It’s been almost exactly two years since I launched Beyond Mommying, since I opened up my world to the rest of the world. My goal has always been to be truthful with my readers, to not sugarcoat the truth or hide the facts. I want to build trust with my audience by always being honest and open.
One thing I haven’t talked about much, though, is the actual process and act of blogging. I like to write about my day-to-day life, what my children and I are experiencing, our hardships and our achievements. But what people probably don’t realize is that blogging has become a big part of that day-to-day. The time I spend writing, sharing, promoting, trying to grow the blog is tremendous. And even when I’m not sitting at the computer doing these things, I’m penning posts in my head, arranging my thoughts and thinking about all the things I want to share and say.
But sometimes the words just aren’t there. Sometimes when I’m ready to post something new, the words just won’t come. Or I just don’t have enough energy to do the work. Or I just don’t have enough time to create something worthy of sharing.
It’s been my goal from the start to post new content every day. And while I do have plenty of days that I skip posting, I feel immense guilt over it.
Us bloggers are all about the numbers. How many pageviews? How many unique monthly visitors? How many Facebook likes and Twitter Followers? Any new comments? And it’s not just because we are neurotic about our blogs it’s because these are the things that matter to brands a companies that we try to work with.
I’ve never been in blogging for the money, even though I know many bloggers who make a living at it. For me, it’s always been about sharing my stories and reaching other people. So for me, while getting promotions and to work with companies is awesome, the numbers matters because I want to know that my hard work is being seen. That the time I take away from my kids or resting or cleaning or socializing or the million other things I could be doing instead of blogging, are worth it. And everyday that I skip posting, I feel is a day of lost readers and numbers.
Work/Life balance is always hard but it’s even harder when your “job” is like another child and must be constantly watched and nourished. However, some days I just don’t have it in me and I’m not always proud of what I put out there. But I’m still new at this, I’m still learning, I’m still growing just as my blog is. And as long as I feel we’re both growing (me and the blog) then I’ll have it in me to persist and carry on.
My only hope with starting Beyond Mommying was that I would reach and impact people. That even just one mommy said “I’m glad I’m not alone” it was worth it and I hope that my hard work and commitment actually means something to other people, too.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is “Thank you.” Thank you for sticking with me. Thank you for not giving up on me during my “downs” and I know there are some great “ups” coming!
When I started blogging I really couldn’t have imagined how much time it would take! I’m still trying to figure out what a healthy balance is. Congrats on the success of your blog!
Thanks, Katy! I’m still working on finding a balance as well and trying to figure out how to be most efficient in blogging. It definitely requires constant learning and updating how we do things!
[…] of being huge and I didn’t even know you could make money at it (for real!) And my hopes and dreams for Beyond Mommying haven’t changed much, but I do want to see it thrive. And the more I […]