Who's ready for a nice long rambling post where I get a few things off my chest? Today I want to have a little chat about some things I've been thinking about in regards to blogging and hopefully this post might shed a little light on what blogging is really like/what it's like to be a blogger.
Let me first start of by saying starting this blog is definitely one of the best things I've ever done. In the three years Penneys To Prada has been up and running I've learnt so much, pushed myself way beyond my comfort zone and met some amazing, truly inspirational people.
So why do I find myself constantly thinking about hitting the delete button on everything?
There are a few reasons, and I like to be as honest and as real with all of you as possible, which is why I felt the need to write this post, because as they say a problem shared is a problem halved.
Lately I feel like there's such a bad opinion of bloggers going around. I touched on this before with my 'The Problem With Blogging' post but there are still a few things on my mind.
I see it all the time in the comments under Facebook posts, people accusing bloggers of lying, or giving out about bloggers getting paid by companies and brands to work with them. It often makes me ask myself the exact question that is the title of this post, 'Why bother?'.
If I rave about a product I genuinely love, but people don't believe a word that comes out of my mouth because the product was kindly sent to me by the brand, why should I bother? If I post an Instagram that Penneys, a shop we all know I've loved long before I started working with them, have paid me for, but my followers specifically don't like that post because it has a #ad and they don't agree with bloggers getting paid, why bother?
Do you get where I'm coming from? It all seems just a little unfair sometimes and lately I've been finding it incredibly demotivating. The begrudging that goes on is just not good for anyone. I absolutely LOVE blogging, I love sharing my outfits with you, and the latest mascara that gives me crazy long eyelashes, but if so many people don't like what us bloggers do anymore, is there any point in continuing?
Another reason I find myself thinking about giving it all up is how much time blogging takes up in my day to day life. I'm not a 'full time blogger', I'm still a college student and whilst this summer has been great because I was able to dedicate pretty much every day to blogging, once I go back to college in September juggling 35-40 hours of lectures and assignments with all of the hours I put into this blog, it's going to be pretty stressful.
That's one thing I wish people could understand better. Bloggers put so much time into their little piece of the internet. We do it because we love it obviously, but I do think that sometimes it'd be lovely to just turn my phone off for an entire week. I am on my phone from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to sleep, replying to messages and posting on Instagram and Facebook.
I'll even find myself replying to questions people have asked on Snapchat as late as midnight, and I make it my mission to always reply to every message I get. Even if it's just to thank the person for their lovely message, because without people supporting my blog and showing an actual interest, it'd be very boring, but sometimes I do think it's all a bit too much and that it'd be nice to be able to switch off at 5 or 6pm each evening.
I think it can be very easy on the internet to forget that there's a real person behind a blog or an Instagram account. Just yesterday I had a comment on one of my Facebook posts where the person commenting referred to me as 'she', and I kind of just felt like replying with "Hello, I'm actually here, I'm a person, not just some social media robot".
Sometimes I find it so frustrating because I try my hardest to bring some personality and life to my social media and blog posts. No one wants to read a boring, monotone blog post or Instagram caption so I'll always try to ask questions that people can reply to. I think having that personal relationship with my followers is so important and it makes me so happy to see the same familiar names interacting with me and I honestly can't describe how grateful I am for their support.
Interaction is so so important for us bloggers. No matter how many followers you have, if they aren't interacting with you, whether it's liking your posts, or even better yet, commenting on them, number don't mean a thing. It's not only important for brands to see that the following we have is real but it's also just lovely to not feel like you're talking to the wall half the time too!
Outfit Details
Jumper - Penneys (Men's section)
So to bring it back to the main question, why bother? Well at the end of the day, I bother with blogging because I love it, I truly do. Nothing makes me happier than someone snapping me a picture of the dress they picked up in Penneys after seeing me talking about it, or writing a blog post like the 'Am I Really A Feminist?' one and having brilliant conversations with so many wonderful people who have read it and have an opinion to share.
Blogging has opened up an entire world of possibilities to me that I never thought existed and while it'd be lovely to disappear from the internet for a while, I know I'd end up missing it after just a few days. I guess it's like any type of job or hobby you might have, there are up and downs and that's all just part of it. What's important to me is that I always stay true to myself and honest with all of you, so I hope this post helped with that.
Thanks so much for reading and for all of the support you continue to show me!
