Be Yourself | Word to the Newbies | Week 1
A letter to a future blogger.
Oh, how I wish that I would read this one myself, 3 years ago. Its amazing what you learn on your own journey in the big, crazy, AMAZING world of blogging. My name is Aleisha, but my friends call me Leish. I am first and foremost, the daughter of the one true King. I am wife to one amazing guy and mama to 4 blessings ages 7, 5, 3 and recently turned 1. In my spare time I am a blogger and small business owner for a made-by-me company called Bliss Baby Designs.
I started this journey, naive.
I wanted so badly to dive in FULL throttle and be like “Hello world. Here I am.” I tried to come up with cool little themes each day of the week like I had seen other bloggers before me do…but it fizzled like a flame doused with water. I tried to ask questions of big bloggers I thought would like me and…never heard a response back. If I did, it was “Pay $50 for an hour online “face to face” chat with me and 4 other bloggers just like you.
It made me feel unwanted. Lonely. Sad.
I almost gave up. But then after much praying it “clicked”. WHY am I trying to be like everyone else? What was the real reason I was blogging?
Before you take the time to create a blog, sit down and make a list of reasons WHY you are starting one.
Is it so you can get lots of free stuff and become super popular? If so, you might want to rethink that. Is it so you can become the next Ree Drummond {who is seriously the most insanely nice women you will ever meet! NO joke! I love her!} Or is Martha more your cup of tea? My suggestion is…
Wait for it…
Just be you. Beautifully amazing. You.
I am the biggest nerd you will ever meet. I try not to take myself too seriously. But I am incredibly sensitive. I like to roll in packs as it makes me feel more confident. Because of this, I got linked up with local blogging groups {for Oregon/Washington its PNW Bloggers} which has helped me to grow more confidence and come out of my shell. Nobody wants to read about HOW perfect you are. They want to see YOU and hear you through your writing. Nobody cares about what you drive or that you rock gauchos and rarely come face to face with an actual brush. They want to see your heart.
One of the biggest let downs I have ever had was thinking I knew someone through following their blog religiously. Only to meet them in person and realize they were completely faking it. This person I thought I knew through following them on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest …was not who they led me to believe. I had seen the inside of their homes and thought “WOW…how do they keep it so perfect, have 5 kids that they all homeschool and still look so completely put together as they make a gourmet meal while sewing a quilt at the same time?” truth is…we document the moments we ACTUALLY got dressed. In something other than yoga pants. We have learned that the higher the bun…the closer to God {I am only kidding…or am I?!} and that you take a picture of what you are working on in the cleanest corner of your house. This was why the hashtag #messymonday was created or #momlife. So we can laugh at the woes that comes with this world of blogging.
When people see the real YOU behind the blog. They connect more. They read more. And they follow more.
I have made some of my best friends through blogging. One of them, isn’t even a blogger! She joined in my first ever Holiday swap I hosted and we hit it off through email. We text each other regularly and I was the first (besides her dear husband) to find out she was expecting for the second time. These connections were made AFTER I let down the veil of “I want to be liked” and allowed people to see the real me.
Take me or leave me world…cause here I am.
You are unique. You are clever. You are kind and you are brilliant. So please, if you are sarcastic and funny in real life. Show us. If you are intelligent and sophisticated…let us see. But my #1 piece of advice I wish I had learn in the beginning was to be myself.
