Blogging vs. High School
Over the last few weeks I have had a lot of thoughts about if I should keep blogging or if it is becoming too hard/task oriented/clique-ish/upsetting... and in the past 24 hours those thoughts have been escalated with the blogger drama (that you may or may not have seen), seeing other bloggers hanging out via instagram and twitter, the lack of comments on posts, all the adorable tutorials, fashion posts, and wonderfully creative ideas. A lot of feelings of insecurity in high school came rushing back in. Then I started thinking... dang. Blogging is a lot like high school.
High School: Fitness. "I'm fat." That seemed to be a very common phrase in high school. Nearly every girl was worried about her body image. And worried about how she could improve her look.
Bloggers: Fitness. "It is time to get in shape." A more mature way to say, I'm fat. Just like in high school, we are all concerned about our body image. But now it is taken to a whole new level posting workouts, success photos, healthy recipes.
High School: Fashion. The way you dress makes or breaks you. And if you could start a trend, you go Glen Coco! Fashion is everything in high school. At least it was in my high school.
Bloggers: Fashion. The way you dress makes of breaks you. The girls with the best outfits get shared a lot more, get a million more views, and are ALL over Pinterest.
High School: Gossip. There is always some sort of gossip in high school. So and so is dating him, he broke up with her, they went to a party together, those three bffs are in a massive fight right now. You know how it was, no matter who you were there was some sort of gossip to share or be heard.
Bloggers: Gossip. Hello, social media. And thank you for bringing me ALL the gossip I need in the whole world. Blogging is a community. And for the most part we all follow each other on Twitter, FB, Bloglovin, Instagram... so on and so forth. Which makes is easy to see who is hanging out, to know when you weren't invited, and to read any little discussion had on Twitter. Also. Apparently there is a new blog going up soon that is all about blogger gossip.
High School: Going Out. Do you remember going to your first boy girl party or school dance? Maybe your first party with seniors when you were a freshman? You better dress to impress. Because you only get one shot to be that girl that looked "so good".
Bloggers. Going Out. Do you remember your first blogger get together? Whether it was with 50 girls or just 1 or 2.... You better dress to impress. Only now you aren't dressing to impress the boys. You are dressing to impress the girls. Because, heaven forbid, you become the Bag Lady Blogger. I swear a spend more time getting ready for blogger events than I ever did for a date.
High School: Stealing. In high school people steal things sometimes. Whether it is a boyfriend, some answers for homework, or something random. Never a good thing, but we all know it happened to someone.
Bloggers: Stealing. Bloggers steal ideas. Sometimes they blatantly steal them and call them their own and sometimes they morph it into their own.
High School: Cliques. Didn't you always want to be invited to the cool kids party? I mean... let's be honest. The grass is always greener. And when you finally got invited. Even if it was just into one conversation. It was sweet.
Bloggers: Cliques. Didn't you always want to be invited to the cool bloggers party? Whether it is a blogger's night out, a funny conversation, or a collaboration. We all make friends with other bloggers, but we all have our circle of bloggers we go to first. But once you get introduced into a new circle, it is totally awesome.
High School: Friendships. We all have our best friends from high school. Through thick and thin. We can go to them with exciting news and we can go to them with the heartbreak. They always understand what is going on and they always support us.
Bloggers. Friendships. Blogging is a community. And if you enter into that community you enter into a world of a million friends you never would have met before. And they all just get you. They leave comments to let you know they have been there and to offer support. And that is pretty awesome.
And as I kept thinking about it my feelings about blogging got more and more negative. Have I really let me pass time revert me back to my high school ways? Of feeling insecure? Of teasing people to make me feel better? Of always trying to fit in? I feel like I am a changed person after so many years out of high school (even if I look almost the same, slightly thinner and I know how to do my hair now... that's what's up!)...
I started thinking... I have finally started to figure out who I am. And I really like that person. What the heck am I doing!? And then, right at the height of that escalation when I was tempted to shut it all down I got a message from someone saying she enjoyed reading my blog and would love some advice. And that is when I remembered... I blog for me. And then any family, friends, or readers that need a little inspiration, hopefully there is something in here for you. But at the end of the day... this is my blog. And I am confident with who I am. And no matter what I write, no matter who reads it, no matter what the response is. I really like the person I am. And this blog IS for me. But I am happy to share it with you too.
