Why I Will Never Swim Away From Being A Blogger

My dear Readers,

My wifi was down for five days and I certainly could've gone to the nearest Starbucks to write, but then a tropical storm came through and I didn't much feel like braving it.

I'm still gathering my feel for this delightful place {my blog} that I call my happy place, my abundance provider so I would ask of you to please bear with me, as I continue to get my sea legs. I am focusing on my content and how I may better serve each of you. I have learned through analytics that my main blog readers are upwards in age, consume my content on their home computers, and also seem to like my old-fashioned homemaking posts along with my posts about fear, soul mates, and transformation the most.

Having gotten that out of the way, I'd like to brave the subject of social media and the internet. I get my content ideas from either something I have encountered, as well as, my youtube subscribers. They know what they are seeking and I feel inclined to serve them as they have been with me since the beginning.

I have spoken about the topic of social media/internet on my blog and several times on my Youtube channel. It seems to be a big discussion for many. first id like to touch on a few things that I have noticed recently, and some that my friends have made mention to me within the last few months.

I could keep to myself on the subject at hand and leave it up to the beautiful millennials to cover this topic, but no doubt women in their 30's, 40's and up still stumble upon the messiness that is social media; Instagram in particular.

it's interesting the way Instagram seems to be taking over with regards to the dozens of sponsored posts I see on my feeds on Instagram and Facebook. How we need to gain followers, and there are new hacks and courses enough to beat the ban. {my southern slang is talkin'}

I happen to think Instagram is quite lovely, I have a wonderful rapport with social media now. After reading Gary Vaynerchuk's book "Crushing It", I've modulated completely. I made peace with many things in regards to social media. Social media is nothing more than a mindset.

I believe bloggers should not put all of their eggs in the Instagram basket, or they are in danger of going bust. How often I have had friends that were or still are bloggers, have turned more to Instagram to make a living. The many bloggers that started when I started over ten years ago have slowly stopped posting like they used to. They use it as a hub to get advertising and don't seem to be as evergreen, authentic or consistent anymore. What was once a truly organic place to be, many have taken up real estate elsewhere or just sold out completely.

In my opinion, I would never put all of my energy into Instagram. I'm one to know from experience you have got to always think about the future. How would I have ever known I was going to be starting my entire life over from scratch after a divorce, or that my beloved gardener had a serious health scare a few months ago? No one is promised forever, and I will be the main breadwinner at some point in the near future. You can't put all of your eggs in the basket of thinking Instagram is going to be around forever. Followers do not equal money in your pocketbook. It may be great now, but one must always be thinking outside of the box. and in my opinion, everything always comes back around. I had a friend that became famous on Vine, and we all know what happened to Vine. He wasn't able to translate that over to another platform to make a career of it. Now that is not to say that it can't be done, but I'm just saying be open and don't discount blogging as a reputable business.

I am a content creator and not an influencer. There is a big difference between the two. Truth be known I still get people willing to work with me even though I am small on Instagram. Do you know why? Because I have a real community, be it small, it's genuine. I don't have fake followers, bots nor have I surrendered to the hype of buying followers. I just learned of a friend doing this the other day and I must say I was a little disappointed in her. Oh well, she's on her own journey, I just can't help but wonder if that will ultimately end up biting her in the derrière.

I think the ones' that love the art of slow living,  will always love a good old-fashioned blog. I know for myself I have been reading blogs for years. I adore pouring a nice cup of tea, pulling up my favorite blogs and reading. It's a sheer delight and truly feeds my soul. I  love reading blogs and writing my very own blog. That will never change, ever. I think that the true writers will rise to the top like cream, and the rest will fall by the wayside. So while many are focused on Instagram, I'll be over here tiddling away at a gorgeous blog making a new name for myself.

I want my blog to be like a camera. I want people to experience my blog in the way you go from auto to manual. I want to see my blog readers after following my blog for a year, and then two. How will all of our lives have changed, expanded and grown? I bet by leaps and bounds.

Have you experienced any social media faux pas that has tangled you up in a little fisherman's net of frenzy?

 Just a teeny reminder that if you haven't yet, swim on over to my side panel and subscribe to my newsletter, "The Current."

Yours til my next swim, Raquel