Blogging or not blogging? – Blog report

 

I have been thinking a lot whether to write this post, or not, but in the end I decided to go for it. Those who follow me on Instagram could see that almost 3 weeks ago I stopped posting for a few days. On Facebook it did carry on, but that was only because posts were scheduled in advance.

So why did I stop posting on Instagram?

It upsets me emotionally with what is going on in the world at the moment. Not only the fact that people are dying, but also that many lose their jobs from one day to another, struggling to buy food, that their businesses they have been working on hard to build up collapsed overnight. I felt, it was not ethical to post beautiful photos and appear to disregard the crisis. I thought

No, you cannot not say something about it.

I checked some of the accounts on Instagram, I always have a look at every day and I was shocked: many kept on posting even more photos than ever, without saying a word about the situation and carried on building their self-brand. I found it extremely disturbing! I do emphasize: the issue is NOT with posting but with pretending everything is OK when it is NOT, however I will come back to this later.

Of course we are all different and react in many different ways. I was emotionally paralysed for a few days. Not because the business I have been working hard on for over a year now has become restricted from one day to another, but because of what is happening to people. I genuinely find this disturbing and I worry for those affected.

Of course, I realise life has to go on and it is vitally important not to allow the virus overtake our lives. This is why I decided to carry on posting now I have emotionally recovered sufficiently.

Since I realised that many keep on posting even more according to their schedules not making any reference to the situation because:

1)   They make a living out of it and they have to keep doing it if they want to stay alive. This however cannot be an excuse for not showing any empathy, I think…

2)   Keeping daily routines helps many to survive the situation.

3)   Many escape from reality on Instagram and social media.

I had a chat with some Instagram buddies and many of them think that our collective photos cheer up people, therefore we should not stop posting. It is interesting btw that this situation brought such an introvert person like me closer to others on social media. Also interesting to see that I received some feedback from people I was not even aware were following what I am doing and more importantly READING my posts. People from Canada and the US encouraged me and it was a wonderful feeling.

All in all, I don’t give up. I don’t give up blogging, posting photos or even thinking about my business. But I felt it was important to make it clear how I feel about the situation and it is important for me that my Readers and Followers know I DO care and they are aware about my statement, as the last thing I would like is to appear to be a selfish blogger, who does not take any notice of the world and is only interested in her blog.

The blog is doing well, but is not flying by the way. I have been working on it with full steam ahead since September and now as the whole World slowed down, I slowed down too. Not because I needed the World to slow down, I had done it before whenever I needed some time. But surely I feel less guilty about it and to be honest, I did try to carry on with full steam ahead and I just simply CAN’T. I admit it, I can’t and I am not hiding it.

Why I am not worried about my starting business becoming restricted?

Even if the crisis is over, people won’t have money to travel. Well, if I have got so far, I am not going to give it up. You have to wait for good things in life, so I take it that I have to wait too. Besides, this time allows me to focus on other things as well, to fine tune or re-consider things.

When I started this whole thing, one of my friends who has been running his business for 20 odd years, said your concept will change so many times during the process, so give up sticking to your original ideas. I took his advice. Therefore, I am curious what will happen and where I am going to end up… Am I going to remain a blogger? Am I gong to become a photographer? Or am I going to become all of these plus manage to build a business…? We shall see…

But more importantly, I have always enjoyed and loved writing, researching, photographing and GIVING. If I can make some of YOU happy with my photos or posts then it is worth it…

What positives is this situation having for us/me? More than I would have thought:

• People hopefully realise what true values in life are.
• This situation may rearrange social media and people who provide real value, but got less attention, will have more now.
• I personally have more time for research, to slow down and relax a bit which is still quite challenging beside work and a house move.
• Because we are working from home, I don’t need to get up earlier to get ready and do the make up etc. 🙂 Even if I get up a bit later, I can spend some time on the blog. After work we go for a walk (that’s allowed) spend some time together and can carry on blogging.
• Cooking has become more creative and a a challenge as I don’t have all the ingredients, so I am constantly looking for new recipes. It’s not necessarily a bad thing! 😉
• We notice the beauty of small things in life and nature even more. It is spring over here now: the sun is shining, the trees are in blossom and the birds are singing and we do pay attention to the beauty of the nature.
• All this happens in spring. Spring is always about renewal, revival about a new start… I am positive that with difficulties and lots of efforts our lives will change for the positive.

 

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Well, my dear Reader, thank you for reading this and more importantly thank you for being here! I would be thrilled if you stayed with me. I certainly will carry on providing interesting content and beautiful photos (of which I have loads, not necessarily taken now obviously) and will try my best to virtually take you to the English countryside…

 

Stay Safe and Healthy.