thoughts on that other post...

got a date dress: c/o chicwish

cardi/leggings: f21

I have to say that I was surprised at how many of you felt the same way as me about this post. I truly loved reading through all of your comments and even gaining some new perspectives on some things.

I did realize that even I am guilty of stopping by blogs often and not commenting or leaving my mark, and I honestly didn't even really think about it until now.  I am glad that the majority of you actually instilled some confidence back into me by letting me know that you do indeed read every single post, regardless of if you say anything or not, so thank you.

The whole topic was pretty interesting I think.  It got me thinking about how our world is now actually. With sites like Facebook and Twitter, etc. we're so used to just having conversations in 140 characters or less. I get it, I really do... I just started to wonder if maybe this has also affected how we communicate with people on a daily basis? People want short and sweet everything. Ok, that's probably a totally different topic now, haha, but just something else to think about. What do you think?

I think that when I started wondering about interaction and commenting, I was really playing out worst case scenarios in my head... thinking "oh maybe nobody likes the posts I spend the most time on!".  I also understand how when you blog, you should blog for YOU and that should come first. However, I also think that when you want to make your blog an actual source of income (because, let's face it, this is like a part time job for me almost) you do have to appeal to a wider audience.  Finding a balance in between the two is hard sometimes, especially when you have sponsors and people counting on you for certain things.

I got a few comments and emails about one thing in particular I want to touch on. I didn't realize that some of you considered my blog more "businessy" than anything. I both like this and hate this at the same time. 1. I like being able to share knowledge about things I know about and maybe even be a source of inspiration... but 2. The whole reason I started blogging regularly was to be more personal  so that my life wasn't all business. I guess I'm a little confused because I rarely post about business stuff, but it is interesting to see that I am still considered very business minded by some of you... Which I agree, I am, but I'm just not sure how that shows in my posts? Hmm...

Something you probably don't know that kind of started my whole "More time = less comments" issue... Dustin was a totally active blogger when I met him. He wrote hilarious stories about ridiculous stuff that happened in the world and whatnot.  In fact, when we first started talking online, he would send me links to all of his new posts. I honestly thought it was a little annoying but I read them anyways haha.  His stats were sooo good and people were actually reading all of his writings. Thousands a day. One problem though, he rarely ever got any feedback. I saw how much that affected what he did (he pretty much stopped blogging, which is a shame because he loved it) and I was honestly scared that I might not want to continue doing this either if I lose all inspiration.  It just made me sad. He would spend countless hours putting posts together. He is a perfectionist when it comes to writing (and actually really awesome at it!) and even after we met and he moved in with me he would sit there for HOURS typing away/editing and I could never understand why it took him so long!

So anyways, I've seen what the lack of encouragement and inspiration can do to someone first hand, and I wouldn't want anyone to have to go down that path, thinking that they are not good enough or something... Especially when in reality people do love what you do. I'm going to just keep on doing my thing and posting what I want to post (whether it takes a long time or not) and try not to care so much about comparing myself to others... Because nobody gets anywhere in life when they think they're only second best ;)

You guys are the bestest! (p.s. happy friday the 13th!)