Day 3 of the 30 Day Writing Challenge
You may not know this, but I am not entirely new to blogging. Way back in 2011, I started a book blog. I was a low point in my life, just feeling directionless and uninspired by both my lifestyle and work. I had just discovered Goodreads through a good friend, and the idea of book reviewing on a blog came to me. And so I began a book review blog.
I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even research it that much, I just chatted with another book blogger and started a blog and started book reviewing. I loved it. And for the first year or two, I was really dedicated to that blog. I had self published authors contacting me and wanting me to review books, and that was pretty amazing. But I wasn’t too interested in really trying to grow my blog, and anyway I had no idea how to do that, and my real life job kept me damn busy and stressed. My struggle with anxiety was just beginning at the time.
I continued to book blog and I also began to crochet as a way to relax and soon I was a pretty advanced crocheter. Which was super neat and I was so proud of myself for learning this skill. I was finding these amazing crochet blogs and I was jealous. I wanted a blog like that. One that looked professional. One I could grow, and possibly make a side hustle from. And so I started a crochet blog about two years ago.
At first, I was just sharing patterns I found and the piece I had crocheted using the pattern. I wanted to share the patterns with other crafters. Then, I began a mini teaching series and from there began to design some simple patterns, mostly scarves and wraps, my intention being to sell the patterns on Ravelry and to monetize the blog. Designing patterns for crochet (or knit) is not easy. And, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really enjoy it. Plus, I had to do all the designing and crocheting in my free time (which I didn’t exactly mind) but it didn’t make for a great way to side hustle at all.
I was also trying to maintain two blogs at once, the book blog which I had never given up because it was my baby and I had devoted hours and hours to it, and the crochet blog because it was brand spanking new and I wanted to grow it, even though I knew it would be extremely hard to do that. I began to contemplate starting a lifestyle blog, where I could blog about a variety topics–books, crochet, birds and whatever else took my fancy. But I didn’t start a lifestyle blog right away.
Making the Leap Into Tidbits of Care
As time passed, and I was hustling away at both blogs, accomplishing nothing, I began to seriously think about taking blogging more seriously and trying to put out content that would grow a following and possibly generate some extra income for me. But I knew that I couldn’t do that with either one of my existing blogs.
So I decided to create a totally new blog, and really develop it into a brand. Now, I know I haven’t done that yet. I’m working towards this goal. And I’m working slowly because for me this is a huge learning curve and I don’t always know the right questions to ask, or what steps to take next. But this is how Tidbits of Care was born. I knew I had lots to share about my journey into self care. I knew I had a lot of knowledge and life experience that I could share with others. And my passion to help others is huge.
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And, this is how, in a nutshell, I became a lifestyle blogger. I hope to help others learn about self care through my own struggles. I hope that some of the things I have learned through experience and from professionals, can help others in their own struggles whether that is with anxiety and depression, or just in maintaining a work life balance. Healthy minds are what maintain healthy bodies after all, and I want us all to live a healthy, happy life.
Do you have a blog? How did you become a blogger? Or, if you are thinking of starting a blog, share your thoughts in the comments. xo
