s a woman to do?

Continue writing honestly, I guess, since that seems to be my trademark. And besides, I can’t stand writing any other way. Subterfuge makes me feel swimmy inside.

Variety is okay, too. A number of you mentioned you like it that way. As one respondent said, “If something doesn’t interest me I don’t have to read it!” True that.

I suppose I won’t really change all that much about my blog content. But I have noted the categories that more of you like less, and will try not to go heavy on those. And I’ve noted that almost all of you love my personal stories, so I’ll try to give you plenty of those. (Oddly enough, they seem to be the easiest and most satisfying to write.)

P.S. Thank you to all of you who responded. The survey is now closed to new respondents.