Good Morning and Happy Friday!
Missed me? Lol. I’m spending love, happiness, and blessings to you and yours!
So, my creative mentor (yes boo, I have multiple mentors for every aspect of my life) asked me what’s going on what my blog and why I missed the last 2 weeks. I said I hate it.
I. Hate. My. Blog.
Shocked, we both sat silent and let that sink in for a minute.
CM: What’s wrong Oby?
Me: Why would you think anything is wrong?
CM: What do you hate your blog?
Me: I just don’t see the point of having one
CM: Then why did you create one to begin it?
Me: I didn’t set out to create a blog
CM: But you have a blog
Me: I just wanted to share the lessons learned. I want to help people. I don’t have millions yet but I can write and I have experienced. I wanted to help by sharing my experiences.
CM: What’s changed?
Me: I am not helping people
CM: How do you know that?
Me: Because no one reads it
CM: Who says no one reads like?
Me: Have you seen it? It looks like dead space. Like I’m talking to myself
CM: Because no one comments or likes it?
Me: It’s not about that
CM: What is it about Oby?
Me: What is the point?? Writing is easy but selecting what’s appropriate, what people will appreciate, even correcting grammatical errors, is not. I put myself out there and for what? I have nothing to show for it. It’s been THREE YEARS! Three years of trying and not being able to know if I’m made any kind of impact! Then there’s the fact that people who it’s me so I have to censor how I truly feel about matters or can’t say much because I have to be sensitive to people and what they are going through. Sometimes I want to vent about my job but I can’t because some people don’t have jobs. Sometimes I want to share stories from my mother but I can’t because some people don’t have mothers. I can blink and come up with a blog post. And I have. But what’s the point putting something out there that could be used to judge me later? It’s brought more pain than pleasure. I wish I never created this blog! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!
My mentor was quiet for a while and so was I. He didn’t even look at me. He just ate his fries.
After what felt like forever, he drowned his glass of wine and said:
“You will win if you don’t quit. Get over yourself and never let another week go by without releasing a blog post.”
Then he paid for our food and left.
———
Have a phenomenal weekend.
The Wawa-New Yorker
Persist.
Write about what matters to you. People will always not have something you have on your heart to speak of. Exhibit A – you want to write a blog post; some people don’t have blogs and really want (to start) one..
Speak your truth.
Those who the message is for will be impacted on and off the blog. It’s not your business to see the impact – your work is contained within simply writing.
Besides, you have no idea who reads, is scared to comment, and goes away to discuss (with their loved one) or reflect on aspects of your truth that’s coincidentally their truth too.
Don’t let the silence in here silence you.
After feeling discouraged, put the pieces back together and resume.
St. Teresa said it best – God doesn’t ask you to successful (in your blog); He asks you to be faithful.
Do what you said you would do. If you are gifted in writing, write. And keep writing regardless of who is replying.
It’s more than a blog. This is your gift. God gave you this gift. This blog is your medium to use it. Gifts aren’t meant to be hidden.
Remain faithful.
God will reward your faithfulness.
❤
CM is right? Always looks towards the goal. Don’t focus on how you get there….
It is well dear. How about this: I’ve been wanting to start a blog myself – planned out the idea and topics and even bought the domain – http://www.themotivationblog.com but haven’t even done my first post – and it’s been over a whole year.
Also, it’s actually a positive attribute you have, to be going through these moments of self-evaluation; where you excitedly started something but later realized it may not be hitting the intended objectives. I feel so because my own experiences, even in times of my failures, have shown me that successful ventures naturally go through some sort of metamorphosis/evolution – and this never ends; Amazon once sold ONLY books; Google once did only web searches; I have no doubt you can use the current energy to re-assess your blog objectives and find how to accomplish all you set out for, or modify accordingly, and develop a quick strategy/approach to accomplish your objectives while also addressing the sensitivities you mentioned, as may be necessary.
It’s all growth from experience – and the issues you raised are the wonderful results of your learning from 3 years of blogging experience – now time to apply that knowledge – just like how Walmart is now working hard to have their e-commerce platform up to the level of competing with Amazon; I bet in the beginning such a thought didn’t cross Sam Walton’s mind!
You go Oby! You rock. And I’m getting motivation to get serious with my own blog because of you. That’s one of many ways you’ve helped me already through your blog.
That gives me an idea: to all others reading this please take a moment if you can to also tell Oby how her blog has helped you over time.