15 Aug An Appeal to Bloggers: Feel the Fear and Write it Anyway
If there’s one thing I dislike about the blogosphere, it’s the posturing that goes on within certain communities. It seems as though we (bloggers) have lost the ability to be authentic and to write about real human emotion and with genuine depth. Or more likely, we haven’t lost the ability to do so, we’re too scared to do so. And to be quite frank, it sucks.
There are some highly respected and knowledgeable bloggers out there who write truly helpful and extremely insightful stuff but who I simply cannot bring myself to read due to their pretentious and hollow nature. These guys are successful by many metrics – subscribers, comments, social shares, peers, referrals – and all power to them. But, for me at least, the bravado and the affectation of perpetual gregariousness, positivity and confidence leaves me feeling cold. Do they never, ever have an off day? Whatever happened to being real and being true to yourself? What are they scared of?
The True Nature of Blogging
For me, this isn’t really blogging. Blogging is offering something more of yourself than simply what you know. It’s letting your readers into your head and your heart, opening yourself up to all of your foibles, quirks and shortcomings. Blogging is overcoming the fear of posting something truly personal; stepping out of your comfort zone to lay yourself bare; being scared about looking unprofessional, being judged as an attention-seeker or as being after the sympathy vote…and then hitting the ‘publish’ button anyway.
Very few bloggers are brave enough or willing enough to do this, and yet three of the very best posts I’ve read in the last couple of weeks do exactly this. Whether it’s the extreme stress experienced by being overrun with work demands, admitting poor past behaviour and addressing the need to work on channelling anger and disappointment, or whether it’s the strain of balancing looking after four kids and earning a living, these posts depict human emotions at their rawest. They demonstrate humility, fallibility and sincerity. In short, they’re human. And I take my hat off to each of the bloggers in question. I admire them for being brave enough to write these posts and for putting themselves out there, even though I know that they all felt uncomfortable about doing so.
“We are not thinking machines that feel; rather we are feeling machines that think” – Antonio Damasio
The key learning I’d like to convey from this post, especially to new or corporate bloggers, is that knowledge is nothing without emotion. Blog with passion about your subject and give your readers an insight into who you are as a person. Impart how you feel about your topic or your story, not just what you think about it. People want to be made to feel something…anything! You have the power and the opportunity to do that. Don’t waste it. I’d rather read one post written with genuine emotion than ten filled with knowledge.
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