Have you wondered where I’ve been? Well, I’ve been hiding from the internet. Weeks have passed by since the last time I wrote. I admit that I was struggling with my inner self, not feeling much motivation to write.
When I first started this blog, I felt excited because I wanted to inspire others through writing. In the beginning, many friends encouraged me that kept me going, but then, I didn’t hear from anyone. At the same time, I can see how many people visit this blog through the statistic function of my website and my Facebook page. Since the time I started my blog, my numbers dropped, which felt discouraging and disheartening. Immediately, I thought about what kind of articles I could write to interest my audience. Even with new posts, the numbers never rose back to as high as when I began. These figures stared me in the face and telling me that I am a failure. Slowly, it crushed my spirit and my heart cracked into a million little pieces.
This made me think of a bunch of questions. What do I have to write about to engage my readers? What do they want to read about? How do I get my numbers up again? Am I really boring? Is what I’m writing about not useful? Why did I ever commit to blogging in the first place? All these questions circled my head to a point where I decided to take a break from blogging and those ugly numbers magically went away.
During my time away, I thought back to my Shine Brightly project. My January challenge was to start a blog for the goal of inspiring people to shine brightly. I accomplished starting the blog, but sustaining it and encouraging others are still questionable.
I admit that I wasn’t shining brightly, but fading dimly in the distance. How could I encourage others when I was struggling with this myself? Wait…wasn’t my goal to get lots of visitors or likes on Facebook?
That’s when it hit me that I wasn’t keeping my eyes on my goal of inspiring people to shine brightly, but rather I focused on the numbers. I realized that I had to keep my eyes on the prize to write for the sake of encouraging others, not on how many people visits my blog. If I made a difference in just one person’s life, that’s enough for me to keep writing.
I appreciate those who have been reading and encouraging me to continue writing. Also, I’m thankful for those who shared with me their Shine Brightly project and I hope you continue to press on toward your goals.
8 Comments
Thanks for your transparency, Angie.
I appreciate your support. It took me a long time to click the publish button, but I’m glad I finally had courage to do so.
Go, Angie! You just gotta keep going! I think sometimes you gotta write for you or write things that interest you and just invite folks along for the ride!
That’s so true! Great advice. Thanks for joining me on the ride! 🙂
Hey Angie, you got a blog started. That’s pretty amazing already, honestly. There are a lot of reasons why your numbers may not be what you want them to be, but none of them are because you as a person are a failure. Every disappointment is another opportunity to change and improve.
Thanks for the encouragement. I like that quote about every disappointment is another opportunity to change and improve. Is that quoted by someone?
I can get discouraged also. But you are so right, God can use you and I to make a difference in one or many lives! I really like your Shine Brightly project☀️🌻
Thanks! When I came up with the number making a difference for one life, I thought of the verse in Matthew 18:20 that says, “Where 2 or 3 gather in my name, there I am with them.” I’m glad you like the Shine Brightly project. Stay tuned for part 2 of the Shine Brightly project. It will help you to evaluate what you’ve done and look forward.