If you run a blog, at some point you’ve probably struggled with the feeling that no matter how hard you work, it just isn’t good enough.
The internet is full of websites that are brighter, shinier and more interesting.
There are bloggers who post more frequently, take stunning vintage style photographs under glorious golden hour light, and know how to create a Pinterest worthy post that attracts thousands of eager eyes each day.
Everywhere you look there’s so much elegantly arranged white space. There are sleekly professional headers and PR focused descriptions, blogs that effortlessly attract hundreds of comments to each post and thousands of followers.
There are girls running barefoot through fields of sunflowers, or curled up in their perfectly curated minimalist homes with a coffee cup in one hand and a book in the other, sunlight caressing their artfully tousled hair.
We sigh at their elegance, as we pick at the chocolate stain on our tracksuit bottoms and shove aside the pile of clutter that threatens to overwhelm our kitchen table so we can work.
We open social media feeds full of articles offering advice on how to grow our blogs, be more professional, work with brands and just be generally stylish and effortlessly cool, like their authors.
Those girls make it look easy. So why isn’t it happening for us?
Disappear down the rabbit hole for long enough and you’ll end up questioning everything you ever wrote, every photograph you ever took, even your own commitment to your blog.
On those days, you feel like a bad blogger.
And being a bad blogger is akin to being bad at life.
You worry that you’re not interesting enough, or you’re a social media #epicfail. Maybe you think your content is boring and unoriginal, or you aren’t talented enough to succeed.
It’s true that there are other things you could do to attract new readers; there always are. But ultimately, there are only so many hours in the day.
Don’t dilute your own work to fit into someone else’s mould. Don’t change who you are.
So much white space looks the same. But you are the thing that shines.
jeff says
keep at it amy!
Amy Lord says
Always!
Tiffany says
In a way blogging is like money. No matter how many followers or comments you get or how good your pictures are there’s always going to be someone with more / a better blog than you. I think the point of blogging shouldn’t be to be the best, it’s to have a space for self-expression and reflection.
Amy Lord says
Absolutely agree, Tiffany! I’d rather read something meaningful or personal any day.
Michelle says
Love that you’ve ended this with a pep talk! The thing that shines is YOU and no-one else can do you as well as you can.
I have to remind myself of this. Regularly.
M x
Amy Lord says
Very true – that’s why I wrote this, sometimes you write the advice you need!