After reading
Francesca's post on her thoughts on blogging, it made me start to think about my opinions on blogging, and I decided to put in my own two cents. I'll just get on with the word vomit. -warning text heavy post-
Sponsorship. I think there's nothing wrong with it - only if a blogger does it sparingly; if one truly loves the items they're being sent, there is nothing wrong with accepting sponsored items. I mean, who doesn't love free stuff? Getting free things and doing sponsored posts are perks of blogging, and yes, it is tempting to accept every sponsored request (I must admit to being guilty for having done so in the past), but I've come to realize that it takes away from the original purpose of blogging: to blog what one truly loves and to showcase one's
own, personal style. Recently, I've been noticing this trend of wearing head-to-toe sponsored items from bloggers. It's disappointing to look at a blogger's outfit description and seeing "c/o -blank company-" after every single item in his/her outfit. Sponsors shouldn't dictate what style a blogger should have, a blogger's style should dictate what sponsors he or she decides to collaborate with. This doesn't mean letting the sponsor completely taking over how one posts. I personally feel that the 'personal' in
personal style blogging has been quite watered down through the excessive amount of sponsorships.
Why blog? I sometimes question myself on why I blog. I created this blog out of boredom and was in need of some creative outlet; thus, I created this as a project for myself to occupy my time. Some may feel like blogging and being interested in fashion and beauty is superficial and shallow, and I do question if it's worth continuing or if I should focus my time on something with more substance. But then again, blogging, fashion, and beauty are things that I love for what they are; I love them for the aesthetic value and don't let it take over my life. I can still be a substantial person and be interested in these more frivolous things, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, there's a bit of pressure when it comes to blogging. I know one's not supposed to compare her blog to another's - especially if it's a fantasticamazingblog with 34710398176 followers - but sometimes it's subconscious to think, "why isn't my blog as nice as hers?" or "agh. my layout and content don't even compare...." Also trying to please readers adds some pressure. "will people like what I posted?" "maybe I should've said something else in the post"
Now, there's a lot of these underlying blogging opinions in everyone in this community. Maybe I would be better off being ignorant to all these thoughts.
Ignorance is bliss, right? Maybe being blissfully unaware about these rarely discussed opinions would make blogging more enjoyable. Maybe selfishly blogging for only myself, blocking out all outside opinions, and doing it purely for my own enjoyment would make it a lot easier. Because of course at the end of the day it is
my blog, and the content I put up should be something
I enjoy. Maybe that's the key to being a happy blogger: not caring and taking blogging for what it is at face value, being my own blogger and stop trying to be something I'm not. Is that what I'm doing wrong? (I'm going to answer that rhetorical question and say 'yes, probably.') Or maybe I'm just going through some weird mid-but-not-really-mid blogger's life crisis or something... I mean, I do blog for my own enjoyment, but maybe I should focus more on that and only use a healthy amount of how others may think as a motivational method instead of using it to create insecurities.
Well gee, I hope some of that made sense.... I have no idea what I'm even talking about anymore or what I even said....afw;jiejaw. I think some of the things I said were pointless since I diffused my own doubts and arguments, but oh well.
Please, tell me, what are your thoughts? I would love to read all of your comments about it. Maybe someone can enlighten me with his or her opinion, and it'll give me some more insight on this topic.
xx