Why blog?
I recently was going through the list of all of the blogs I follow, editing out some of the ones that have fallen off the face of the Earth and stuff. I have the longest list I follow.. so I tried to manage it somewhat. In the process I came across this post, and it broke my heart. Cue the tears. The girl speaks truth. And I can't tell you how many times I've had similar thoughts about the blogging world.
I've been all emotional lately, so that post really hit me hard.
It breaks my heart how the blogging world can make you feel so inferior at times.. and I really want that to change.
When you start thinking about it, blogs that are REAL can be hard to find.
I mean, I'm no saint.. I've blogged about a new pair of nice shoes I treated myself to.. and new nail polishes, and I don't mean to flaunt it by any means. But I've become SUCH a jealous person over the course of my blogging.
Before blogging I didn't know half of these designer brands.
Now I covet them all like it's nobody's business...
and frankly, I'll probably never be able to actually afford them.
I'm not trying to target anyone in this post, and I love seeing everyone's outfits posts because it provides inspiration in my own closet!
But it's when EVERY single post is about something expensive you've bought, or you have your eye on, that it gets old.
Be real.
Blogging needs to come from your heart, it's not all about appearances.
I can't tell you how many blogs I've unfollowed because literally every post was about Lilly Pulitzer. Reading about your favorite Lilly pattern, or new Lilly dress gets old after a few days.
I digress.
I'm ashamed that I let some bloggers' posts affect my self-esteem about my closet, but also about my blog itself. I hit a major slump in the fall. I felt like I had nothing interesting to say, and every time I looked through my google reader it was filled with things I simply can't afford. Blogging used to make me feel good.. and it got to where it just made me mad because I knew I would never be able to have half the things I saw online each day.
Since the start of the year I've started getting back into blogging. I'm weeding out my google reader, and returning to the blogging attitude I had when I FIRST started this blog.
I started blogging because I wanted to document things I did through college.
I started blogging not caring about numbers.
I started blogging with zero followers.
I started blogging to share my story.
I started blogging for ME.
Don't blog for numbers, increasing your followers, or to try to please everyone else.
Blog for yourself.
Be Real.
Genuine, heartfelt posts are what inspired me to start my blog.
and what you may think is an ordinary, boring, or embarrassing post? remember that's what makes you REAL and relatable. Ultimately looking back, don't you want to be able to remember yourself, your thoughts, and the things you did... rather than the material objects?
This has just been heavy on my heart lately, and I wanted to share my thoughts.
and what you may think is an ordinary, boring, or embarrassing post? remember that's what makes you REAL and relatable. Ultimately looking back, don't you want to be able to remember yourself, your thoughts, and the things you did... rather than the material objects?
This has just been heavy on my heart lately, and I wanted to share my thoughts.
38 comments:
I love. So many times I question my blogging because I AM sharing my heart. And sometimes that is heavy. Actually, they are heavy posts a lot of the times. I worry that I don't write enough "fun" posts or that I am not writing what my readers want. But, it's about what is on MY heart, what I feel led to share, and what makes ME comfortable as a blogger. I appreciate this honest post to much!! I have been in that place! I love your blog and I love that it really does reflect YOU!!! Keep it up, sister!!
I'm currently on a stand still on a post similar to this. Mainly just about being yourself. And I have used that quote as well, but that graphic is just beautiful and I've never seen it before!!
I agree with what you're saying and there is no reason why you need to compare yourself to other blogs! I love your blog because of what you post about your life and I especially love all your beautiful photos you share. So keep doing what you're doing, I love it and I know lots of other people do too!!!
There is so much truth to this post, along with the other one. I know that I for one am guilty of the things you mentioned and shared my heart for the first time on my blog in almost a year since I started it. I think people just do what mostly everyone is doing to fit in and are afraid to share what's really on their hearts. I know I was when I did.
I am going to try and be real as much as I can though.
I agree completely. I just discovered your blog and it seems you really do blog from your heart!!
