Blogging was a hobby, but its a lifestyle now
If I have learned anything since I started writing is that I need to stop giving up on the things I want to do. As I have said before in previous posts, I used to blog. I started blogging in 2006 on Blogspot (Yeah, that long ago) and I have moved my blog around from site to site, but never finding my forever home.
Never in a million years would I think I could make a living from blogging, which is why I never really ended up taking it seriously. I always gave up because it was “hard”. That was definitely the reason why I never found my forever home because I didn’t apply myself to figure out what I needed to do until now.
Image if I did. I would have been consecutively blogging for 13 years. I could have had a decent following if I had stuck with it. Thinking about that kind of makes me sad.
Worked really hard to plan ahead, but never stuck with it.
Going through my computer to look for something, I found a post yesterday that was written by me years ago. Talking about how I start things but never finish them. Blogging can be added to that list now. I also found the list of 365 blog ideas that I wanted to write about in 2014. I was going to blog for a whole year. A whole 365 days of blogging. I didn’t finish that year, but I did finish making the list of ideas…Look at that something I did finish.
Some of the things on this list I found are really good ideas. So look forward to those in the future. As for previously written posts… Some need some tweaking. They were really great posts, but just not well thought out or well worded and some just need to be burned. However, for the good ones, I’ll post them again someday.
What have I learned from blogging?
My younger self was immature and posting what I wanted to complain about. I was not writing to appeal to other readers. I was not valuing anyone’s life other than my own. No one wanted to hear what I was complaining about. Heck, I lived in and I don’t even want to read about it. So whiney. However, I think writing on and off for 13 years, I can agree, has made me a better writer of some sort.
I am no longer writing posts about how my job sucks or the horrible relationships I was in. I am no longer self-sabotaging and constantly thinking the worse of others and myself. With each post, I read I could see my younger self growing up into the woman I am today. Back then I see I was still figuring out who I was and what I wanted to become.
Don’t put yourself down and give up because its hard. Work hard, learn everything you can, and in the end, you will have the greatest reward ever given. Proving yourself wrong.
–Michele
How did I grow up writing such depressing self-deprecating posts? Humor was used to mask how unloved or unwanted I felt? She, I do not know… With all the writing I slowly became a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to say it out loud. Although, I am nowhere near where I want to be. However, I do have the drive in me to know how to get there.
Alway inspire yourself to create beautiful things
I’m bringing this up because I want to inspire people who want to do something, but think they can’t. The only reason why you wouldn’t be able to do it is that you, yourself are holding yourself back. Get out of your comfort zone and push yourself to be better than you are today.
We stop ourselves from doing the things we want. We need to stop giving up. I learned that the hard way, but trust me things can change. Be free young grasshoppers, you only live once. This quote sits in the back of my mind when I am feeling unmotivated. Still, all these years later I still relate to Bryson Koehler’s words.
“Take the risk, be aggressive, push hard, and set your sights way, way, way farther out than you think you can get. Drive your team toward it every day. That way, if you donβt get all the way to that goal line, youβve at least gone further than you would have had you tried to de-risk the project upfront.”βBryson Koehler, chief information and technology officer for The Weather Company
I first read this quote on Enterprisersproject.com in an article they posted about Risk-taking quotes to inspire business leaders. Go read all the wonderful quotes they have by some of the top business owners in the world.
In the end, we need to remember what matters most
This was written to inspire others but to also hold me accountable for my actions in the past. To see where I had come from and remember to never give up on things you truly want. To remember to stop giving up on the things that I want. I need to work hard and be productive. Always think of ways you can reach your goal. Work hard to improve yourself every day. Stick with it and it will eventually work out.
I’m gonna spend the rest of my day going through that list of 365 blog ideas to pick out the ones I think are worth writing about and that I think will benefit you guys or maybe make you laugh. A new post is coming out on Friday at 8a. Were going to be exploring a cute little city by us called Cedar Key. We have never been and it’s like an hour and a half away from us.
One last quote to leave you with I have this posted on my computer monitor for me to see every day is:
I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day. Please let me know in the comments what are some of your personal and business goals. Let me know, I would love to hear and remember to stop giving up.
Until next time guys, Have a great day!
Hey there!! I found your blog through a Facebook group. Like you, I have wanted to start a blog for a few years but for various reasons never got one up and going until now.
I enjoyed your site and look forward to coming back and reading some more.
Take care!!
Hey Tasha, thanks for commenting! Yeah if I would have stuck with it I could have been blogging for 13 years. It seems crazy to me! I’ll take a look at your blog when I get home. Can’t read much on my phone without my glasses lately. I’m going blind!
I was just searching for this information for a while. After six hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this kind of informative sites in top of the list. Normally the top web sites are full of garbage.
I love this post. This isnβt my first niche, or first attempt at blogging. Iβve always given up at some point and I truly wish I never did and kept going. Some days are harder than others and you lose motivation or passion about what you are writing about. I recently started again with a topic I think I can keep up. My old blogs looking back I had a lot to learn, and at the time had no blogging knowledge at all. So I feel like the past attempts set me up for this next (hopefully more successful) attempt. To learn from my past mistakes and hopefully keep moving forward this time and hold myself accountable. Thank you for this π
That’s exactly how I feel. I wish I would have stuck with it, but it did prepare me now to take it more seriously.
