Blogging With Pleasure or Pressure?

What if we likened our posts to the old letters in the bygone days that came from loved ones, often few and far between, but all the more dearly looked forward for all their rareness and beauty?

I've noticed for myself over the years, and I see the symptoms elsewhere... people enthusiastic about blogging lose momentum and with that comes the sighs and regrets of closing down precious sites. There are duties of life, work, family issues and these must have our time and energy. Of course we understand that's needful.

There are the pressures from other bloggers, maybe those who have turned more professional (go for it, I'm happy for that too) but now those of us who have taken to blogging as a form of expression, for our own creative pleasure or as a gift to others, start to feel pressured or overwhelmed. Maybe we start feeling we have to perform more, bigger, more brilliantly to keep up or keep readers coming back.

I have thought about whether I want to switch to WordPress, but I like Blogger.

I have thought about whether I should make money blogging or keep it as a hobby. I don't want to make money at this. This is my way of connecting to kindred heart friends from around the world. I don't want ads 'cluttering' my beautiful blog.

If I could just say... I hope you don't fade away entirely from your blog. I do know that sometimes we feel the 'need' to post regularly (but maybe that's a modern thing in our instant world and we should just get over it).

So what if we post less often, a couple times a week instead of every day, or even once in a blue moon? Those who love visiting and have connected a kinship will visit however rare a post goes up.  I know that for myself. I wait and when I see a new post of a blogging friend, it's like getting mail from loved ones who live in a far away places.

Maybe we could write our posts the way we used to write our letters or chat on the phone with friends -- frequently or infrequently, but certainly not every day. And did our friendships wane? Probably not.

Let's not let the number of visitors (or number of Google friends signed up) matter more than the quality of our visits with dear ones who are already sharing similar interests and ideas, and who send little gifts in the mail because I just know you'll enjoy this .....

There is a part of me that laments that I have fewer followers than some. But that means I'm in the business of comparing again... I have more friends than you do -- it's like we never left grade school or high school or something...

Let's just want to come back to the gentleness and let go of the modern pressure to keep 'performing' or we'll lose what's most precious. I'm talking to myself here.

If we enjoy the connections of a handful or a few dozen, and nurture those, recognizing that some will always follow from afar (which is perfectly fine), can we just enjoy and rest in that without fear? And if we get to the place where hundreds love visiting, we'll rejoice in that too.

Insert... I think of our beloved Susan Branch. She has many, many beautiful girlfriends following her now. She gets hundreds of comments on any one post. We remind ourselves that she's been building these relationships for decades through her faithful commitment to her art, her writing, her work in the heart of the home. It's decades of loving others through her craft. I would never, ever want to be envious of that. For I love her as many others do.

How many bloggers have been doing similar things? Which means I don't want to be envious of anyone else either. But to enjoy and receive the gift of what others share without worrying if mine's good enough. 


Insert... All that said, I would like to explore ways that you and I can increase our readership and not stay with just a handful of comments, if we want something larger. After all, if the good Lord has given us things to say -- whether they are grand ideas or our every day living stories -- then there must be a company of readers who want and maybe need what we have to say. The other hand in the clap. 

Please note:  This post is in an unfinished state... because I haven't really finishing sorting it out. It was a post I started a long time ago and I'm not sure how it got published today, as I wasn't even working on it. But since it's here, I leave it is in an unpolished state for now. I was going to feel embarrassed, and then decided this is also 'me' in my unfinished state. So I laugh instead, and relax,  and hope you will extend grace, which I know you will because your hearts are kind.

Sharing this beautiful journey together you
because I truly enjoy blogging whether it's with one or with many,

Brenda

xox