I started blogging at the end of February (the actual very last day to be exact). I really didn’t know what to expect but I knew that I wanted to help people.
Q: Did you know how?
A: Honestly? Not a clue.
Q: Wasn’t that discouraging?
A: Not discouraging so much as overwhelming. I have a “hungry appetite” as my husband likes to call it and am a bit of an overachiever (now whether or not I’m a SUCCESSFUL overachiever…)
Q: Ha! So what is so overwhelming?
A: I see other bloggers and their sites and their Instagrams and their pictures… and I am just SO not in their league. I want to be. I hope to be. Not as a self-glorification sort of deal but because I want to influence. Inspire. I want to help. And I feel like I can’t do that right now.
Q: Why not? Because you don’t have a lot of followers?
A: Exactly that. I feel like you get told “well if you don’t have 1000 followers or more, there’s not much you can do. People won’t really see you or take you seriously…”. Maybe this is a mixture of what I have heard and what I feel.
.
.
Let me tell you, this isn’t the case at ALL. Everyone has started somewhere. It takes most people years to get where you see them now. It can be discouraging to see bloggers in their prime while you feel like you’re just a blip on the map (if that.) I have felt discouraged and still sometimes do. However, I’m deciding to take a more positive approach. Here’s how I want to see it and how I want to think about it:
-
I want to congratulate them on the hard work they’ve accomplished.
I feel it’s kind of cheating them to envy their success instead of congratulating them and celebrating it with them.
-
I want to support them where they’re at now.
Because maybe they were me at some point. Maybe they worked very hard for years, feeling small and insignificant and never let that stop them. So since I couldn’t support them in the earlier stages (because I didn’t know them) I can support them now.
-
I want to be inspired by them.
Instead of thinking negatively, that I’m not enough or that I’ll never measure up, I want to learn from them. I want to make friends that are like me (whether they’re beginners or experienced or somewhere in-between).
-
I want to support myself and other newbies
I don’t know exactly what this entails but without a shadow of a doubt, I know I’ll find out along the way. I do feel this includes reading their blogs, seeking out friends that blog and talking with them about it. Posting and sharing tips along the way as I learn from my journey in hopes to help others in theirs.
-
Lastly, I want to SLOW MY FREAKING ROLL
I have been so focussed (or obsessed? lol) with gaining followers, gaining likes, the “what more can I do”.. well, no. I don’t want to misrepresent myself. I haven’t been obsessed with likes and such. I have been focussed/obsessed with just growing and gaining a larger following in the hopes of doing more. But in doing so, I’ve quickly lost what I talked about in my blog, 8 Points a Blogger Might Keep in Mind…
But something that goes untouched is talk about ENJOYING the time building your blog. Learning and growing. Climbing the ladder is so important, so vital. It will provide the means to make you the blogger you want to be in the end. So please…
Do not rush this process. Enjoy it. Find ways to enjoy it.
Yes, climbing the ladder is very important but oh how easy is it to lose the reason to climb. How easy is it to want the followers and the likes and the views for the reasons other than the ones you originally set out to fulfill.
Enjoy. This. Season.
Those years will come when you’re no longer that “blip on a map” and you’re the influential person you wanted to be. But you don’t want to put your head down and work yourself into the ground only to look back in 5-10 years and regret what you missed along the way.
So, this is just as much to me as it is to you. You are definitely enough in what you are doing right now, where you are.
The Nashville Wife 