It’s been over a month since my last blog post, and honestly, I can’t remember the last time I went that long without publishing a post. I tried to write this one several weeks ago, but it just wasn’t coming out. I’m not sure if it was burn out after promoting Kickstart Your List so hard or something else that’s been on my mind since last October when I originally took a giant step back from blogging.

As of February, I’ve been blogging for four years now. It’s hard to believe since it feels like it was just yesterday that I started a blog, but here we are. Over the course of the last 4 years, there have been so many incredible changes not just to this blog but to the blogging community as a whole. This blog went from personal sharing to inspiration to tips / advice. It seems like, over the course of those four short years, I was really able to get a grasp on what I was good at and where I stood in the community as far as my content was concerned. I knew what I was creating was good, helpful content even if my page views weren’t skyrocketing like my peers.

As for the blogging community? Well, things have changed quite a bit more than this little space. I remember when I was just getting started I read posts almost every day. I loved reading personal posts and getting to know my favorite bloggers and designers even more. I ate up every single post they put on their blog in hopes I could get better at blogging and freelancing in general. Luckily for me, it worked, and with the help of my parents, I was able to graduate college and go straight to working for myself. It’s hard to believe that this May marks two years of being a college graduate and working for myself full-time, but I’d never change a thing.

Over the last year, though, something within blogging changed. The industry leaders led us down a different road; the road to business blogging. We stopped sharing personal posts; we stopped reading personal posts. We all started writing posts with tips and advice on things like blogging and business. Even if we felt like we maybe didn’t have enough experience, we still wrote on things we were “supposed” to write about to get higher page views. We all started creating the same exact content, which led us to burning out with writing and reading.

In October, I turned 24, and I started questioning things. I’m naturally a rule breaker, so I didn’t love that I was following the “should’s” and “must’s” that were floating around the web, and instead of trying to forge my own path (which I had originally planned on doing last year), I just wanted to step back. Admittedly, I kept following the rules through to the end of January as I promoted my ecourse.

But when February rolled around I was utterly confused. There’s absolutely no way to sustain a blog the way I was writing and the way I feel the majority of our community was writing. That’s why we see so many of our favorite bloggers not only seriously cutting their posting schedule but often not even posting at all. It’s simply not sustainable. 

So here I am a whole month later, and I’m feeling drawn back to blogging. It’s been such a major part of my life for the last four years, and I truly don’t want to give it up. However, I refuse to confine to the rules of what sort of content I’m supposed to be writing. I shouldn’t be kicking my design work to the curb in exchange for a post that someone else has likely already written.

Instead, I’m coming back to blogging on my own terms. I want to write 1-2 times per week. I want to share my design work. I want to share my personal life. I do want to share advice on all things branding, blogging and email lists, but in a more intentional way. I want to encourage you on your path to following your dreams with a wild heart… on your own terms.

And this may mean that I never see the number of page views others do. I may not get as many comments. I may not get as many shares. But at the end of the day, I’d rather enjoy what I’m doing and know that I’m connecting with you in a more authentic way than just cranking out advice post after advice post in hopes of eventually taking all your money for one product or another.

Here’s to forging a new path in blogging. One that we can enjoy and be proud of. One that hopefully helps you find comfort in any similar feelings you might have been trying to understand.