It’s so easy to make a blog. You simply choose a hosting site, create an account, and then poof! Congratulations, you are now a blogger! From there, you begin to share your thoughts online, link with other people in the blogosphere, earn readers and followers, and if lucky enough, connect with brands for ambassadorship. No sooner, you’ll be invited for media conferences, product launch, sponsored trips, and other collaborations.
But blogging is no ‘happily-ever-after’ story. Behind the instagrammable posts, creatively-woven stories, duly-curated content, and seemingly perfect lives of bloggers are unfathomable loads of work and stress that aren’t shown on their “My Days”. They won’t talk about how they squeeze their brain juices just to come up with trending posts; how they endure juggling the demands of work, family, and matters that need urgent attention; how they struggle to keep burning the passion of expressing themselves despite the fear of being judged, scrutinized, hated, or for a more millennial term, bashed.
Struggles of Blogging
This year is yet the most challenging for my blog, Dakilanglaagan. On the early months of 2019, the blog was subjected to a number of allegations and negative comments among the members of local outdoor community after I posted some reflective thoughts about Lake Bensis. Not only did it rage war on opposing sides, it also stained some friendships along the way. The issue might have died weeks later, but I guess the emotional damage could no longer be fixed. Up to this day, those hurtful words still linger from time to time. No one told me that blogging could be this harsh.
In the middle of this year, I bid goodbye to great travel companions who have decided to leave the city to pursue other paths. Truly, making friends is quick and easy, but keeping them for life is the real work. Sooner or later, whether we like it or not, we have to disband the group and follow trails that would lead to the summit of our individual lives. No one told me, that blogging could be this sad.
Nonetheless, blogging opened tons of writing opportunities for this year. As of this writing, I’m juggling part-time jobs involving content creation, storytelling, and virtual assistance work. It was interesting at first, but later as the workload began piling up, it was difficult not to feel exhausted. There I learned that blogging requires tough love. That when you love something, you have to pour all your soul, your time, and effort to make it work. You have to be patient and consistent – no buts, no ifs. No one told me that blogging could be this difficult.
And just two months ago, after years of hesitation, I finally decided to own my domain. After spending some cash on it, I am now pushed to take blogging seriously. Hence the sudden interest in coding, social media trends, and traffic analysis. Still can’t figure things out though. Send help. HAHA. Reading other people’s work made me realize that there is so much that needs to be done here. That my task as a blogger does not end after writing, re-writing, proofreading, and publishing a blog. There is so much more to do. Because no matter how relevant and well-crafted the content, fact is, this won’t reach the designated audience unless you actively promote it. And I always feel sad when I read great posts that don’t reach mainstream media like Maria’s satirical literary pieces and Lagataw’s revolutionary posts because people opt to read more fascinating ‘facts’ and pressing issues on show business. No one told me that blogging could be this commercialized.
The Other Face of Blogging
However, despite these ugly truths on blogging, I believe that there is so much more reason to keep writing, to keep sharing our thoughts, to continue creating quality content. This is the reason why I’m glad that there is an award-giving body in Cebu that yearly recognizes the existence and relevance of blogs and bloggers in Cebu’s growing blogosphere – the Best Cebu Blogs Awards (BCBA). Somehow, this gives a validation of the work done by people who followed their hearts and decided to keep writing despite and in spite of.
It was really quite a surprise to have been congratulated by a newfound friend in the blogging society, Shelly of Shellwanders weeks ago for I have been shortlisted as one of the finalist for Best Cebu Blogs Awards 2019 under Best Cebu Photo Blog Category. Who would have thought that I’d be nominated for those random snaps taken during travels and hikes? Who would have thought that mobile photography can reach this kind of exemplary achievement? No one told me blogging could be this surprising.
SEE MORE HERE: Maximizing your Mobile Phone for Travel Photography
Truth be told, making a blog is easy but blogging is not. Sometimes, it would require long days of hard work and slow gains. Sometimes, it is harsh, sad, difficult, and commercialized. But ultimately, we follow what fills our soul, what makes our hearts pound like crazy – and we go all through the troubles of blogging simply because this is what makes us happy, because wild hearts cannot be tamed.
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Dakilanglaagan 