READERS ASK: What Is Your Motivation To Continue Blogging
Ask and you shall receive, right? Well, in this case, I asked you to ask therefore I feel like it is only natural that I give you the answers that I’m sure keep you up at night. Jokes – I’m not oblivious to the fact that the only person who stays up late at night because of this blog is me, and at this point, that’s just basic self-awareness, but if you can tell me otherwise, please go ahead; that would do crazy things for my ego!
We are currently on the third day of the 7-day blogging challenge to celebrate the upcoming second anniversary of the blog and let’s just say so far I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would be, except for the lack of sleep of course. Yes, I am writing this at 1:17 am, so I’m killing it if you ask me (am I?).
In the past two days, we explored The Most Important Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Blogging and taken A Look Back On The Blog Posts I Enjoyed Writing The Most, so I thought it would be the perfect time to start answering the questions you sent me on Instagram. The one I chose to answer today is a question I consider to be very vital because it lies at the heart of what I do, as I believe it focuses on the ‘why’ I do what I do, and I think that’s the most important part behind the things we put our time and energy into. One awesome follower asked:
What Is Your Motivation To Keep On Blogging?
Question by Rachel Ramdham
First of all, before I answer the question I feel like it is important to understand what I was referring to in yesterday’s post. In it, I talked about the forever evolving industry which continues to change as ‘old fashioned’ blogging evolved into something so much bigger than anyone expected. Now blogging is a lot more complex than it used to be and the motivation to blog is very different for anyone that decides to take it on. For some people, it’s the somewhat romanticized reasoning that’s behind it whilst for others, it’s a thought out business decision.
There are now different ways to blog, different platforms to choose from, different ways to engage with readers around the world and whoever chooses to start a blog often has to choose where they stand in the midst of all the many options. Some bloggers I follow purely because they have the picture quality of glossy magazines and I too, like most people, love to look at beautiful things. Others I follow purely because of the magical way they form words from scratch and transform them into compelling, thought-provoking messages. Then there are those bloggers who exist in the happy middle of it all.
What is my motivation to keep on blogging then? For me, I find the motivation I need to continue blogging when I look back at the start. The same reason I started is the same reason I still keep the blog going.
I might have said this before already, but I don’t think I’ve always been the best at expressing myself in speech. I’ve written about my speech impediment before and my experiences with stuttering and that came with a whole lot of anxiety when it came to public speaking. It was my worst nightmare, to be honest, and even speaking to people through a camera still gives me the shivers and I still do a thousand takes.
When I was younger, I got sucked into writing and I think it’s because I discovered that unlike with whenever I opened my mouth to speak, the words just flowed a lot more naturally on blank pages. I loved that writing never gave sweaty palms and it never made my heart pound out of my chest, except from the excitement I couldn’t shake off.
In essence, I write the blog as a form of expressions. It’s me screaming to be heard without having to shout or repeat the things I say what feels like a thousand times to be understood.
At the same time though, I’m not going to pretend like I don’t have any long-term or financial intention for the blog that goes beyond self-expression and discovery of self. If it were all about that then I wouldn’t feel any responsibility or guilt when I don’t post regularly and I definitely wouldn’t be up at the latest hours of the night writing, editing, and making sure everything comes out right. Of course, I want it to grow and prosper, and while numbers aren’t everything, I can’t say I don’t care for them either. Plus, for a journalism graduate, a blog is a great addition to my portfolio.
I expressed my love for the community that can be found through blogging in a previous post which is definitely more of an incentive to do this. You find your kind, and they find you – there’s nothing more precious than that.
As you can see, there is a lot that keeps me motivated to keep blogging, and it is something I see myself doing for a very long time even as the industry changes some more. I know they say to not mix business with pleasure, but I’m making it work and taking that risk.
I hope that answered your question. xx
Your restless romantic roamer
I feel the exact same way about blogging! I can’t articulate my thoughts as well verbally as I can through writing, and so blogging is the best outlet for all my ideas. I can’t imagine NOT doing it!