'To blog or not to blog…'

‘To blog or not to blog’ is the phrase that has been floating in the depths of my brain rent-free for the past couple of years. Obviously, it was accompanied by numerous reasons why I should or should not start writing a blog. Unfortunately, in the imaginary scales, the pile of negative reasonings was a lot heftier than the pile of positive ones, outweighing them completely and impeding me from sitting down and creating my very own blog.

What exactly held me back, you might ask? Well, numerous doubts were accumulating in me, starting with ‘what if’ and followed by something that gave me a considerable amount of possibility to ponder. So now I hope that by writing about my doubts, they will miraculously disappear from my headspace (fingers crossed).

Firstly, what if my writing will be nothing but an unreadable pile of nonsense? This was probably the biggest ‘what if’ among its peers. The thing is, I have always loved to write, embody my thoughts in a material format, find interesting word combinations and endeavour to implement them into my writing. Lately, whatever I was writing mainly was some assignment for university, which obviously requires a formal, rather impersonal language where serious topics are approached. As a result, I feel a bit rusty when it comes to writing in a chatty manner.

Instilling some personality in the paragraphs that go beyond the rigidity of the pages of my dissertation was lacking for a long time. I am apprehensive about whether I will be able to permeate my words with a friendlier tone and inject them with occasional jokes so that I can compellingly convey my thoughts without sounding too formal. Making sense is also a top priority besides adapting my language. Also, this particular ‘what if’ sums up most of my hesitations regarding blogging and will most likely compel me to re-read my blog posts at least one hundred times, if not more, prior to hitting that ‘publish’ button.

The next doubt that comes to mind is, what if people do not read blogs anymore? I personally love reading blogs about fashion, travel destinations and food. Throughout the years, I uncovered numerous blogs I enjoy reading accompanied by a warm beverage to wind down. InTheFrow is probably my personal favourite; I adore Victoria’s writing style and admire her knowledge about fashion and how she conveys her thoughts. Not to mention the professional and truly stunning imagery that complements her words, her blog resembles a highly regarded magazine spread (surely you can tell this is my go-to blog when I am in the mood for reading).

Sophie Milner’s blog is another of my favoured ones; her page always gave me this ‘friend you did not know you had’ vibe. For some reason, skimming through her words made me feel like I was talking to a friend, which sounds really weird, I am aware, but thanks to her familiar and friendly tone, I was left with such an impression.

(In this picture, blogging was probably the last thing on my mind, but I reckon it fits the theme of overthinking)

These are the two blogs that I tend to gravitate to the most. Otherwise, I randomly stumble across blogs either from Pinterest or Instagram, depending on the ideas I am on the hunt for. Maybe I am looking for a recipe of some kind, and then I flick through Pinterest until I find something eye-catching. Then I will be redirected to a food blog that I have never heard of, and I may commence my attempt to satisfy my inner foodie.

When I am on Instagram, doing some aimless scrolling, sometimes I just randomly come across a swipe-up link to a blog post whose title titillates my interest, and I will peruse it. Naturally, I am genuinely interested in whether other people do this or not. Do they look for inspiration in blogs or just read blogs for pleasure? In my humble opinion, there is something truly special about people sharing their thoughts, ideas, and passions whilst providing aesthetically pleasing imagery.

Interestingly, prior to actually opening a spare document and commencing to type in whatever was lingering in my brain, I had way more doubts and in-famous ‘what if’s. Now let’s see the reasons for me starting a blog, besides my friends’ encouragement, obviously. The idea of having a platform to express my thoughts and share my passions always appealed to me, but somehow I got in the way of myself, as I elucidated above. Whenever I read a piece about fashion, styling, the freshest news in the industry, about delectable dishes, I have the desire to write something of my own on the topic to share my perspective on those as well. Writing about something I am passionate about and being creative were severely lacking in my life, and by writing a blog, I hope to fill that gap in my life. My creativity is strictly reduced to sourdough scoring and PowerPoint presentation, which do not suffice in the long term, trust me.

After a considerable amount of time nudging myself to open that damn text editor, design that page, and stop overthinking how this could all go wrong, I will write a blog and share a piece of myself online. As an endeavour to take a small step out of my very comfortable comfort zone.