I love this post. And I have been a reader of your blog for awhile because I love how genuine and personal your posts are. You don't flaunt things like some other people do. Thank you for a wonderful reminder what blogging should be about!
Execellent post!!! Thank you for your kind words that hopefully many people will read and take into account! I love your blog and I hope that you keep it up! :)
LOVE this post!! I think it's so easy to forget the original motivation to blog. I absolutely need to get back to that. Thanks for this post from the heart. :)
Great post! I totally agree with you! I find myself liking the "real" things people blog about the most.
This is so great girl. Its so true. While i love me some nice brand named things, I think some bloggers and girls on the twit(myself included at times) talk about materialistic items too much. Thats not why anyone started blogging! Good for you girl :)
so true girl :) thanks for this! you tell 'em hun! xoxo
I love reading your blog! I have always thought you were very real...which is why your blog is one of my favorite must-reads! I'm glad you stick to who you are! And Lilly...OMG I'm SO OVER HER haha...everyone is always posting about her stuff and most of it is ugly!
I know what you mean! Blogging can really make me covet some expensive makeup and I don't wear makeup on a daily basis. I stopped following some crafty blogs because I realized they were super organized and cute and I wasn't going to do that. But, I like blogging for numbers. I blog for myself, but I also blog to make friends and find other bloggers like me and that means following blogs and having followers aka numbers.
I completely agree with you! I sometimes find myself lost in the materialistic ways of blogging (if that makes sense), and reading this helps me reground myself on why I started a blog. Thank you so much for your wonderful posts and blog!
I love both of the posts--very true words! I'm sure what I write about is boring to other people, but to me, it's full of the things I love and stories I want to remember years down the road. :) Thanks for keeping it real!
Love this post! I agree with so many things you said! I'm a recent follower and love reading all of your posts! Keep being you and doing what you do on your blog!
Hooray! I'm a recent follower & relatively new Blogger as well. I found your blog through another UGA grad like me and just enjoy reading about your college experience in Athens. Your posts remind me of some of the best years of my life and I love reading about your faith walk. Let me tell you, I wish I had your level of maturity when I was an undergrad at UGA! Here's to hoping your powerful message today is heard loud & clear :)
before blogging i had never heard of anthropologie or jcrew and now I stalk their websites, ha. this post really puts blogging into perspective, thanks for writing from the heart.
I love that you posted this :). I know we've already talked about this, but like you, I sorta lost my whole blogging identity around the same time you did. Jealousy creeped into my life BIGTIME. Thank goodness it's creeping it's way back out and I'm finding my love of blogging again!
Great post, girl! I know what you mean and sometimes when I blog I do feel like the blogosphere is kind of like high school (mostly I don't feel like that but sometimes). You (anyone) just has to rememeber WHY they started to blog in the first place :)
I'm so proud of you for writing such an honest blog post. I know this will help so many people to know its okay to be real. oxoxo
Love this post! I have definitely found myself caught up in the material side of blogging at times but that is not why I started my blog or started reading other blogs. Thank you for the honesty and the reminder to stay true to myself!
Hi, My friend Melissa sent me your way and I'm glad she did. Thanks for putting into words what I struggle to say. Look forward to reading more :)
i 100000% agree. I have to clean out my 'following' list from time-to-time and those 'designer' blogs are the ones that get the cut...bc I am SO not like that! I often feel that my blog just isnt worth keeping/no one reads it really but then I realize that in 20 years I won't care how many comments I have on a particular post- I'll just want to look back and remember how life was at this stage I'm in now!
What a beautiful post, Leslie. There is nothing more beautiful than being you and being real. And you are just that. It is evident that your readers love you for that very reason. We need to be friends :)
Just an FYI, your post alone generated more activity on my blog than I ever have seen. Thank you for sharing my post with others, it is so wonderful to know that so many others feel the same way I do.
Thank you so much for giving me the courage to return to my blog, I am so glad to be back, and I love to write. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for you.
