Confession: Why I quit blogging (and why I’ve returned)
You may have noticed I’ve been AWOL. In fact this is the first blog I’ve posted on Hannah Gets Hench for a really long time. Have you missed me?
In this post I’m going to explain why. And more importantly, why I’ve returned. (Don’t worry reader, I’m as dramatic as ever, or ‘extra’ as the kids would say.)
I dropped off the blogosphere for a number of different reasons, and maybe you’ll be able to relate to some of them:
Working full time and blogging is tough
About the time I stopped writing on my blog was when I took a job at a financial company as a content editor. It’s not like it was the first time I’ve tried to juggle writing, working and blogging, my first job was a copywriter where I’d churn out 5 articles a day, but this job drained every last ounce of creativity I had. I’d get home and loathe the idea of doing anything, let alone writing.
Anyway, blogging began to feel like a chore and I was already so stressed/bored at my job I didn’t want to spend my free time feeling like that too.
The blogosphere is intimidating
I don’t think I’m the only person who feels inadequate to the blogger norm these days. It’s not enough to be good with words now, you have to be a photographer, a model, an SEO expert, or have over 100k followers to get any traction.
I could never find nice but provoking photos, optimise posts for SEO, make it mobile friendly – and all the other things ‘real bloggers’ do. I got the idea in my head that if I couldn’t be bothered to do it properly, then why was I doing it at all?
Where do I fit in?
As I’ve grown older (and hopefully wiser) I’ve changed a lot and I didn’t feel like this blog reflected who I was. The name is childish and not relevant and some of the posts make me cringe. Am I a travel blog? Am I still fitness? Am I a therapists now? Who knows!
Another issue was with the blogging community. I never fully immersed myself with it, partly because I am a little embarrassed to say ‘I’m a blogger’, also because I am quite shy when I’m not behind a screen. I didn’t attend many events, I didn’t accept opportunities, and I didn’t make much effort with other bloggers. After a while people stopped inviting me to things, brands stopped emailing me, and I faded into the background with my tiny violin and woe is me t-shirt.
Asking people to read your blog
Is it just me who finds promoting their blogs on social media awkward? I’ve always been bad at scheduling anyway, but promoting my blog is just not my style. Hats off to bloggers who do it -there’s no shame in hustling your content I know it’s my own issue. I also found it really weird when people I knew in real life found out about my blog – especially reading personal posts.
New projects
Don’t worry friend, it’s not all doom and gloom! I briefly started a new blog to coax myself back into blogging. It was a travel blog called Last Stop Lunar and although I am proud of the posts I’ve written, it’s been so hard starting from scratch with a DA of 1.
Why have I written this?
You might be thinking, stop bitching about blogging Hannah. No one’s forcing you to write!
The thing is, I actually really missed blogging. And I missed making content for this particular blog and sharing my thoughts with you. I’ve had a few emails from readers who have seen my mental health posts and said it helped them, or they enjoyed reading about someone who’s had a similar experience, and that meant a lot to me.
I’ve come to realise that this blog will never ever be anything near perfect. It’s a basic blog at the end of the day. I mean have you seen my theme? It’s a hot mess. Links everywhere! For now I’m going to focus on enjoying creating content that I’m passionate about, which is probably going to be mental health, feminism, fitness, restaurant reviews, travel, and maybe some beauty.
If you like that stuff please keep reading. In fact if you’ve read this far, bravo. Bravo and goodnight. Should I get a cool sign off like that? But anyway I really do appreciate anyone who has read all of this – I will be back posting regular content shortly.
Hannah x
