For the last 2 weeks I have been trying to think of a creative way to write this post, trying to think of what to write and how to share this huge milestone with you all and I honestly came up blank so bear with me as I am going with the flow. Where and how do you share the excitement of reaching 200 posts? When I made the decision to start this blog (my 2nd blog mind you) I honestly did not know what I was doing and how much work I was going to put into this blog. Managing two blogs have never been a problem for me but it has not been easy either, because when I am having motivational issues to blog it's not only one blog being affected it is two and that sometimes gets to me even though I know I am only human and this is bound to happen.
Most of my readers on this blog will know lately my posts have been far and in between ever since 2015 started. I did contemplate deleting this blog and I think that was my lowest point this year because I enjoy blogging and I treasure both my blogs. Part of the reason for wanting to delete this blog was because I found myself comparing my blogs to other people's blog which I think is not fair on myself nor on other bloggers. It is never fair to compare my beginning to someone else's middle as that is cause for internal turmoil especially if your blog is not as successful as another person's blog. Yes we started at the same time for some and they are doing so much better than me, which is fine because how much work I put into this blog cannot compare to another person's blog and vice versa is true. For me blogging is done on a part-time basis and definitely a hobby but someone else that might not be the case. I am human and this I am sure will continue to happen long before I find a solution to accepting it all come what may. One piece of advice I have for myself and fellow bloggers in the same situation (or any life situation) as me on comparing your beginning to someone else's middle is that "Check yourself before you wreck yourself". What I want to focus on is appreciating that another person has done better than me, congratulating them (even if it's just in my head) and then acknowledging that I am not there yet. I want to use their success as motivation for me to achieve what I want to achieve but I also need to learn when to accept the situation and leave as is because honestly how I define success is not the same as the next person.
If I was to be honest to myself and the world is that I am pretty successful as I am right now, I am at the best that I can be so far in life. Yes there are things that I do not yet have and which I had but I also know that I have so much already both which I can see and that which I cannot see yet. My definition of success blogwise is being able to manage my blogs the way I have been doing it for almost two years now and not giving up that is success. What is my next goal, well it's no secret that I would like to one day earn something resembling a salary from my blogs but that is a 'life time goal' than my next to achieve goal. So many things have to happen before I can reach that life time goal but in the mean time I can do small actions that will move me towards that goal. Success to me is being able to manage the blogger support group The Lovely Bloggers on Facebook with my blogger friend Jemma of celery and cupcakes and in a short span of time having such active members. Being successful is being alive and healthy to enjoy all the goodness and even the bad that this world has to offer and remembering to be thankful to the powers that be for all of it. Being successful for me is not living without regrets but living with the knowledge that you did not give up, you gave it your all and maybe your all is not enough but that knowledge of having attempted is for me is success.
I will not claim to have figured success out be it blogwise or life in general but I am sharing what it means to me and how I look at it all. Being true to myself is a number one priority, keeping it real is my motto and never giving up is my motivation. Life will always throw us curve balls, but it is how we deal with them that define our success.
Happy 200th post to me.
