Monday, 28 October 2024

A SUPER SCARY PRE-HALLOWEEN REVEAL | INTRODUCING…

“Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer.” 

Marica Wieder

You know, sometimes I actually hate writing titles like that – clickbait I think you’d call it – but I also recognise that it draws in readers rather than putting the announcement topic where you can see it straight away. But then that reminds me of when I first started blogging and someone asked me why I regard the number of readers so highly and celebrate the milestones; it makes me worry that people will think I’m superficial or being ingenuine. Being asked that though, led me to think about it and to develop answers for being asked it again! But my two reasons for caring about the size of my audience are actually also relevant to my thoughts on this title. The first is that the more people who read my blog, the higher the chance that my content helps someone. Then, secondly, the higher the following the more opportunities and experiences you can access or be offered. I don’t want to milk it though… So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to:

So, where did Blogvember come from?

For the last five (I had to double-check this because I actually couldn’t believe it’s been that many; but here are the Round Up/Re-Cap posts for each series: 20192020202120222023!) consecutive years, I’ve created a Blogmas series’ where I’ve published a piece of content every day for the entirety of December! And five years is a long time; so, I almost inevitably – but definitely understandably – found myself considering whether to create a Series this year too. It felt somewhat as though doing another Blogmas was the most obvious and most natural, right call to make; but I actually wasn’t 100% certain or concrete. So, I let myself think about it… 

Now, it’s no secret that my largest female blogging inspiration is Victoria Magrath of inthefrow.com (I actually wrote a blog post titled just that a couple of years ago, but you can still read it here) and that a huge reason for this is her work ethic – which, I’d like to think, we have in common. Victoria seems (because I totally recognise that where you don’t know a person in person(!), you actually therefore only really know what they choose to share online with you) to be one of those people who never rests on her laurels. Like, no matter how great the achievement or how large the milestone is that’s met, she’s always looking to do bigger and better. And I 100% feel that this is something I do myself with I’m NOT Disordered, the content I create for it, and everything else related to my blogging career in general too! 

Whilst I absolutely love this quality in others, feeling that it’s something I embody too means that I have first-hand experience of the downside to it too; and that is that it often means I’m never truly satisfied or 100% content with an achievement or with some sort of cause for celebration. This has the very obvious danger of leading you to feel as though your life and goals are unfulfilled because things never seem quite adequate enough for you to feel confident and comfortable that you can just sit back and really enjoy the achievement, take in the moment, and just soak in the celebration without using it as inspiration and brainstorming material for the next content idea or concept! 

So, having this mindset, thought and ideas process, and work ethic, means that when I found myself not totally settled on the idea of doing Blogmas again this December; instead of taking that as a sign to just not do it, I saw it as fuel and motivation to think of something I could do that would have the very real potential to end up actually being bigger and better than a Blogmas 2024. After calling on that quality to recognise the moment for the opportunity it is/was, the next step to thinking and creating Blogvember was harnessing/utilising my creative skills and abilities!

What does ‘Blogvember’ mean or entail?

So, my first decision/idea was that I decided that rather than post the content through the entirety of December, it will run through November. I made that decision because for pretty much every single Blogmas, I’ve always had in the back of my head that I have to focus on getting the posts done and published on time rather than getting to really enjoy and totally just indulge in doing lots of fun and exciting festive activities. And it definitely isn’t about feeling that Blogmas ruined my Decembers in any way, just that it became a priority at times and in moments when I didn’t necessarily want it to be. So, in deciding to instead, create this content throughout November (and, obviously inspired by ‘Blogmas’) the whole ‘Blogvember’ name was born!

Also, in my thoughts around the timing of the series and being kind of myself in wanting to enjoy the run-up to Christmas and immerse myself in as many festive activities as possible(!), I decided to have Blogvember as daily weekday content. I figured that in addition to enabling me to really engage in Christmassy events and quality time with my Mum and friends, posting only on weekdays means there’ll also still be two days a week spare for any random, more spontaneous or urgent content! And – from Day One – the whole point of I’m NOT Disordered has been the benefits it brings me, my mental health, and my recovery/journey. So, having that knowledge and awareness that there are those two empty days in the week is really helpful for me to be able to keep that in my head and know that if something comes up and I need to write about something and get it out of my head, there’s time and opportunity to do it. Like, just knowing it’s there as an option and available as a coping skill, can be helpful for me 

Once I had decided these elements of Blogvember, I made the next decision to make a start on actually planning and then creating the content for it so that I could have as many Days of content as possible ready in advance. To do this, I had to decide what the theme or topic would be for the Series, and I came to the conclusion of using Blogvember to provide tips, thoughts, and advice on creating festive content. So, I decided to split the four weeks into four different Stages of content creation and then each Day is about a different element of the Stage it is featured in. 

Now, I recognise I do already create content full of advice around blogging and the online content creation industry, but what you may not know is that I’m actually quite awkward and sometimes even reluctant around doing it! This is mostly just because I’m very aware that sometimes, content like that can come across as cocky and arrogant, and make you appear as though you’re just generally full of yourself. So, I just want you to know that I’m totally aware of this, and that my thirst to still create this kind of content is actually primarily motivated by just how much I benefit from blogging and I’m NOT Disordered because it instils the hope that the mental health of others might also be improved by creating content online. I also feel that to have the following I’m NOT Disordered has and the opportunities I’ve had through my blogging, I must be doing something right! And so, I want to use the lessons I’ve learnt throughout my blogging career, to help others succeed in theirs too, especially those Bloggers whose content is helping others.

So, I sincerely hope you enjoy Blogvember, but first – my Halloween post on October 31st!!!
SHARE:
© I'm NOT Disordered
Blog Design by pipdig