As I write this post, it is my birthday. It is my favorite type of day: light showers and gloomy outside. Another favorite: no set in stone plans that I must do today. I could choose to lounge around and sip coffee all day. Days like this make me inspired to write. My husband is taking me out later today to celebrate my birthday. So, while I wait for him, I have decided to let my creative juices flow and let my inner voice out so to speak. Today I will reflect on my love for blogging. The old way.
I have loved blogging ever since I first discovered it. I loved the idea of sharing my thoughts and creating a community of people that like the same things. I have been blogging on and off for a long time now. I am glad that I still love it. I plan to pursue it more passionately. I hate what some blogging has become. A way to constantly sell to people or influence them so to speak. I understand that blogging takes money, but that should not be the sole focus of the blog. Blogging should bring humans together. There should be think pieces that spark conversation. I think that is what I love about platforms such as Medium.
I love it when people write and put their thoughts out on an issue, and it sparks conversation. You don’t have to agree with the writer, you just have to acknowledge their point of view. Points of view are being lost in this country as we become silos of group thinking. Some people are afraid to have an opinion until they are told what the group opinion is. I think that is one of many things I long for from my childhood. Everyone seemed freer and people were less similar. Less angry and less selfish and less materialistic if we want to go there. Maybe it is nostalgia or rose-colored glasses of my childhood, but I miss the days where we could all agree to disagree. We could all exist in our unique way. I miss the days when a blog was just a blog. A think piece and nothing more. No keeping up with the Joneses, non-realistic influencer type posts. Just a blog. Just a person with a thought. Perhaps we will go back to those days one day.
Things change over time and blogging is no exception to the rule. There is nothing wrong with affiliate marketing. Nothing is wrong with being an influencer. Blogging is influencing by default. But people are craving authenticity right now. Real authenticity. Can you really have an Instagram ready or made for Pinterest pantry when you are a busy wife and mother? What mom do you know has all white living room furniture? Did you really just happen to take the perfect photo when you woke up out of bed? Who took the photo? It’s just getting ridiculous. I think people are sick of it. Especially those of us who live in the real world and are old enough to remember life before all of this.
As I reflect on my birthday, I am grateful for another year. I am grateful for the opportunity to blog. I want to do my part to keep balance and authenticity. The Gospelnista has gone through a couple of concept changes throughout its almost 24 years of existence. It started out as a blog that chronicled my journey as a young Christian woman that loved fashion. It was a fashion lifestyle blog. I want to bring that essence back to the blog. I will be doing some revamping and returning The Gospelnista back to its roots so to speak. I look forward to sharing more thought pieces with you.
Fashionably Yours,
The Gospelnista
