Hitting UNFOLLOW | My life lately

It seems like the last two years at the end of the year, my motivation to blog has been at an all-time low.

I'm sure that the craziness of my everyday life has something to do with the feelings of overwhelm that have left me uninspired and creatively drained. I also find that I'm the type of person that when something becomes 'work' rather than something I do for love, I'm no longer interested.

When I first started my blog almost two years ago, it was simply a form of creative expression. Over time, I have added an Instagram and YouTube to support. Each week, when I uploaded a post, I shared it to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+. I don't know how it happened but during the process of this blogging evolution, I became less concerned with writing and creating because I loved it and more motivated and worried by likes, comments, followers, views and site visits.

This is not why I started.

Each week, I would spend time stressing about key words, how I could create rich pins, what sort of hashtag I should be using and where else I could promote my blog. I found myself becoming time poor as I was increasingly pouring myself into pinning, commenting in Instagram pods and scrolling on Blogger support FB groups.

I had lost my way.

I was scared about paring back because I didn't want to be relegated to the realm of anonymity and irrelevance because I had become so socially programmed that the only blogs that mattered were the ones that made money and that becoming an 'influencer' was something that everyone desired.

But why did I need or want to be like everyone else?

I decided that I needed to overcome my own vanity, practice what I preach and pear back to live a more simple and satisfying life. I so removed myself (very politely) from THREE Instagram comment pods I participated in. I unfollowed (at this stage) 300 unnecessary accounts on Instagram. I removed myself from the Bloggers FB groups and have decided that I am no longer going to share my blog or YT posts on FB, Google+ and am resolved to use my Pinterest only for enjoyment rather than feeling obligated to pin as many images/articles as possible in order to gain more traction to my blog.

One of the other restraints I had put upon myself was that I needed to upload one post per week. I realised that I had come to expect this of myself even if it was unsustainable. I have now realised that blogging and vlogging is not my job (nor do I want it to be because I don't want to lose the joy of the experience) and as such, there is no need for me to put pressure on myself to upload frequently. Less frequent blog posts will be another outcome of my recent self-discovery.

It's really important to have things, places, people and experiences in your life that bring you joy. I am hoping that through simplifying my life, being mindful and in the present moment, I will be able to live a more fulfilling life that will allow me to continue to blog out of love, passion and creativity rather than being trapped in the comparison game.

I know that this post has been highly personal and relevant to me, but I hope that you can take something out of it even if it's simply the importance of appreciating beauty and being grateful for the experiences of right here, right now.

What would you be doing if you weren't concerned about having people watch?

Carly xx

#SocialmediaInfluener #socialmediafavourites #socialmediainspiration #overcomingdoubt #believeinyourself #selfimprovement #positivity