Five Things You Hate About Bloggers That I Happen to Love:
Sharing what we're eating: I hear a lot of people grumble about how they don't care to see what other people are eating. Me, me! I do care! Maybe I'm an exception to the rule because I like eating clean, but when looking for healthy new meal ideas quickly, I need look no further than Instagram. More than once I've thought, "hey, I want to try that!" And I've actually tried many of them, or they've reminded me to dig out a recipe I may have forgotten about! Also, I am part of the Tone it Up community, and I love seeing what other people are cooking from their Nutrition Plan. The amazing meal pictures were one of the big reasons that I finally bought the nutrition plan in the first place!
Making things look perfect: Now, I like to see that other people's houses are messy too, not just mine. It makes me feel better. But, I do appreciate picture-perfect settings and easy-to-look-at images more. I myself am always striving to search out and share picture-quality moments, not just for others, but for myself. Reaching inside that mess to extract the beauty is what I'm all about!!!! It's like a gratitude journal in picture form! I already know and acknowledge that the world isn't all pretty and that no blogger has it completely together, so it is not difficult for me to appreciate the perfection inside the chaos. I appreciate paying more attention to the beautiful, rather than the hair-pulling scenarios. I fall into the negativity trap all too easily and can use all the help I can get to retrain my focus on precious moments.
Seeming to do projects just for content: While I don't condone only throwing parties to create blog content, I do appreciate being more intentional with our time, especially time with my kids. If I've figured out a genius activity to do on a rainy day, I love being able to share that with others and maybe inspire them to do the same. If I've set an intention to bring more Scripture into my son's life, I can easily come alongside that with blog posts, with my life encouraging and pushing my blog growth and vice versa. Plus, blogging is just another incentive to keep our homes clean and aesthetically pleasing, the way we'd really prefer it to be anyway.
Over-sharing/little privacy: now, we all love to see peeks into people's real lives. Some things are sacred, sure, but I am the type of person that appreciate other people's authenticity, openness and vulnerability. I like to know that we share the same worries, values, problems and imperfections. So I like when people share what's really going on. In fact, I dislike it when bloggers hold back and don't show readers much about their personality and you can sense that they're hiding something. I tend to seek out "about me" pages when I come across a new blog, and I want to know more about the faces behind the blog.
Sharing about pets and kids: I know a lot of people say "I really don't care about your dog or your special sparkle princess," but I am not one of those people. I love reading about other people's families. I learn more about my own family this way. For instance, I know exactly what our priorities are in my family, and after reading certain blogs, I am better able to reflect on how we implement those values and how we could handle different situations. Dogs and kids are not for everyone, sure. If it's not, just move along from the mommy/cat lady blogs. No need to muck up comments because it isn't your thing. Find your thing and leave your non-things to other people.
I LOVE blogging and I LOVE social media. I get tons of motivation from there (as long as I'm following the leaders, not the complainers). I LOVE connecting with people. I like knowing what's going on in the world. I like seeing other people going after their dreams or working hard because that fuels me. I like being able to having topics of conversation ready to talk to people about "hey how's the car? I saw on Facebook that you just got a convertible." I love learning new skills on Youtube. I just love love love social media. I even #love hashtags. They're little glimpses of people's personalities and what people are about. They're a way to be cheeky and share humor too. They're a way to find people with similar interests and form little communities. They're a way to learn about different types of people. They can even provide a platform for building a successful business. People use Facebook and social media in different ways and for different things, and that's ok. I just happen to be one of those people that enjoy and keep up with social trends.
Now bad grammar, vulgarity and mindless chatter, those I can do without!! :P
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