I’m having a blogging crisis.
What a melodramatic way to start. But it’s hard to put this into words so let’s start with just one. Inadequacy.
Over the last five years, blogging has changed from a hobby to a viable career path. Today, my feed is filled with professional-style photography, brand partnerships and highly curated content. These standards are an exciting challenge yet seemingly impossible to achieve. Because of this, I’m often left feeling well and truly stuck.
The thing is, it’s easy to get sucked into doing what you think you should be doing. The best way to take photographs or the best headlines for the most clicks. There is so much advice out there about personal branding, Instagram themes and all this stuff that didn’t even exist a few years ago that it can become overwhelming.
I’m guilty of almost drowning in this constant chase for perfection and I don’t even know why. There’s a lot of beauty in posting the best moments but what about the rest? What about the hostel horror stories or the hilarious mishaps? After all, I’m just a 25 year old who looks constantly scruffy on the road from residing in hostel rooms with no A/C. I’ve found myself not writing about some of the best days because I was too busy enjoying myself to take ‘proper’ photographs. As someone who really loves writing and sharing, this is pretty sad.
Moving forward, I still want to share tips, advice and information in a really clear and concise way. Posts like How to Budget in New Zealand were a lifeline to me when planning a trip so sharing my version was important to me. But I also want to tell stories that people can connect with. Great quality posts that make me happy to press publish. Pulling it together might take time to resolve but basically, I want my voice to feel real again.
It’s taken me forever to write this post and yet I’m finishing up feeling more inspired than I have in months. That’s got to be a good sign, right?
Laura x
12 Comments
Amy Amynmore
March 5, 2017 at 12:51 pmI know what you mean. What you say about wanting to share your experience of a brilliant day but having no photo’s rings true because when was the last time you saw a post anywhere without photos? It’s the norm i’d say, but it doesn’t have to be. Ok, you may get a few less views but the people that want to read about that particular place, the people who have searched for that topic and landed here WILL read it!
I’m going to have to bookmark your site as I don’t seem to have been on it in ages, yet I follow on twitter and bloglovin, probably me being too busy to use them both properly, but hoping to change that!
Amy at Amy & More
Laura
March 5, 2017 at 1:34 pmThanks for such a lovely comment Amy! And very true about people wanting to read despite the lack of photos if they’re interested 🙂
I’ve been terrible at the social media thing too so I know where you’re coming from there! Going for a catch up on yours myself xx
Jessica Riley
March 5, 2017 at 6:14 pmI’m exactly the same. Everyone says to be true to yourself, whilst you see all these perfectly editing posts and pictures swamping social media. I’m constantly comparing myself, but now I’ve kind of said to myself, that’s cool they do that, but it doesn’t mean I have to. I do my own thing and that’s good enough for me.
xoxo
J
from
The Crown Wings
Laura
March 9, 2017 at 12:20 pmIt’s so hard not to compare yourself but it definitely seems that this is when we become dissatisfied with doing our own thing! But good on you for keeping it real 🙂 xx
Milly (@whoismilly)
March 8, 2017 at 5:48 pmREALLY feel this. I’ve been thinking in a similar way recently. I feel like there’s a pull to post ‘top 10s and how tos’ to drive traffic, and I love doing those – but at the same time, I love to write and read stories. I find reading honest accounts of travel, the good and the not-so-good, really exciting. Beautiful images are all well and good, but for me it’s always the personality in the words and pictures that shines through. Your posts definitely have that! 🙂
Laura
March 9, 2017 at 12:22 pmAww thanks for such a lovely comment Milly! List posts can be really fun to write definitely – I got a bit worried that my blog was just going to become that and lose the character that I wanted to keep so badly. I LOVE reading your blog 🙂 xx
Little Miss Katy (@MissKatyEnglish)
March 20, 2017 at 10:22 amOh man I totally get this! I’ve been having the same thoughts recently, and seen so may people struggling with it too. It’s far too easy to get caught up in the trap of writing what we THINK we should, and then it starts to feel like an effort, and sucks the enjoyment out of it. Blogging’s changed such a lot in the last few years, but now that so many of us seem to be reaching this point, I’m interested to see where it goes next! 🙂
Little Miss Katy
Laura
March 22, 2017 at 4:33 pmI loved your post on it too Katy, I’m hoping that these realisations will make the community continue to be a more diverse and happy place that I’ve always known it to be 🙂 xx
Sophie
April 24, 2017 at 4:38 pmIt’s so easy to compare to others. You see some people blogging a few times a week, others get collabs/sponsors right left and centre, others gain massive spikes in following, sometimes you just think am I not good enough? We are good enough though, we should always post what we want to post and be happy with what we produce 🙂 I too focus more on having fun whilst away than creating content which means I’m an extremely poor vlogger and take not as many pictures as I would like. But so what? Life comes first and blogging second I think! Also I love your blog just the way it is, genuine follows and engagement is better than lots of random follows and rubbish collab deals 🙂
sophieannetaylor.com
Lauren
May 28, 2017 at 1:55 amI used to try to write about what I thought people wanted to see, in an effort to keep up with everyone else. As a result, I found blogging to be painful. When I started my new blog earlier this month, I promised I would only write about what I like, and its made writing so much easier. And if your enjoying yourself too much to take beautiful photographs, then you’re doing something right. People worry too much about capturing everything so that they can share it online. Live for the moment, I say. c:
Sarah
August 11, 2018 at 12:54 amYess! I struggle with this too. I like to write guides and how to posts because they are so useful to people and a really concrete way to help someone. They are also the posts that bring in the most traffic! But it’s those more honest, authentic, story telling posts that pull at my heart strings. I think it’s okay to have both! I love your blog so far so I think you’re doing something right 🙂
Laura
October 22, 2018 at 8:09 pmThank you so much!xx