Whose Race Are You Blogging? How to Focus on Your Own Blogging Journey

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Don’t believe the “have to” !

I have a secret to share that I’ve learned the hard way! {if you know me you know I learn everything the hard way}

Blogging friend, you do not have to try to keep up with every other blog and feel overwhelmed.  Run your own race.

It’s easy to write that I know.  But trust me – I have struggled trying to keep up with others.

I’m not proud to share I lived a season of getting up early to check other people’s stats.  I’ve openly complained and questioned other’s successes. I’ve unfriended and blocked people I thought were trying to steal my ideas.

Your family, real life, and faith are far more important than what other bloggers are doing.

I was drunk on the need for someone to think I was important.  I wanted someone to read a blog post and think I was the creative one.  Or hear a vlog and think I was so encouraging.  Or see a tweet and think I was ridiculously witty.

I was struggling with online affirmation and it was killing my relationship with my kids.  I was putting the online stuff before them.  I had to take my blog “to the next level.”

So I stayed up late working.  I reluctantly went to bed with ideas brewing. I got up early working.  I lived exhausted.  Wii and Netflix became babysitters as I pounded out my presence to the online world.

Whose Race Are You Blogging? How to Focus on Your Own Blogging Journey

 

Keep Up. Be Heard. Be Noticed. Keep Up.

That year my husband asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day. It was such a simple question but I was so far overwhelmed I broke into tears and told him, “Time”.

That’s when I knew I was beyond sinking – I was sunk.

I felt buried in tweets, review posts, giveaways, and a following of readers who truly had no idea of the monster I was becoming.

I sold a thriving community just so I could breath again without having to check in every minute.  I abruptly stopped contributing for a number of other sites (I was writing for 5 total besides my own blog – because I “had to” get my name out there).

Even though I left some people with creative scheduling ahead of them – it had to be done.  I cut my own blog posting from 5x per week down to 3x per week.

I stopped believing I “had to” build up every platform and be everywhere all the time.

I started asking God what HE wanted me to do because I had strayed so far from His path.  I was absolutely miserable.  My blog at the time, Layton Family Joy – was completely joyless!

If you feel like you’re sinking, drowning, or turning into a slave to your blog  … you should quickly reevaluate what you’re doing and why.

There is no one-size-fits all formula for blogging.  You can not carbon-copy another blogger’s schedule and think it will work for you. {Especially those big bloggers who outsource their writing, editing, and tweets.  Great for them but not for me a one-woman show}.

Our world is fast, but we can take a step back and slow the pace down.  Sometimes we need a fresh perspective to see what is working and what is not working.  Get rid of what’s not working!

Pursue what is working for you!  You are gifted differently than the blogger next to you.  Rejoice in that alone!

Don’t believe everything that is shared out there.

You do not “have to” monetize your blog just because so-and-so did.  You do not “have to” have ads on Facebook jut because so-and-so does.  You do not “have to” host Google Hangouts just because so-and-so is.  You do not “have to” pin 10x a day because so-and-so has however many followers.

I love you, but that’s crap, friend.

Thrive in your uniqueness and do what you enjoy.

You do not “have to” live overwhelmed or struggle to keep up with the blogging Joneses.

Cheer for those who are doing great things and let them do those great things. “You go on with your bad self” became my motto.

God has called you to your own race – to your own community – to your own ebook – to your own conference – to your own success.  Most importantly – to your own family!

Stop looking around – run your own race.

This post was originally written in 2013 by Stef Layton for HomeschoolBlogging.com. It was updated, edited, and re-published in 2018 by Heather Bowen, HomeschoolBlogging.com owner.

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