I don’t know about you, but I have one of those minds that seem to be always on. Always thinking, imagining or worrying about something. It’s really hard for me to sit still and not day dream or have my mind wander off into unnecessary places. I’m sure that this is a fairly common phenomenon :) 

The last couple months have been interesting in terms of the way I think about my blog. I’ll be honest with you — in 2016, my blog pageviews stayed consistently at the same number all year. No matter the effort I put into each recipe or post, it stayed the same. Albeit, I wasn’t posting regularly and was just hoping a recipe would go viral (which rarely happens right). After our wedding in November, which was really distracting, I decided that it was *time* to put the effort that I wanted into my blog. 

I started feverishly putting together a content calendar, social media calendar, planning posts months ahead. And I realized the more I planned, the less I actually wanted to do all the stuff I was planning. I got so overwhelmed by what I thought I was “supposed” to be doing, that I would avoid doing blog work. Sounds backwards right? 

Here’s what I realized. You can come up with as many delicious, beautiful recipes as you want, but you’ll never have that engagement you crave (comments, shares, followers) if you never give a piece of yourself to your readers. 

So I decided to just be me, in this present moment. I’m going to make recipes that I like, not depend on what’s trending. I’m going to write about topics that interest me and reflect what’s going on in my life. Several other bloggers have taken to this mindset and I really think it’s the only thing that’s going to allow us to survive this world of “perfect bloggers”. Perfect pictures. Perfect videos. Perfect social media marketing. It’s just not doable, especially when you have a full time job (or you don’t have a full team like some food bloggers have).

I am not a marketer. I’m a dietitian, an artist, a wife, a friend. I’m saving up for a house which I desperately want. I overspend on useless stuff. I love being outside and being with my dog makes me happy more than anything. I check social media way too often. Piano music makes me emotional because I don’t have time to continue learning how to play. I have a really great family (both sides!) that are loving and fun to be around. 

Everything that makes me unique is what I should be sharing on this blog, or else there’s no way to distinguish me from the millions of other bloggers out there. I’m hoping that sharing more about me will resonate with you, and that you’ll come back to this precious space of mine and we can share and learn together. 

That being said, I would like to find time weekly to write a post like this one, where I share my feelings about mindfulness and staying present in this fast paced world, and I hope you’ll join me! 

Happy Thursday! 

2 Comments

  1. Preach! This is what I’ve been gravitating more towards as time has gone on. And I think we, as readers, respect your decision because we don’t want to read content that is forced.

  2. Becki says:

    I think you really nailed it! Authenticity is always more fun and more attractive than trying to be what you think you should be or what others want.
    Keep putting yourself out there ?
    I’m proud of you :)

Comments are closed.