three truths behind blogging

Yesterday marked my blog’s one year anniversary. One year may not seem a long time but when thought about as 365 posts, each approximately 500+ words, to me, it seems like an eternity of work.

By now, we should all be aware of the true workings of social networks such as Instagram and Facebook. If not, let me remind you that these sites only exhibit snippets of an individual’s life. Snippets that are carefully selected and often manipulated, too . By no means are  your “friend’s” posts an all-encompassing representation of their life. After some reflecting on the year that has been, I’ve come to realise that most blogging is, if not the same, worse.

I’ll explain in points.

1.Edited photos.


Suddenly my lunch is better than yours.

2.Followers
Don’t get me wrong, the only reason I do this thing is for likes and followers (yes it’s a sad sad world) but seriously, when one has acquired a following one simply cannot disappoint. So, sometimes I post because I have to. This especially applies to recipes and food. Obviously I love food, I accidently ate the whole thing and all but sometimes I hate food too. Just like spending too much time with a certain someone can drive you up the wall, so can continuously discussing food or fashion or motherhood.

3.Empathy
I don’t know about you but the first thing I learnt about story-telling was the importance of having a likeable character. Cinderella, Alice, Tintin, all likeable. Meaning, no blogger is going to gain/keep a readership by being cynical. “I baked this sugar-free chocolate cake for my daughter’s third birthday which was an absolute joy” is much nicer than “I hate birthdays, they suck out the very last ounce of energy left in my tired soul because no-one, including my husband helps out and I end up having to do everything on my own.”

So, a lot of blogging, especially professional ones (I’m thinking food, travel and fashion) is fabricated. This, I know, from my own first-hand amateur experience and a quick scroll through the internet.  So why am I bagging my own vocation? I  guess it has something to do with honesty and a sense of obligation. So what does that mean for iaccidentlyatethewholething this coming year? Well, apart from the ripening of the ever so awaited Japanese figs and persimmons, God willing; a little more soul, a little more purpose.