So today I started doing my usual downward spiral (and I don't mean NIN) when it comes to my blogs.
Instead of having a laissez-faire attitude about whether or not people actually read my blog. I am sitting waiting to see if the number goes up....
What this means? Other than the fact that I've obviously had a fairly slow day at work, is that I'm basing my success as a blogger and my idea of being an interesting individual on whether or not people read and/or comment on my blog. This is totally something I need to work on.
I don't know why we all have such a striving need for approval in some way or another. I wish I was able to just write without others opinions being prominent in the back of my mind. But I have failed yet again to be able to complete something without feeling a need for approval.
This truly bothers me and it should not. I should be able to write and discuss my ongoing journey in life, art and all things without feeling like I am trying to appease some other individuals. I want to be able to scream my ideas out to the world without feeling like someone is going to 'hush' me like I'm in a library.
So I'm going to shout.... I will shout and shout and shout and one day I will be able to write without feeling like I need a following or approval. Maybe the only answer is to just keep my nose to the grindstone and keep going.
I should just write and if someone comments then I can read that, but other than that I should avoid looking at the tracking pages.
Maybe we should start a mantra.... "I am successful individual, I enjoy my art, my family and my blog, I have a job I love, I am successful in everything I do, I am happy, health, safe and strong, I am rewarded for my hard work, I am surrounded by people that love me and are supportive of anything I choose to do, I am comfortable monetarily and am truly happy with where my life is at, I have strong and supportive roll models whether I know them personally or not, I am happy being me."
Well that's a good start.... If there is anything else that I feel should be added I will update the mantra in further posts. Heck just writing that out makes me feel all glowy inside.
Until next time
Keep Creating.
Angie
I totally know what you meant about watching the site stats though. I do it every time I post on my blog (not that I'm doing that often enough lately).
ReplyDeleteSo you know. You're not alone on that habit.
I'm a chronic blogger. I've probably had 15+ blogs over the last ten years. Most of them fail because I lose interest. The one blog I still keep is the one that I don't publicize. It still gets some traffic from random discovery and die hard fans, but I find the blog that I don't want anyone to read 100x easier to update than the blogs that are designed more for other people rather than myself.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time with this too, especially since I tend to go so long between updates. Truly private stuff doesn't get put on the internet, so anything I put out on social media is there so that I can get that validation from the people who live in my computer, and it sucks when that doesn't come.
ReplyDeleteOh gawd, I've done this too. Sometimes the stats-watching in under control, and sometimes it's out of hand! I blame it on the fact that so few people I know (outside my family) are really crafty, that I really appreciate the outside approval and support! But sometimes, it's just competitive, and I try to nip that in the bud. The one thing that has really made a difference in my own readership is that I've made a concerted effort to comment on OTHER people's blogs (uh, yeah, like I'm doing right now!) Twitter, too... If I focus on making authentic connections, then I'm happy and forget about stats and followers... and magically, my followers increase and I get more comments!
ReplyDelete(Oh, btw, I'm Gillian, and I found your blog through Craftzilla... who found me bc we are both Gillians! Thank you, Internet! I blog at http://crafting-a-rainbow.tumblr.com/ and I live in Orangeville!)