Taking It In (And What to Take Out)

Hello! I’m Quincy from Barn to Charm and my friend Ashley is so kind - she allowed me to guest post for her! When I’m not writing for whatever blog I’m writing for (which I usually am), I enjoy driving with the windows down and going through the filters on Instagram.

What I wanted to talk to you today is about everything we take in as bloggers. I have to wonder if we sometimes take in too much. The Internet is a vast place with so much available to us and that’s wonderful - but is all of it truly necessary?

As bloggers, we sometimes have a great advantage over other people. Due to our “must know everything” habits (i.e. following an obnoxious amount of people on Twitter and subscribing to several email lists out of fear we’ll miss something), we are always on the inside. 

This can be an awesome thing, for instance, in regard to the Boston Marathon bombing. I distinctly remember driving out of Boston during the tragedy, refreshing my Twitter feed every minute until I could get home. Three hours later when I was finally seated on my couch in front of the television, there was nothing the news anchors said that I didn't already know.

Sometimes, though, it isn't so awesome. With as much access to information as we have, it’s not very hard to be stuck in a Mean Girls-esque attitude. You know the one:

“The College Prepster bought white jeans and Warby Parkers, so I bought white jeans and Warby Parkers.”

I found myself in that very attitude just a couple days ago. Lilly Pulitzer was having yet another sale on Rue La La, and I was convinced that I just had to buy a few things or I would forever regret it. All my fellow blogger friends were buying, right? I wanted to have something to post about as well.

That’s when I realized it all had to stop.

I had to stop wanting more simply because I could. Each blogger has something unique about them: a lifestyle they want to share. It’s a wonderful way to connect and learn about each other. It gets out of hand, though, when we start to compete with each other for who can have more followers or who can pull off a trendier item.

It’s an underlying, not very talked about theme in blogging and for good reason, too. We’re getting along just fine! But maybe that’s the point of all this: We’re getting along just fine without all the extra details and stuff.

I didn't really need to shop the Lilly sale on Rue La La. My white jeans from American Eagle don’t need to be replaced by Carly’s J. Crew ones. But I want it all because someone else out there I've never even met does! That’s just crazy, isn't it?

We started blogging to share our lives with others and appreciate/connect with one another. Before we were promoting brands or hosting giveaways, we were just people who liked writing and people.

I would encourage you to take a look at your blog: What are you posting about the most? Does any of it inspire competition or greed? Consider your readers: The people who hang on to every word you say and have supported you since the beginning. Connect with them! Ask questions.

The most rewarding part of blogging for me is being able to meet people I would have never been able to otherwise. What about you?