Blogging, like most things in my life, I quit RIGHT before things got good.
Like leaving a party in high school right before my crush showed up or being NOT the 8thcaller to win NSync tickets. I guess I just fly too close to the sun.
But back in the early days of blogging, it was life. I woke-up every morning and hit the bookmarks on my computer to get my daily dose of all things blog. The ins and outs of people I didn’t know was I drug and I was addicted.
I loved the boring celebrity of it all. The idea that someone I don’t know was writing about taking her kids to the dentist and I, for days, couldn’t stop thinking about the super cute shoes she was wearing while at the dentist. There were real, honest stories about motherhood, being a wife, trying times and less than perfect kiddos. I never heard their voices except through their writing and they were completely anonymous best friends.
Even better was, anyone could have a blog. No, really. Al Gore invented the internet for everyone. The Blogosphere was full of burgeoning Penn Faulkner award winners. No topic was off limits and NO topic was too boring. I followed one blog that was just dedicated to this girl’s love for her husband. She basically wrote him love letters in a blog every day. It was awful and I couldn’t stop reading it. I had different bloggers for different things: food bloggers, fashion bloggers, mommy bloggers, décor bloggers, funny bloggers, and a weird subset of people who were blogging about the weird stuff I like, but don’t tell anyone I like. Basically, the entire TLC channel line-up, but in blog. Blogging wasn’t just a gigantic waste of time, it was educational. I learned all about eyebrow tinting and that cauliflower can be anything!
Not long after my blog love affair reached full throttle, I came to learn that many of these acclaimed authors were getting paid to do this… like quit your day job, paid. I could be a famous blogger AND a stay-at-home mom! I could have it all!!!
And then, came the links.
The hyper links, the affiliate links, the apps and the swipe ups.
The Gram.
And just like that, we had no attention span for blogs anymore.
Those same bloggers I idolized were now literally in my hand on Instagram “Just jumping on“ to tell me about 40% off at Anthropologie. I don’t care about Anthropologie; what happened at the dentist, Ashley??? Is Kevin getting braces or not?!?!? Did your insurance cover it?
Where was the day-to-day? Where was the monotony of it all? I was missing the stories and the situations and the honesty. Everything got REALLY filtered and fake and I started falling for tricks like this:
“Hey y’all! Just popping on… I know I’ve been quiet lately. My sweet, 102-year-old Nana just died and I am back in my childhood home for her funeral with all my family and it has been so nice… also, I have gotten a lot of questions on this black dress I wore to the funeral. It is 50% today as part of the Nordstrom sale and you can swipe up. I am wearing an extra small.
Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers…”
And I HATED it. I hated that the kinship and emotion I would feel for these bloggers was reduced to clicks and LiketoKnowIt ROI. I also hated I was still working a regular job and not in on that since I, too, had been blogging forever. Where had all the honesty gone? We had gone from daily dental appointments and drive-thru Chic-fil-A to a whole world of deception and optics. I don’t want to see your kids in a perfect light; I want to see them for the mess they are so that I know if my kid is normal or not.
So, in a solemn vow, I promise to:
A. Never have swipe ups.
B. Never link products.
C. Never reference “a bunch of questions” that clearly no one asked.
This blog has been and always will be just whatever hits the keyboard that day. Do you want to know where my outfit is from? Old Navy and Chi Omega in the late 90’s.
Yes, the game has changed, but I like the old game. And that is what I want to play.
All this to say that should someone come offer me money for this blog, all these bets are off.
You get it.
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