Living for a blog or blogging for a living?
For a long time there were no posts on a topic related to blogging ... But today, not a practical, but a philosophical post. Perhaps for someone a very strange and incomprehensible title for this article, but you can try to paraphrase and ask in the context of the topic of our blog, which is mostly related to travel - you travel because you want to go there yourself, or because you need to write about it? The topic of the question can be anything in fact, it all depends on who is writing about what. Where does your favorite business end and work begins?
Once upon a time, when I was just starting to blog, this question popped into my head and I answered it myself one at a time. And more recently, one person asked me it, and I answered in a completely different way. Everything changes. Now I will try to tell you about my thoughts on this matter, and I would also be glad to hear your point of view in the comments. I think it would be interesting for active bloggers to speculate on this topic :)
Living for a blog
The content of the article
What is a favorite thing?
I remember that even before the blog I was looking for a favorite business that I would like to do and which would bring me money. I've tried different things, creative and not so creative, but I couldn't find anything. Until I realized that I had known what it was for a long time, I simply could not admit it to myself. After leaving the office, I clearly understood that I wanted to travel. At that time, the blog was only a couple of months old and I had no idea what I would do with it, and what I would write to it, I generally keep quiet about any earnings, I also did not know anything about it, and I did not contact head, how you can go somewhere and get paid for it. You can read about, how to start blogging, how to make money on a blog, and my other articles on this topic.
Then somehow everything came together into a single picture, traveling, writing articles and photographing were combined. And no matter how much I tried to divide it all, I understand that it is in such a bundle that it is my favorite thing. One does not want to do one without the other. Of course, now we already have many other topics on the blog and there are a lot of other thoughts about the development of certain areas, but so far it is the information collected over the years that brings us money..
A couple of questions
The first question arises: will I go there, which I will not write about?
Answer: most likely not, I will not go. But this is how it should be, if I am not interested in writing about it, then I am not interested in going there either. It is logical.
The second question is also logical: Will I go somewhere for the sake of a blog, that is, to the place that I need to write about, but I don't want to go?
Answer: Differently. Here I propose to stop in more detail.
Every second rushing
My initial mistake in finding what I love to do was that I was looking for something from which «rushing every second». Favorite work, then it must shove :) But this does not happen, at least for me. Sooner or later, everything becomes a routine if you do it a lot, no matter how much you love this action. therefore «rushing every second» happens only at first or only during periods. I can't say that I'm already tired of writing or traveling, but I want to take breaks, albeit infrequently. And you also need to do what seems to be not so pleasant. It's one thing to quickly write a post about your impressions, another is to collect information on forums and blogs for several days in order to structure it in an article on how to get somewhere. In the same way, trips to those places that are exactly «necessary» describe on the blog because people ask about it.
So for me, this is a completely normal situation when, in general, all activities bring satisfaction, but at the same time there are moments associated with «necessary». For myself, I haven’t found anything better yet, except for this ratio. Also, my activity has one feature - I have no work and no rest. Moreover, I also do not regard travel as rest, it is an integral part of my activity. But there are also disadvantages to this. We discussed this in more detail in the article - 3 years without work and without rest.
Blog is a good motivator
In general, I am by nature a lover of living in «comfort zone», when everything is clear, adjusted and there is no need to develop further. Therefore, anyway, I need some factors that will force me to do something and get out of the hole. And a blog is a great thing for that! I promised publicly, please do it :) Perhaps not the most correct way to motivate, but it works. Plus, I often write articles on demand. That is, if I am often asked a question, then I understand that it is time to write about it, as much as I would not like it. Or it is sometimes straightforward to ask to write a post on a particular topic, adding information to the blog.
In general, a blog is like a diary or personal diary, where you write down what you want to do or what you have already done. It stimulates and prompts to action, helps to analyze, prompts thoughts (when other people write their opinion). Moreover, you can always go back a year and see what happened then, compare if there is progress.
And my wife and I try to correspond to what we write, we set ourselves a line of behavior or some kind of positive note, although people already consider us as such from the very beginning. But in fact, we are only striving for this, we are implementing it in the process. Right or wrong, blogging and the awareness of who we are seen gives us a kick, a kick in the butt, giving us an acceleration in terms of some action. We set the bar and reach for it, whether it's a trip, when you break away from a warm and familiar place and pull yourself out into the street, or you write a positive post when, despite a bad mood, you understand that it's time to urgently stop moping and you need to write something- something positive. I think many who blog have something similar..
You can say that it is not real, that it is not correct, and so on. And perhaps it would be so, if not for one thing. After you overpower yourself, you will do something, even if «for the blog» all the same, you are glad that you could, you do not regret anything. To be honest, I don’t know how we would have dealt with our problems if it had not been for this blog and the support of our readers..