Some Blogging Observations…

I’m currently on an absolutely packed train heading back from two days work in London. I’m actually pretty lucky that I got a seat, a tonne of people on here didn’t! Whilst I do actually enjoy getting out and about from the office and both my meeting and my presentation went really well, it inevitably results in getting less done. In the run up to Christmas this is not helpful as with my boss away in Cambodia I’m sweating it already with work.

I guess this is one of the reasons I haven’t posted as much as usual. I try and get photos edited over my lunch breaks a lot of the time but late there just hasn’t barely been the time to eat, let alone stop working. 

I shouldn’t moan, I’ve relished the responsibility and the challenges it’s posed, but it has meant that even when I’ve got home after some inevitable fitness class of an evening, I just haven’t had the same energy and motivation to compile posts as I would have normally. 

So what are these blogging observations I hear you asking? 

Well, the truth is I was amazed.

I make a record every month in my onedrive excel spreadsheet to measure my blog engagement and other such things. You know the deal- Facebook/Twitter/Instagram followers, Bloglovin numbers, email subscribers, page views, bounce rate…etc

However, though during November I posted approximately half of the posts I would usually, my numbers didn’t really change. In fact, much to my amazement, though I’ve been far less engaged in social media, blogging and pretty much everything screen related, quite a lot of my stats still increased.

How does that happen, you wonder, when whilst you’re away you assume everything will crash and burn around you in your absence. 

Perhaps, maybe, it’s because it’s actually just us putting pressure on ourselves to follow in the footsteps of those we deem to be successful bloggers. Those who do it as a living and bash out almost daily posts of hilarious, insightful and intriguing content? What about the rest of us staring adoringly up at them like reception children sitting on the carpet whilst their teacher reads them a story. We compare ourselves, our “numbers”, our whole lives, to those who are potentially unattainable. I saw a great quote the other day. We live in world where it’s the norm to compare your own bloopers to someone else’s showreel. 

I tell people I havent been blogging long. I am not a “serious blogger”. But realistically what defines us as “serious”? Does the fact that I have continued to blog week on week, month on month for nearly 2 years not denote seriousness enough? If I went to the gym the same number of times I’d ever written a post I’d certainly count myself as a serious gym goer. Bloody hell I’d probably be an athlete! 

I think what I’m trying to say in this long winded way is that we should stop giving ourselves so much of a hard time. If you want a week off from blogging, or better still, NEED a week off, take it! 

November for me was actually quite a tough month. However, though I love blogging and being as honest as possible on here, some things are not for sharing with the world. I mentioned this to my brother Ned, after he messaged me to say how my Lovely Things – November post had made him happy. I didn’t lie in that post. I didn’t hide anything or exaggerate. There were some really good things that happened, alongside some of the shit. 

Just because you give yourself a break to live life out of the limelight for a bit, rather than photographing every meal in the hope that it’s insta worthy doesn’t mean you’re going to lose all your followers. The world will not suddenly stop in its orbit and crash into mars. You might, in fact, come back more energised and inspired than you’d ever have expected. 

For now, I think I’ll leave it there, safe in the knowledge that the blogging world will keep going regardless, keep loving you for what you have to say, even if it’s nothing at all. That, and the man opposite me just produced a bottle of red wine from his bag and two glasses and offered me one. Sometimes the kindness in strangers is the most beautiful thing, and sharing a wine with this business man on squished on the busiest train back from London has showed me just that. 

What. A. Babe.