I’ve now been blogging over 4 years and there have been some fabulous benefits to me both personally and professionally.
1. New friends all around the globe – I’ve met wonderful bloggers in person on my travels. These people already feel like friends even though prior to meeting them in person I’ve only known them online. For example just last weekend I met the gorgeous Audi of Fashion for Nerds while I was in San Francisco, and if I’d had more time I would have loved to have caught up with Lisa from Privilege too (next time – and I love San Francisco so I’m definitely coming back!).
2. Creativity in overdrive – ever since I started blogging and worried that I’d run out of post ideas I’ve discovered that my brain has become more plastic and elastic and I have ideas pouring out of me non-stop. Sometimes this can be a problem as I don’t have the time to write all the books and do all the projects that I come up with. I love that I now consider myself to be creative. For a long time I used to wish that I was more creative, but because I can’t draw, paint, sculpt, compose, dance well etc, I didn’t see myself as creative. Now I’ve realised that there are many versions of creativity and the ability to have lots of ideas is creative and my brain is the creative one I’ve always wanted.
3. A body of work – when I started blogging, and nobody was reading, I used to tell myself that I was just getting all my knowledge down into written form and that even if nobody read my blog, I’d have a body of work that I could use in other ways to help people in the future. It’s a great feeling to be able to dump everything in your brain into written and picture form as it really makes you acknowledge just how much you do know and have learned.
4. Helping people I’ll never meet – I love that my blog has helped countless women look and feel better about themselves. There are so many people around the world that I’ll sadly never meet, but who I can still help as they use my blog and books to figure out what works for them and that instills more self-confidence and self-esteem in them.
5. Improved ability to write – I don’t consider myself to be a writer. I spent years working for Penguin Books (publishing house) and I’ve spent countless hours with fabulous writers with great talent. I don’t consider myself to be one of those, but I do know that sitting down in front of the computer and writing all the time, my writing must have improved. I wish I was wittier and more erudite, but I realise that my skill is more to do with being able to break down some more complicated concepts and make them easy to understand.
What do you love about blogging?