I have not written a personal blog post in a while. I try and keep things positive on Fresh and Fearless, because it was always been a workspace for me to express my creativity. To showcase my talents and keep an online diary, for when i’m old. However, i’m struggling to keep up. My blog was never meant to be commercialised, it was started off being a diary for my family. However, back in 2014, a year into blogging, I took the first steps of lowering my barrier and accepted sponsored content and review opportunities. Whilst that was all new to me, my creativity and love for my blog flowed like the waterfalls of Ontario.
I’m approaching my fourth year as a blogger, and there has been a new term introduced, ‘influencer. Something i’m struggling to come to terms with. I never want to be an influencer, I detest the word. I want to be a creative that inspires people, I want people to get some sort of joy and knowledge from my blog. Whether it the side dribbling from looking at my food photos or some inspiration for my readers next travel destination. I want to inspire people to do things, get out and chase their dreams, just like I did.
I was never the popular boy at school and I have no intentions of being the popular kid on the blogging block either. I was happy with my half edited iPhone photo of my Haagen-Dazs dessert that reached a total of 30 likes. I still remember that ecstatic feeling because that was an achievement for me. Now I feel like i’ve lost that little buzz and little joy of excitement when I hit new milestones. As I scroll through my Instagram page, all I see is girls with designer handbags costing around £3,000 with an #ad in the caption. Is this reality, or just a faux perception of the glamorous lives of a twenty-something with 60,000 Instagram followers and a successful blog? Whether you like it or not, everyone is envious, even the boys. How did SHE get that opportunity? I want that opportunity. It’s this ‘must have’ attitude that is ruining the blogging community I once felt so connected to.
It’s all about what you have, how many Instagram followers you have, the type of engagement you have, how many press trips you have been invited on. Often enough, I find bloggers asking that, “where are your next press trips?” I often have one, maybe two trips lined up. As I come to finish my sentence, other bloggers have already begun listing their 12 trips they have planned for the next 2 months. Is it a competition now? What happened to supporting one another and helping each other? After all, we all do it for one reason. We love it. If you started a blog to get famous or get ‘freebies’, all I can say is good luck to you Captain. You certainly won’t be a part of my tribe, because I have no intention on being your sub-par competitor.
All I can say, is that i’m reverting back. I’m undoing all the damage I have caused myself over the past couple of months of getting sucked into this false sense of blogging and social media. I’m going back to using my iPhone for Instagram, instead of my camera to get crisp clear ‘perfect’ photos. I’m going back to tweeting about things that are on my mind, instead of filling for feeds with prescheduled content of old blog posts.
If you want to keep following along, reading my blog, and supporting me. Please, do. However, if you’re not okay with the changes i’m making… you know where the virtual door lies and I also invite you to use it.
Brands, PR’s, if you’re okay with me not getting 1,000’s of likes on content photos or millions of views of old blog posts. Please, keep emailing me. It will give me great pleasure to support your campaigns to the best of MY ability. However, if that’s not good enough, them i’m sorry. I can’t do anything for you.
I’m tired of feeling burnt out through worrying about things that are beyond my control. I’m tired of staying up until the late hours to get content up and out within 24 hours to ensure I always have new content going up. More over, I miss the love I once had for my blog, social media and sharing what I truly believed in.
I’m coming back, Fresh And Fearless is regrowing from the roots. I hope you’re ready!
Until next time…