Love,
Deidre
High School: Fitness. "I'm fat." That seemed to be a very common phrase in high school. Nearly every girl was worried about her body image. And worried about how she could improve her look.
Bloggers: Fitness. "It is time to get in shape." A more mature way to say, I'm fat. Just like in high school, we are all concerned about our body image. But now it is taken to a whole new level posting workouts, success photos, healthy recipes.
High School: Fashion. The way you dress makes or breaks you. And if you could start a trend, you go Glen Coco! Fashion is everything in high school. At least it was in my high school.
Bloggers: Fashion. The way you dress makes of breaks you. The girls with the best outfits get shared a lot more, get a million more views, and are ALL over Pinterest.
High School: Gossip. There is always some sort of gossip in high school. So and so is dating him, he broke up with her, they went to a party together, those three bffs are in a massive fight right now. You know how it was, no matter who you were there was some sort of gossip to share or be heard.
Bloggers: Gossip. Hello, social media. And thank you for bringing me ALL the gossip I need in the whole world. Blogging is a community. And for the most part we all follow each other on Twitter, FB, Bloglovin, Instagram... so on and so forth. Which makes is easy to see who is hanging out, to know when you weren't invited, and to read any little discussion had on Twitter. Also. Apparently there is a new blog going up soon that is all about blogger gossip.
High School: Going Out. Do you remember going to your first boy girl party or school dance? Maybe your first party with seniors when you were a freshman? You better dress to impress. Because you only get one shot to be that girl that looked "so good".
Bloggers. Going Out. Do you remember your first blogger get together? Whether it was with 50 girls or just 1 or 2.... You better dress to impress. Only now you aren't dressing to impress the boys. You are dressing to impress the girls. Because, heaven forbid, you become the Bag Lady Blogger. I swear a spend more time getting ready for blogger events than I ever did for a date.
High School: Stealing. In high school people steal things sometimes. Whether it is a boyfriend, some answers for homework, or something random. Never a good thing, but we all know it happened to someone.
Bloggers: Stealing. Bloggers steal ideas. Sometimes they blatantly steal them and call them their own and sometimes they morph it into their own.
High School: Cliques. Didn't you always want to be invited to the cool kids party? I mean... let's be honest. The grass is always greener. And when you finally got invited. Even if it was just into one conversation. It was sweet.
Bloggers: Cliques. Didn't you always want to be invited to the cool bloggers party? Whether it is a blogger's night out, a funny conversation, or a collaboration. We all make friends with other bloggers, but we all have our circle of bloggers we go to first. But once you get introduced into a new circle, it is totally awesome.
High School: Friendships. We all have our best friends from high school. Through thick and thin. We can go to them with exciting news and we can go to them with the heartbreak. They always understand what is going on and they always support us.
Bloggers. Friendships. Blogging is a community. And if you enter into that community you enter into a world of a million friends you never would have met before. And they all just get you. They leave comments to let you know they have been there and to offer support. And that is pretty awesome.
And as I kept thinking about it my feelings about blogging got more and more negative. Have I really let me pass time revert me back to my high school ways? Of feeling insecure? Of teasing people to make me feel better? Of always trying to fit in? I feel like I am a changed person after so many years out of high school (even if I look almost the same, slightly thinner and I know how to do my hair now... that's what's up!)...
I started thinking... I have finally started to figure out who I am. And I really like that person. What the heck am I doing!? And then, right at the height of that escalation when I was tempted to shut it all down I got a message from someone saying she enjoyed reading my blog and would love some advice. And that is when I remembered... I blog for me. And then any family, friends, or readers that need a little inspiration, hopefully there is something in here for you. But at the end of the day... this is my blog. And I am confident with who I am. And no matter what I write, no matter who reads it, no matter what the response is. I really like the person I am. And this blog IS for me. But I am happy to share it with you too.
Love,
Deidre