Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
The most challenging thing I did last year was starting my blog.
For many reasons this hasn’t been the most easiest of creative projects that I’ve started.
In this post I just wanted to highlight the challenges that you may face through your blogging journey.
Unfortunately, I can offer little guidance in how to overcome these challenges because my journey is pretty new.
But, hopefully I am able to offer some value through my experiences.
Before I even started…
The first thing that I wanted to mention in this blog was the amount of anxiety and fear I faced when contemplating whether I should start my blog.
This came about because my blog is mainly about personal growth and development and I felt as though I needed to be extremely vulnerable in order to get my point across.
And whilst this is true, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
On top of this I put the added pressure of creating content that was liked by everyone.
I was so incredibly scared of receiving hate on my blog posts, which only added to this fear.
But, I created it anyway, and now have a positive outlet to share my thoughts and ideas and hopefully hear other people’s too.
This initial fear of ‘what would everyone think’ or ‘will people even like what I have to say?’ is natural, especially if your blog is of a similar niche.
However, nothing extraordinary ever happens when left in your comfort zone and you have to take huge leaps to get to where you want in life.
Running out of motivation…
The next thing, which is probably the biggest thing, is losing motivation.
I’m going to be completely honest with you, I have had this blog for a little over 6 months and get barely any views.
And, whilst I love writing blog posts, it sometimes feels like an extremely tedious process.
There was a short period of time where I took a break from blogging because it felt pointless if nobody was seeing it but I knew I had to keep on going.
When motivation runs out discipline has to keep you going.
The reason why I have stuck to my blog post and haven’t quit is because I feel like this is a test.
And I know this may sound silly but I feel like I don’t deserve this success until I actually work hard for it.
And I also feel like I’ve come so far to turn back now.
I hope in a few years time I can look back at this post and reflect on my journey and hopefully my blog will have taken off.
Writers block…
Another thing that I find pretty challenging is coming up with content all the time.
Like every writer I too get writer block and it is never fun.
But, the one thing I’ve learnt is that when you have an idea, write about it as soon as you can.
Don’t try too hard to organise it into a beautiful essay just let your thoughts roam freely and you’ll end up with something amazing.
Mixed feelings
The next thing, which is probably more specific to my niche, is feeling like you have to be a certain way because of the advice you share.
My blog generally consists of personal development and growth and I sometimes feel like I need to constantly follow the advice I share because it would be hypocritical not to.
The one thing I really wanted for this blog was for it to be full of nothing but honesty because this is how I want to live my life.
And in many ways my blog is a reflection of my life.
I don’t want to appear like I have all of the answers.
I’ve learnt that it’s okay not to have everything figured out or to be the best version of yourself 24/7.
(All you can do it try)
It’s okay to have days where you don’t want to do anything or optimism is something you no longer want to indulge in.
We are human and development is never a linear process.
I have off days sometimes and I used to feel so guilty about not meeting up to this image of myself I had curated through this blog post.
But, like everyone else I am still going through life learning things all the time.
In fact I enjoy reading over my old blog posts because sometimes the past version of myself is the most wise.
And I feel like I need to lean back onto my old self to gain better clarity on my present self.
The technical stuff
The last thing, which is a lot more technical, is learning about web development and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
For those of you new to blogging you may have/ will come across these terms.
When I first started this blog I was so overwhelmed with tasks to do.
I had little (useful) coding experience and was struggling to find my way around WordPress.
Truthfully, I didn’t even know what SEO was.
I know that there is a lot of online help out there on platform like YouTube which prove to be helpful but, I sort of just did a bunch of trial and error to see where I go.
And it turns out I got somewhere.
My advice to anyone who is unsure about where to start, I’d say go to YouTube.
For SEO guidance I did some research but mainly use the traffic light system on WordPress.
I also know that Yoast SEO do online courses, which could be beneficial.
I started some but have yet to finish them (which I guess is a task for tonight).
Goodbye…
I hope you enjoyed this little rant I had.
I really hope that this provides you with some benefit (even if it helps only one person I’ll be happy).
I’d genuinely love to hear any of your thoughts and experiences.