A year ago today, I published my first post on Humidity is the Enemy. A year ago today, I put my doubts and fears aside and finally began a platform I’ve wanted to create for several years. It has definitely been an interesting year filled with lots of learning, realizations and growth. I’ve read that the first year of blogging is hard so I am more than ready to start the next chapter but nonetheless, I am proud of where I am today as a blogger.
I’d be lying if I said blogging is easy. It is truly a lot of work and probably more work than I realized initially! I manage my blog, my content and all of my social media alone. I give myself and all of the bloggers out there a ton of credit for all we do. Shooting looks in 20 degree weather is not fun at all, but we do it because we love it!
While I do love blogging, it is time consuming and at times both difficult and frustrating. However, I never considered giving up. All of the obstacles I came across only encouraged me to work harder. Blogging is a very competitive business and to survive in it, you have to take it seriously. However, at one point I let myself take it too seriously.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the first year is to not overwork myself. In the first few months, I was burning myself out by shooting looks every single weekend and posting twice a week. (Looking back now, I was out of my mind!) It was not sustainable considering I work full time and all I was doing was working and blogging. My social life was becoming obsolete. I was putting too much pressure on myself to be great too fast. I allowed my blog to consume my life so early on and I knew I had to take a step back to reevaluate.
I started this year by purchasing a planner to help organize and manage my blog better. I started plugging in more me time so I could learn to find a balance between blogging, working and my personal life. I reconnected with friends and family. I also made the choice to stop my beauty posts to focus only on my style posts. All of these decisions made a big difference this year so far and I am so glad I made them.
I’m in a much better place now than I was 5 months ago. I have a much better cadence for posting and a good blogging/work/life balance. I also have a better idea for the future of Humidity is the Enemy and what I hope to achieve. There is still so much I need and want to learn and I can only hope for greater things to come in this next year! I want to thank those who have been on this journey with me from the beginning! Thank you for your continued support and motivation. It is appreciated more than you know! And a huge thanks to my mother for taking all of my pictures! 🙂
Tips for new bloggers: Don’t let your blog consume your life! Work at a pace that you can manage and doesn’t overwhelm you. Don’t compare yourself to others. It is important to do your research and see what other bloggers are doing but don’t compare their success to yours. Don’t let yourself get discouraged. Everyone is on a different journey and you just have to be patient! Your time will come. Just stay focused and work hard!