You go girl! Keep doing what you're doing...being simply you! :)
This is an awesome post Leslie. I commend absolutely everything you've said. Being a new blogger, I always struggle with feeling inferior to all these blogs who kind of seem to "run the place". It's hard when everyone's initial reaction is to judge people for things they say or post, what they wear, etc. It's great that you made this post because it forces people to take a step back and re-evaluate themselves and put themselves back in check with who they really are.
You and your blog are both great. :)
This is so true! So many blog about 'things'..I'm like you..I'd rather read about the person..not the materialized stuff behind that person. That was why I started blogging in the first place..to meet new people!!! :-)
Seriously... this post is amazing!!! So true! I'm tired of bloggers blogging about getting followers and how much they want to reach a certain #. I also am tired of hearing about their lavish lifestyles and purchases! It amazes me that how much negativity I got towards a post where I talked about working several jobs to pay for my student loans! Especially when people are out there spending so much money on fads that won't last forever!
Such a great post, Leslie!
Preach it, sista! I know we talk about this all the time when we're together, so you know I agree 8923498359083 percent! I started my blog for me, before I even knew what a big blogging community there was. So I have to remind myself sometimes that I'm still blogging for me not for other people.
love, love, love this post!!! Thanks for sharing your heart...and being real!
I feel like we all bring something different to the table like a Thanksgiving meal. Some of us know how to cook, some of us know how to shop, some of us do makeup and some of us craft.. While there are a few of us that are the "Mamas" of the group that talk about our kids.. and some of us that are in college trying to make sense of the world. I think blogging is about connecting, and telling your piece of the story... not really trying to fit in or trying to covet what others have. Blogging is about learning, and sharing what you can teach. I think I teach courage. But you teach being humble through this post, and I love it.
I just found your blog from Neely and this post totally hit home. I completely agree with everything you said... blogging has done a number on my self-esteem at various points and it took the fun away. I had to unfollow one particular person because literally every time I read her tweets, I felt depressed and down about my life and it was just not worth it.
Anyway, LOVE your blog and how genuine you seem. Can't wait to read more :)
OMG. AMEN ... and thanks to you, I am now I new follower of Lauren's as well ... both of your posts are AMAZING and You are BOTH BEAUTIFUL people INSIDE & OUT ... THINGS [material] don't matter - what matters is HOW YOU MAKE PEOPLE FEEL and HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT YOURSELF ... and I am HONORED to be in the same blogging community with such AMAZING women!!!
It's great to finally see girls be "real". Be themselves and realize that these things while they maybe fun and exciting aren't also necessary for everyday life. I know I don't live like that. Just be you, God created you individually different from anyone else. While I may not always comment on your posts, I still read it and consider you a very real and normally 20something girl.
I couldn't agree more with every single thing that you just said! This happened to me in college - one of my close friends was very well off and she always made me feel like what I had wasn't good enough. Needless to say, we are no longer friends because I don't think that I need to spend hundreds of dollars on meaningless material things to be a good person. And having all those things definitely doesn't make you any better than the next girl. Thank you for being real and honest :) I wish everyone else in the blogging world would come down off their high horses for a while!
I'm right there with ya on this one. :-)
girl, i love this post. and you are so right on. we all {should} blog for ourselves first and foremost!
You couldn't have said this any better! I recently read a quote on Pinterest that said "Don't let comparison steal your joy." I think that is such a true statement and definitely applies to the blogging world and social media! Thanks for a great post!
I know I'm a few days late on this post, but this totally hits home for me. Blogging is so wonderful because it provides so much inspiration and gives you new ideas... but sometimes I feel like it gives me ideas that I wish I could give back. It's also hard because through blogging you see people who are different places in their lives, and it's hard not to want the things that they have. Lately I've found myself drawn towards blogs that are about inspiration and life and experiences and less about stuff. Because the reality is that I don't need any more stuff, even if someone else has it!
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