THE BLOGGING COMMUNITY & ME // FEELING DISENFRANCHISED
15:44
It has been two long weeks since I’ve even sat down and considered writing a blog post. If you missed my rambles, then I apologize. The last while has been confusing, stressful and I have been extremely indecisive. I’ve spent the last two weeks thinking about my blog but not writing. It was as though any shred of writing ability I had just vanished out the window. I couldn’t understand where this writer’s block had come from until I sat back and thought about it.
This blog is almost four years old. That is the age where a toddler becomes a child roughly. So, you can definitely say I’ve been in the blogging world for a long time at this stage. In this time, this world has shifted drastically. What was once a hobby, something where you could write down your opinions and have fun with it - has drastically changed. In 2017, the blogging world is a whirlwind of people clamouring for sponsorship, likes on Instagram and just having the latest of everything. While I believe it’s amazing for a community to grow and develop – it’s essential even – I find myself bogged down with the immense amount of pressure that comes with it.
I do consider myself an Irish blogger. I am of course Irish. But a lot of my peers are now getting paid to write articles and while I am so happy for them, I can’t help feeling negative about my own little blog. I have dedicated readers that I am so grateful for but I feel myself getting sucked into the blogging world as it is now – a very commercialised and almost superficial place. Sometimes I feel like I can’t trust the opinions of some bloggers – you wonder "how much have they been paid?" Do they even like what they’re talking about? It confuses me a lot.
I know I should be confident in my own abilities and what I’ve achieved but it’s very easy to feel insecure when you see blogs that started after mine getting places. I feel a bit disheartened. Don’t get me wrong, I know that the people behind these blogs have worked so so hard to get to where they are and I commend them for it. I just wish the community wasn’t so driven by money, sponsorship and free gifts.
When I sit down and have a think about it, I know what I want to be writing about. The things I’m interested in. That’s what a blog should be about. The topics YOU, the writer, are interested in. so I’ve decided to take a step back from comparing myself to the blogs around me and focus on myself. I like writing about vintage clothes, travels – the beautiful and unique places I’ve come across exploring Ireland and countries abroad. I like talking about Irish musicians and the daily struggles a 21 year old comes up against as I grow up. This is me. This is the person I want to be known for. It’s about time that I stopped wishing that I had a bigger interest in talking about makeup. I certainly like reading about it, but writing about products isn’t really for me. This may change in the future, but as of now, it doesn’t really make me excited to blog.
What do I hope will change? I encourage the bloggers around me to remain authentically themselves and not to change what you write about and how you write just to be successful. Your unique quirks are why people read your blogs. IF you are successful being YOU, that is exactly what I aspire to achieve! I hope that my future posts will be more authentically myself. That I feel that it IS truly me that writes the words I put out to the world. And, if other happen to like what I write, even better!
I hope no one minds what I’ve said here – I just want to be more confident and content in what I can contribute to the blogging community – both the Irish blogging community – and beyond!
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