Grab a cup of coffee, a couple of cookies, because this could take a while.

I’ve had this topic among my possible blog post ideas for years. Originally I thought a year into blogging would be a good time to write about it. “Heck, I’d be a seasoned blogger by then”, I thought. But slowly I started to feel this shift. My original concepts, ideas about blogging changed. And with these changes I was unsure what to say. Every time I’d look at the list and see this topic I just didn’t even know where to start.

5 years in and I think I haven’t come closer to knowing the full answer to the question, what does blogging mean to me. And maybe I never will. But what I do know is, that I have a couple of things that have been nagging me for some time and I thought I’d throw these out there. Maybe putting it into writing will bring me a bit of clarity. So here it goes, in no particular order.

  • Blogging and blogger, the new chameleon

The words used to mean this innocent pastime. A let me share who I am, what I think with whomever is out there kinda thing. A means of connecting with like-minded individuals across vast distances.

As I see it, it has now become a business. A full time occupation for some, and a means for big companies to use bloggers and their blogs as alternative marketing platforms. And when I read a blog post I just wonder, whose thought is it anyway? At the end, is the dog wagging the tail, or the other way around?

  • From diary to glossy magazine

When a couple of years ago a grainy picture, one that was not all that well lit or composed could pass, I now see photographic (or photo editing) skills that rival those of Vogue’s. Yeah, I see all the How to… articles and the 7 ways to… Ads, but really?

  • Picture is the new bait

How many times have we seen beautiful pictures, tastefully created layouts that lure us in only to discover blah. A series of words that can be statistically counted, but not much else can be said about them. No original thoughts, ideas. But I am not being fair! At least they use ’like’ as a pronoun!

  • Is it a side hustle or a full time job?

Blogging takes a heck of a lot of time! And I mean a LOT! From coming up with an idea, to realizing it, to taking pictures and writing a post. And when you have a full time job, that time you spend on blogging is time you are taking away from everything else. To be fair and honest, priorities will shift and change. Sometimes all you crave is that time alone with your pencils and paints. And then there are weird and scary times when all I crave is to be cuddled up to Mr.AP.

  • Is there anybody out there?

When I started blogging I imagined this tsunami of chats, emails, comments that I will be bombarded with. Cricket noise is closer to the truth. I had to realize that there are millions and millions of blogs, forums out there and mine is one tiny, intsy-wintsy speck among those. So I am putting myself out there, and then what? Is there anybody out there? Hello!?? Is what I am saying being heard?

„Comparison is the thief of joy”

attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt

Just as my understanding of life and its meaning changes, so will the meaning of all my hobbies, likes and dislikes within it. And as with everything else, I will have to come up with my own answers to what blogging means to me. Maybe 2 x 2 is always 4 (so I was told), but everything else is relative.

I will have to think less of what I see out there and concentrate on what significance it currently has and what I want it to have in the future. Most importantly, to let go of any pressure (self-imposed or not) and adopt my own pace. And maybe, just maybe, there is a life form out there that these words will touch. And I will absolutely be OK with it if it won’t.