Lately it seems like the blogging world is one big competition. Look how perfect my life is! It's so perfect I'm going to take all these pictures of the sun shining down on my perfect hair with my perfect smile with my perfect husband and my perfect child. My outfit was purchased at a thrift store and is made out of old banana fibers. My husband hand carved this toy horse from the tree that we got engaged under while I hand made the paint in my art studio that's located in our renovated barn.
I can't handle these types of blogs. I'm sure a lot of people love them. They must because they have a ton of sponsors. I prefer non perfect blogs. Normal bloggers. I like reading about the ups and downs. I like pictures that aren't photoshopped to death. One of my main criteria for blogs that I read regularly is that the blogger seems real. I like to picture them talking directly to me through the screen. I don't want to read a blog that looks like a magazine.
+ My blog is not perfect.
+ My photos are rarely edited and if they are it's usually because my webcam pictures can be dark and grainy
+ I don't work from home or in a barn where I save horses in my spare time
+ I don't have children to parade before a camera so I use my cats
+ I post the good, the bad, the sad, and the ugly
+ I swear and I admit to crying and hangovers (although much more rare now)
+ I'm currently broke and trying to pay off credit cards
+ I work at a non-glamorous 9-5 job at a law firm
+ I will not be opening an Etsy shop where I sell my refurbished petrified wood picture frames
I'm sure some people will take offense to this and I mean none. I'm just stating the types of blogs I prefer to read. I'm also pointing out how not everyone rolls out of bed with their hair perfect and their homemade applesauce ready to be eaten for breakfast.
Hahaha I am so not a blogger who has it together. I'm neurotic and I regularly torture Boyfriend (http://mayorgia.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-years-resolution-fail.html) and can't afford a cat yet.
ReplyDeleteAw poor boyfriend ha ha
DeleteI love this post. I'm right there with you. Sometimes it's hard to keep blogging when everything is sunshine and rainbows for everyone else - but don't forget that we all have our problems, people just might not choose to write about them!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes also find it hard to keep blogging when I try to be funny, engaging, etc, and get a few comments, when some bloggers can literally write "I like ice cream!" and they get 73 comments on that alone.
That drives me crazy. Really? i like ice cream too! I don't get 100 comments. Probably because I don't take artsy ice cream photos.
DeleteAmen, sister. This is why I follow you.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love your blog by the way.
DeleteI completely agree! Sometimes when I stumble on one of those "catalog-perfect" looking blogs I think "WOW! This blog is super neat and organized and really pretty!" But then I start reading it and 9 times out of 10, it's not for me. I like "real" bloggers, too, which is why I like you!
ReplyDeleteYeah I look at it for two seconds and think how lovely and then x out.
Deletep.s. i like you too!
DeleteI don't have it together AT ALL.
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally agree with you on this entire post. Some bloggers make me feel like I'm really behind with where I should be in life. Oh well. I'm just going to keep bitching and moaning on my blog and reading yours!
I don't think I could stop the bitching and moaning. Thank you!
DeleteAMEN! I love reading the real lives of bloggers..it's much more interesting and a hell ton more funny than perfection.
ReplyDeleteI like funny. Not perfection.
DeleteI completely agree. Blogs like that just strike me as false in some way. Like they are portraying themselves as something that they are not. Or maybe I am just bitter. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteNo you are not bitter, you're awesome.
DeleteWORD. my blog, well, tumblr excuse of a blog, is not pretty enough for Pinterest, and neither is my life. Probably never will be, either.
ReplyDeletePintrest is the worst for this! I can't stop looking at it though.
DeleteI totally agree with you. I love reading about the ups and the downs. I feel like I really know people better that way.
ReplyDeleteMe too, I feel more connected.
DeleteIt has to be a front for there not-so-perfect lives. No one is perfect and perfect people are boring and annoying. Where is the fun in being perfect? Flaws are what makes a person unique and interesting. Being flawed is being attractive in every way, that's the way i see it.
ReplyDeleteFuck perfect.
It is a front, I just wish that once in a while they would let the front down.
DeleteThis made me laugh - gotta love thrifted banana fibres! Totally with you there, though I have to say that sometimes the opposite direction is a bit much for me too: the my life is so horrible because I gained like two pounds and my best friend isn't answering my calls. And then everyone comments with "OH NOES THATS AWFUL FEEL BETTER xx". Blah. If people have ups and downs I have no problem with reading about that - like you said it's real. It's the life is awesome all the time, or the life is always terrible (when from what they're saying it's actually pretty fine) ones that bug me. Sorry for the essay :P
ReplyDeletethose banana fibers are really good for the environment. ha ha.
DeleteThank you for the "essay". I love smart comments.
"My outfit was purchased at a thrift store and is made out of old banana fibers." This made me snort with laughter. Thought you should know!
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, they bug me too. NOBODY IS THAT PERFECT. Show us your messy days! I don't want to feel like I should be taking off my shoes just to read your blog, I want to feel like I can come in and throw myself on the couch.
Like here!
I don't have a couch but you can throw yourself on my non banana fiber bed.
DeleteYES!! Completely agree. Remember when the blogosphere felt like a community? I've met some of my best friends through blogging. There was GOOD CONTENT. People wrote how they felt and were themselves. Now everything does seem like a big, fake competition. Thank you for still keeping it real.
ReplyDeleteYes, It was much more like a community. I always feel like I'm getting the real Liz when I read your blog. Which is why I've been a reader for a few years now. Plus your etsy shop is actually awesome.
DeleteA fucking men sister. That's what I like about you (and the very few others who I actually read regularly without gagging).
ReplyDeleteI usually steer clear of "mommy blogs" for this very reason. I don't care how perfect your husband and your kid are. I don't care that you can afford to buy outfits at stores too fancy for my city's mall and that you post pictures of them taken with your perfect, awesome camera. Suck it.
I fully admit to wearing sweatpants all the time, to having mini panic attacks about where my life is going, and to not knowing what the hell I'm doing half the time. I think that -- deep down -- everyone feels that way, whether they want to pretend they're perfect or not.
This post is super legit, and I like you even more for it.
There are a few "mommy bloggers" I like but there are a lot that drive me crazy. Showcasing their "perfect" family. They can blog about that all they want, I just don't prefer to read it.
DeleteI'm in my late 20s and still have no idea what I'm doing.
Yeah, there are definitely a few that merit reading.. but so many just try to outdo each other on how cute their kids are.
DeleteYou will figure it all out.. and if not, we will all have excellent reading material. :)
Oh, I love, love, love this post and I SO agree with you!!!! I love real blogs too where you sort of get to know the person and read about all aspects of life.
ReplyDeleteYes. This is what I mean.
DeleteAgree 100%! It's bad enough we deal with actual people like this on a day to day basis but to have to deal with it on the internet too?! Noooooooooo!
ReplyDeleteIf I ever appear that I have it all together, it's all a glorious lie. I do sometimes like the food blogs because I can steal the recipes, and the fancy pretty blogs are kind of fun to look at, but mostly... the Internet has given me a crippling inferiority complex. Sigh.
ReplyDelete