After leaving a stressful job that was taking a huge toll on me mentally and physically, I joined my husband on our blogging journey. It is a lot harder than I thought, but what keeps me going is reading about other bloggers success stories and that you just need to work hard and be patient!
Me too. I did not realize how hard blogging is. You wear multiple hats in this field when you don’t have a team. I love reading success stories. It does keep me motivated.
Good article. Never give up whatever happens.
Lovely article! Iβm so inspired after reading it. I believe life is so much more exciting when there are challenges along different period of your life. Sometime is easier and sometimes are extremely tough. No matter what happen, never give up until the last breath!
I agree with you, Casey. Some days are easy, some days are hard. If this a passion of yours, you don’t give up. Writing was always a dream of mine, but I think when I was younger it wasn’t my time to blog. I think I needed to go through all my experiences so I could share my personal growth with others.
I completely understand. I’m going through a similar thing but not career wise. However ,we must appreciate that life changes, we change and that can add to us achieving or not. How much we want it, the support we have and the reasons behind are important also. Great post!
I hope everything is okay with you, Serena. I pray that you find clarity in whatever your situation is.
blogging now a days are very popular…i know someone that earns good money on it…expressing your self and sharing it to others can be useful to someone…in the end it turns out that you are helping some one else…great share and inspiration
Well said, Kenneth. I would love to make enough money to support my family, but its not the end all be all. I do this to share my information, opinions, and experiences to help people.
This is something I need to work on myself, I am always afraid of things failing so I usually don’t start them to begin with and that is something I need to break out of.
I used to do the same thing. I have been slowly pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I am taking more pictures and videos of myself and posting them.
yes! never give up on yourself, be your own biggest fan!
You can’t give up on yourself. Always be your own biggest fan.
I’m so relate to this post I’ve been blogging for almost 3 years actually blogging is only my hobby until one day I decide to doing half in a day. There are times that I decide to quit because of my working scheduled but my readers always make me feel inspire to create my post. I love this!
When I bought this domain I knew I couldn’t give up because I had spent money on it. Now I am into my 2nd year and paid a lot more money. I will definitely not be giving up on this or it was just a waste of money.
It’s easier to give up at the first hardship. Thankfully great post like yours can be a reminder to keep moving forward.
It is easy. That’s is why I have been blogging on and off for 14 years.
True words! It’s very easy to give up on your dreams because of reality but i try to stay positive and motivated.
It is so hard. Life just throws things at you that makes it seem impossible, but if you just buckle up and hold on for the ride everything will eventually settle down.
I love the fact that you found that post and you’re using it to hold yorself accountable now. I also love that you write in a more self-loving way which I definitely prefer reading. I can’t imagine having to blog for 365 days straight! That’s crazy lol! But like you said, will definitely look forward to seeing some of those upcoming posts in the future π
Aww thank you for your kind words. I will be taking a break soon from personal growth posts and focus more on the lifestyle part of my blog. I have a lot of adventures to share.
I hope that I wonβt give up that even if things seem really hard right now and I feel like Iβm not going anywhere, i hope that i can continue. Thanks for sharing your story cause i can really relate to it. I just hope that the effort i put into my blog will be worth it in the future
I said in a previous comment. Buckle up and hold on, once things settle down you will be glad you didn’t give up.
hmm…personally I wish to continue to enjoy blogging, so I try my best to continue blogging about what I passionate most> let’s all always enjoy blogging, dont ever give up ya π
cheers, siennylovesdrawing
I only want to post things I am passionate about. I never want blogging to feel like its a chore I HAVE to do. Yes I want to make this a business, but I enjoy the process a lot.
This was such an inspiration. I thought about blogging in 2017 and have put it off until 2020 because of fear and not believing in myself and my ability to effectively share my thoughts through writing. Thank you for this reminder!
I did it on and off for 14 years and wish I took it seriously. Everything happens for a reason though.
Change is the only thing that’s constant in life. I’m going through many of them, as a result of the pandemic. But I’m not letting any of them get me down, I just keep on moving forward.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. That’s all you can do. Don’t take yourself so seriously and enjoy the process.
We learned a lot even from blogging. I can see that it’s a fun journey for you. Never give up because it gets easy after it gets hard.
Thank you, Fransic. I want blogging to be such an enjoyable process that it will always be a fun journey.
I see where you are coming from. I have being blogging for one year and when I go back to my old posts I realise how bad I was, now I have dedicated my time into writing those posts, it’s tiring but I am now only left with one post to edit π I don’t get much traffic but I love doing what I do.
MY old posts from this blog are also bad. I thought they were amazing at the time but noticed its not evergreen. I think the posts I am writing now is some of my best work. I will never delete them because they show my growth.
This is so true! I have been wanting to give up many times but always pushed through and now my business is growing much quicker than ever before!
See what happens when you buckle up and hold out. Things settle down and you are doing better than ever. Congrats Anne-Kathrin.
This was a really hopeful and inspiring post. I think we all have those moments where we are not feeling so motivated, for whatever reason. The important thing is how we get ourselves motivates to live how we want.
That has been a big goal for me is to keep the motivation alive. Even if it’s just a small victory.