Five Blogging Fears (And How To Overcome Them)
Blogging is scary stuff, we’re putting our thoughts and ideas out there online for the world to see and for most of us our blogs are a huge passion project that we pour so much of ourselves into. Whatever stage you’re at in your blogging journey, I think fear can play a huge part in our process and experience of running our own online space; from the fear of the unknown when you first get started, to the fear of keeping up once you’ve started to build an audience, fear and self doubt are hard to ignore from time to time.
After doing this whole blogging thing for almost two years now, I wanted to talk through five different blogging fears we can all face from time to time, and how we can overcome them and not let them hold us back.
The fear that no one is reading This is one I think we’ve all faced from time to time; writing to just yourself is expected in the beginning, but even once you’ve started to build up a readership I think some of us still fear that no one wants to read what we’re sharing. Obsessively checking stats and worrying about engagement and social shares is a one way ticket to the fear that everyone else is bringing in more readers than you are. I think there are two super important things to remember whenever you’re feeling like this; first up, a blog doesn’t need readers to exist. I know this might seem counterproductive, but I think it’s important to remember that first and foremost your blog is a space for self expression and first you must create before it can be consumed. Second, there will always be readers. Even if you don’t hit thousands and thousands of page views every month, there is an audience for what you’re creating and when we’re beating ourselves up for not having tens of thousands of page views we’re forgetting to celebrate the thousands (or even just hundreds) we do have.
The fear of running out of ideas Whether you post daily content or just a few posts every week, keeping up the constant stream of ideas and concepts can be quite the draining process. There will be times when the ideas just won’t stop flowing, and other times when you feel like you just don’t have any left to give. It’s a process we all go through and you have to trust in the fact that there are more ideas within you ready to be explored. It’s really okay to hit a wall or burnout, and taking the pressure off and time away from content creation is something we all need to do from time to time.
The fear that you’re not good enough We're all guilty of self doubt and comparison from time to time, and the fear that we're just not good enough can really stifle our confidence and pride in the content we're creating. When you're doubting every post you set live, comparing your growth to those around you and believing that everyone else just has this whole blogging thing down better than you do, you're just setting yourself up to fail. We have to believe that what we have to say has value, and that the value of our work doesn't increase or decrease in comparison to someone else's. Self belief allows us to be a little braver, push ourselves, and really create the content that excites us. It's okay to want to grow, improve, and develop over time, but if you allow that inner fear that you're just not good enough take over you'll never develop the online space you want to create.
The fear of being criticised Criticism, whether constructive or not, can be rife online. Whether it's in our comments, on social media, or maybe even on those forums that exists, so many of us can feel intimidated by the fear of someone not liking what we do. The thing is, we can't create in the hopes of pleasing everyone and we have to let go of the fear of being criticised so we can allow ourselves the creative freedom to really craft the online space we want to share with the world. There's nothing wrong with criticism, it's up to you how you digest it and my biggest advice is to not lose perspective. So many of us obsesses over the one negative comment alongside twenty supportive ones, and it's up to us which voice we give power to. Do your thing, create what it is you want to create, and be okay with not being everyone's cup of tea. I've said it before but I'll say it again, create for your friends, not your critics.
The fear of staying relevant After you've been blogging for a while, the fear of becoming irrelevant can be a little overwhelming. Connecting with your audience, creating content that has impact and reach, and sharing posts full of value is not a sure thing; you can't rest on your laurels as a blogger and there's this huge pressure on all of us (mostly from ourselves) to always be improving, moving forward, and pushing ourselves creatively. The blogging industry is so young, it's always changing, growing, and adapting to new platforms and ways of doing things and we can either follow behind or define our own path as we go. My only advice is to keep moving forward; try new things, challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone, and enjoy your process every step of the way.
What about you? What's your biggest blogging fear?
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