I miss the old days of blogging. When people had their own little corner of the internet. Random strangers sharing bits of their day, personal DIY projects, community challenges, raw authentic opinions, honest reviews, personal thoughts, hobbies, and adventures. The internet back then, to me at least, seemed much more fresh, pure, and wholesome. Back then my attention span was longer and personal hobbies were abundant.
For the past few years though, my main hobbies have consisted of endless scrolling through social media, watching YouTube videos at 2x the speed and unintentionally cramming my brain with too much scattered bits of information gathered from numerous small posts, reels and other short form videos. It's left my mind chaotic and unfocused. I think that at this point in time, we can all agree that social media is toxic, in more ways than one, and has played a massive part in the deterioration of our human minds.
I've noticed a trend over the past few months, on YouTube and Instagram, of Content Creators publicly announcing that they were no longer going to be a slave to the algorithm any longer. In show of that, they deleted all of their socials media accounts in exchange for their own personal website and most seemed okay with keeping YouTube and Pinterest. It was the comments under Lrnjulie's YouTube video on how she deleted all of her social media and made a website that had me giddy with excitement to know that there were SO MANY of us out here that aren't going to just complain about the effects of social media and reminisce about the good old days before social media, but are actually doing something about it in their own lives. The guys and gals are bringing blogging back! #BringBackBlogging
So this is me doing my part in reviving a dear old hobby called personal blogging. I'm doing this mostly for my own mental wellbeing. I used to run a little blog back in 2013 and deleted it around 2015, which I regret doing. I've dreamed of starting a blog again since 2020, but I've been holding myself back from doing so. The worrying thoughts of no one reading my blog (because personal blogging is supposedly dead), ensuring that my posts are properly optimized for SEO, photos having to look professional, how will I monetize it?! and on, and On, and ON! If I'm being honest with myself, when I first dreamed of starting a blog again, it wasn't because I desired to reach the top ranking on Google or to sell something and make a ton of money (which let's be honest, that would be nice).
But I realized this past year, that lack of desire stemmed from a place of disbelief in my own capabilities and a fear of being seen (even faceless) or heard. I'd like to think now, that if I truly believe in myself and allow myself to play and have fun along the way, anything is possible. If it turns into something profitable, great. If it doesn't, that's fine too. So long as it remains as a truly enjoyable outlet and I get to see how far I can grow inside this digital world without losing my why, I've accomplished my goal. My truest desire, when all of the worry of perfection and monetization is set aside, is to truly have fun.
I love the idea of owning a more personal place on the internet where I can just share my honest thoughts, opinions, interests, experiences and document my life without too much worry of it being taken down again like it did on Instagram for being inappropriate (and I only had photos of food and landscape from my travels abroad, so I don't know how they came to that conclusion). For now, I've allowed my social media accounts to die until I decide to revive a new space and identity. It all depends on how I feel.
If you did find yourself stumbling across this side of the internet and are reading this post, because you're wondering if personal blogging is really dead and trying to decide if it's something that you should do yourself... First of all... Hello :) Allow me to further convince you that you're not alone. There are many personal bloggers still out there. Here's a list of bloggers I've recently come across that are still blogging and not posting generic AI-generated posts with zero personality.
LrnJulie - Lauren is a YouTuber and University student that captured an audience of over 347k views within the past 3 months, inspired many of them to start their own personal websites (including myself), and sparked a conversation of over 1,700 comments on her video that I previously mentioned about getting rid of social media and creating her own personal website. On her blog, Lauren shares her poetry, photography, and super talented artwork.
Phyrra - Cordelia has been blogging about her life, goth makeup and fashion since 2008. She's also a published author and YouTuber.
SoyVirgo - When I came across Kiki's blog I became super excited, because it's the first personal blog I had come across in a long time that was still active. She shares her personal thoughts, opinions, and life experiences as a vegan, cat lover, and whatever else suits her fancy. Her writing often leaves me smiling and laughing out loud.
Getting started with your own blog can be as free or expensive as you'd like. Keep it as a hobby or turn it into your own profitable empire. The sky is the limit. It really doesn't matter what it's about. Just make it your own, make it personal to you, share what you love, share your interests, share your story, because there will always be people who are looking for like-minded individuals and community. Personal blogging is literally just a long or short written form of YouTube and Instagram. They're both social platforms where people post whatever suits their fancy (random thoughts/opinions, DIY projects, personal journeys, outfit posts, everyday ups and downs of life) and people EAT. THAT. STUFF. UP.
Coming across all of these bloggers mentioned in this post really inspired and motivated me to possibly start my own blog. I recently came across this blog post on the topic of bringing back personal blogging, and someone left a comment about "Learning in Public" that solidified my decision to just start blogging again.
So this is me Learning in Public, sharing my journey of getting my life together by optimizing my health and wellness as a woman, diving into all things girly like fashion, beauty, self care, and discovering more fun, easy, and relaxed ways of creating a life of financial freedom. Documenting what I'm currently learning, have learned, what I got wrong, what I get right, and everything else in between. I'm not interested in giving you, my dear reader, an overly curated AI generated piece of me. No bots here, just a real authentic human sharing a real and honest piece of herself. I truly believe that personal authentic blog posts are what gave life to old blogs and is definitely what popularized blogging in the first place. So if you're interested in my journey as a young Millennial Late Bloomer finally blooming into the woman of my own dreams by cultivating a life of wellness, wealth, and wanderlust, I'd be more than happy to have you here. I hope to inspire and motivate you to do the same.
If any of this sounds interesting enough to stick around, don't forget to Follow my blog with Bloglovin to never miss a post. Also, check out my About page to get to know more about me.
What do you miss about blogging? If you had a blog back in the day, what was it about? What would you blog about now? Would you be interested in joining in on this growing movement? I'm truly interested to know and if you're already apart of the personal blogging community, I encourage you to share what your blog is about and leave a link to your site in the comments.
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