Friday, June 3, 2011

Feeling Insignificant

I should never, ever read other blog stats.
Never.
Ever.

Up until today I was content
and happy with my little tiny 
home in cyberspace.

All of a sudden after doing some research
I find myself feeling boring and 
insignificant with nothing of import to share.

That is just wrong.
I did not start blogging to become
famous or wealthy.
I blog to share.
I blog to meet others who encourage 
and inspire those who read their pages
to live their lives authentically.
Does this ever happen to you?
Do you have to reevaluate the reasons you blog?
Do comparisons get you down?

I realize that if I were willing to spend all 
day visiting and commenting, posing and taking 
photographs, and sharing gut wrenching details 
of our lives that may or may not be true
I could have an enormous following.

However, I think I will just 
stay true to who I am.
Give what I can to 
this itty bitty blog
and be
content.

Now....in good faith
I am skipping the next hour of 
blog time and am off to do some dishes,
run the sweeper and start some laundry.

I'll be by to visit
bloggy friends a bit later.
I am so thankful that we have found each other
and look forward to any new readers that will come 
by in the weeks and months to come.

15 comments:

PJ @ Planned in Pencil said...

I compare myself to others in almost every aspect of my life, and I'm almost always lacking... good thing Jesus loves me just the way I am... and you do too or I probably wouldn't even bothering getting out of bed.

I don't think you're insignificant at all, at least not to my life!

Vee said...

Sweetie, you know comparisons are always bad news for everybody. There's always someone who does something better than we do. But you remember this, you are the best Becky K at Hospitality Lane that ever was and I would miss you terribly if you turned into Miss Big Blog at the ranch. ;>

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

I understand how you feel...but I really would not want to deal with the craziness that having a huge blog would bring!

Rebecca said...

We share a name; we share a return to dishes, sweeping and laundry. And in the more recent post, we apparently share a "need" to list the things we need to be about to give ourselves a "boost" now and then!

You're doing just fine. I'm glad to have stumbled over your blog.

Karen said...

A wise saying I've heard many times: "Comparison is the death of contentment". Not so good at following that myself a lot of the time, but thought I'd share it with you anyhow. ;-)

My dear friend Becky-you'll never be boring or insignificant to me!

I don't have the time to visit/comment on everyone's blogs, either (just getting around to my closest friends can be impossible some days) so I'll likely never "grow" my blog. It's a matter of keeping perspective and priorities.

I know you have the right priorities and the payoff of a close, loving family with wonderful relationships, and doing exactly what you feel God calls you to do, far outweighs having a hugely popular blog. (You do remember that you are a hugely popular blogger to many of us, right?)

Love you friend!

Barb said...

Dear Becky, I had to take a moment to comment on this post. As always, you have said it with such clarity and meaning.

Blogging has totally changed in the two plus years since I started. Now, it is ALL about the numbers and the dollars. I have noticed some bloggers joining as many as 18 parties at one time! There is no way they could find the time to visit all those participants. They won't because the commitment level is missing from blogging.

It makes me sad and yes, don't compare. God tells us not to because He knows how much it will hurt us.

I have always loved your blog.

Blessings,
Barb

Gayla said...

I hear you... But we both know comparisons are not the way we should live... By comparison on every level, neither of us would change lives, homes, families, beliefs... ANYTHING with another... I would, however, change my figure~ haha.. Hugs.. I love you.

Simple Home said...

I didn't realize you could check the stats of other blogs. I guess in a way it's helpful to be a bit computer illiterate :-)
I think you're wonderful, btw :-)
Blessings,
Marcia

Unknown said...

Hello,you have an amazing blogspace!. I am just starting out and hope I can be as half as good as this! Best wishes from Australia.

Chicken Wrangler said...

There are very few who would win a popularity contest in Blog Land - even if you have 100 followers, that does not mean they hover over your every word every single day. I post when I can, and read when I can, and don't necessarily comment on all that I read...But, I'm out here!!!

Brittany Ann said...

I know just how you feel. I compare myself to others and doubt post after post. Just know I love your blog, and even when I'm not commenting, I'm always reading.

Elena said...

I enjoy your blog!! I am with you, when I first started blogging I kind of compared my blog with others and it just wasn't worth it. Now, I just enjoy sharing our life and whatever comments I get, I enjoy, it doesn't matter how many I get, I just enjoy blogging and reading other peoples blogs and hear about their lives!

Anonymous said...

Oh my. *sigh*
I have 19 followers.
You have 163.
Need I go on?
Let's not compare. I'll just come and enjoy your lovely blog, and you can come see me at my little one down the cyber-road. :-) Deal?
We just need to be faithful with what we have...

Anonymous said...

I don't believe my blog statistics are anything to shout about either. I DO have to keep reminding myself why I started blogging. I started blogging, as a convenient way to share the goings-on (via words and pictures) in my husband and my lives with family and friends with whom I had been emailing. I sometimes worry that I am not keeping up in reading posts of bloggers who follow me. When the worries begin is when I have to remind myself why I started to blog in the first place. I do like the new friends, including YOU (!) that blogging opened up to me. It is difficult, though, sometimes to keep up on blogging, commenting and all the other things going on in life!

Diane Shiffer said...

Becky, I know this is an older post, but I just wanted to take the time to comment... and say, oh my goodness, I completely understand how you feel. It is so easy to get discouraged with blogging, as there are so many folks out there with huge followings, all kinds of advertisements (and honestly, their content isn't really much different or better than yours or mine!) A couple of months ago I was toying with the idea of really pouring myself into making a business out of my blog... you know with all of the promoting and blog-frogging and all that sorts of nonsense. I got in touch with one of my friends who is one of the bigger names in the Christian online community and asked her what her honest opinion was. She was very frank with me, and said that most of these gals who have "big" blogs are basically spending as much time blogging as they would if they had a fulltime job. It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, and most of these gals are really making minimal amounts of money anyway. Her advice was to focus most of my attention on "real life" and have fun with the blog. If it stops being fun then stop doing it, lol. As you know I have recently cut way back on my blogging... and I've found that I really miss it. A lot! And oddly enough, right after cutting way back, I was contacted by BlogHer with an offer to pick up my blog. I'm not sure exactly what I am going to do... remain an infrequent blogger or jump back into blogging? Join up with BlogHer or not? One thing that I do know for sure is that I am not going to sweat my stats and I'm not going to be doing all kinds of stunts and so on solely to increase my readership (at least with God's help, I'm not going to do those things, lol;-})

I think your blog is lovely and warm, just like you and I wouldn't change a single thing about it♥