Falling Out Of Love With Blogging

I’ve read quite a few posts recently about people falling out of love with blogging. What’s more surprising is that these posts are coming from what I would consider successful bloggers. They’re getting down about not reaching the dizzy heights of the bloggers they follow and aspire to be like and it’s a vicious circle.

It’s something I’ve suffered with myself a number of times. That’s why over the past three years this blog has gone through a number of peaks and troughs. It wasn’t really until this time round that I realised no one is putting this pressure on me. I’m the one that enforces a posting routine and insists that I have to write even when I’m not feeling it – no one else.

Then I had a kind of epiphany. (Strong word, I know!) I need to take it a bit easier on myself. No, I’m not a super successful blogger but I like doing what I do. I like writing about different things, I like being able to get thoughts out of my head and down somewhere just to try to make them less jumbled. OK, I know I could do this in a diary or journal but I have this little space on the internet that I call my own and I throw them out here. Sometimes, people read them and tell me they feel the same or give me some advice and I feel a bit better or think about something in a new way. Sometimes they don’t get a single comment. Either way my thoughts tend to be a little clearer and that, for me, is good enough sometimes.

OK, I’m not saying I’d not love to give up my job and be able to write what I like for a living. Isn’t that the dream? Doesn’t everyone want to break free of “the man” and be their own boss in some way or another?

To me my blog is a place I can practice and improve my writing skills and develop my own style. It’s a place that I’m not confined to a certain tone of voice or subject matter, like I am at work and I’m grateful for that. Every now and then it affords me opportunities that wouldn’t have previously been open to me, which is an incredible perk. But at the end of the day I do this for me. I realised that it was the only way that I’d be happy with it. There were times when I’d agonise over my stats and spend silly amounts of time studying my analytics but it wasn’t getting me anywhere. I could either make myself feel bad that I wasn’t getting the kind of hits the bloggers I looked up to were or I could concentrate on the bits of my blog that I enjoy. I had to stop comparing myself to those I consider more successful. It was getting me down and I was really hard on myself for not trying hard enough.

I do feel sorry (this isn’t exactly accurate, I don’t pity them I do empathise though as it can be tough) for those who wholly rely on blogging as their sole source of income. Burnout is very real and being self-employed can come with very drastic lows as well as all of the highs. It’s definitely not the glossy world we tend to think it is in most cases.

People need to be a little easier on themselves. Stop comparing your real life with someone else’s highly curated online life. Stop comparing your beginning with someone else’s middle or end and live the life you deserve and want. Be good to yourselves, please.

Sorry for the rambling and if you actually got this far, well done. You deserve a sticker 🙂

Kisses,