I’m allowed to call you that, right? It’s with love, I promise! I’ve been so aggressive lately, I’m not sure what has come over me.
I arrived home last night to the wonderful surprise that I had been nominated for this new award that I’ve never heard of by one of my new followers: Laura, from All The Shoes I Wear. It was extremely sweet of her, and if you haven’t seen her blog yet, go and dig around for a bit!
Now, as most of my regular followers will know, I’m a rule breaker. When I get nominated for things, I always answer all the questions and make my own (because I’m totally nosy and want to know all about your lives) but I tend to not do any of the other rules.
And, ya know what? That’s exactly what I’m going to do today! HAHA, I hope Laura doesn’t mind!
If you want to see the actual rules, check out the link above because it takes you right to her post about it. And she even made a new badge/logo for this award which is really pretty.
Anyways, so the award basically just asks you to explain how you feel about solidarity blogging. Which is an interesting concept – to explain what you think/feel about the award.
So here’s my two cents (but since I’m in Canada, I’ll have to round up to 5 since we don’t have pennies anymore and I’m not going to round down to zero because that would just be more shenanigans than I’m prepared to deal with this early in the morning):
I think blogging in its essence is all about connecting with other human beings. It doesn’t really matter if you have a blog with 3 followers, or one with 300,000 – if you’re not connecting with them, then it’s not really a blog, is it? It’s just your online journal. I think that distinction is key.
I am amazed at how many people follow my blog. It shocks me that they want to read my silly things every day. But I’m glad they do. I’m even more grateful for the small handful of them who interact with me in the comments. It’s those people who make blogging worthwhile for me. They have become my friends even though we have never met in real life. We share victories and defeats together – offering words of comfort, encouragement, funny jokes, support, etc.
These are all things that really bring the word “solidarity” to life for me. It’s the people who, even though we have never seen each other in real life, have formed this bond over our creative outlet. Bloggers are a weird group I think because non-bloggers don’t really understand the connections we form. Most of the blogs I read share their personal stories in an open and vulnerable way, hoping that those reading are going to be supportive. It’s a community of like-minded souls who have banded together. It’s a (mostly) safe place to share our private thoughts and musings.
As Laura quoted in her own post, it’s a family. It really does feel that way. I know that without the people I mentioned above, I would have given up blogging a long time ago. It’s the interaction with other people, the sharing of ideas and lives, that keeps this blog going.
I’m not sure if that really answers the question for the award, but that’s just what is going to be here.
Instead of nominating people (because I hate that with a passion), I’m just going to leave my comments open to anyone reading – what do you think about solidarity in blogging? Do you view your blogging experience of one filled with it? Devoid of it? Any other thoughts to share? Lemme know below, or make your own post! You can always go to Laura’s page and get the official rules and do it up right.
I agree with the idea of it being a community and of that sense of community generating the commitment to keep going and oddly, to keep going into the personal where you might not in interpersonal, every day interactions. I only started blogging around November but there is definitely the feeling that the blogosphere is a safe space where to share with others and generally, usually, spread a bit of positivity and encouragement. At least that’s been my experience!! Congratulations 🙂
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I’ve only had a few bad-ish experiences, and even then my community banded around and kind of squashed the people responsible for the comments or posts that were the cause of it. It really is such a supportive group of people!
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Blogging is so much about connection. I started my blog about a year ago. Since then I’ve met the best people in the world and I’m sure you have too.
I see it as the worlds greatest neighborhood. We are the cool kids on bikes, having a blast on a summer day and summer never ends.
Here’s to a great year and many more friends to follow.
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I definitely have met some amazing people! And I’m sure I will continue to in the future 😊
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Congratulations on your nomination.
You are right when you say blogging is a community. Admittedly, though, I fail to interact as much as I know I need to so I am very surprised my blog has the amount of followers it does.
Anyway, I plan to change how often I interact this year and am excited to see how that goes.
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I’ve found myself slipping in the participation side of things lately too. But it is something I’ve been trying to improve! Hopefully once I get back into my regular routine next week I can put more of an effort into it lol
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Congrats on the award!
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Thanks, Rob!
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Solidarity! I like how we each enter the blogging world like lost puppies who don’t know where to sit in the lunch room, and then we latch on to a group and become really protective of it in a “Don’t mess with ma crew” sorta way. And then we branch out to rival crews but realize they’re friendly and then everyone sits with every and enjoys lunch together. The End.
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I’ll share my brownies if you share your sandwich! Lol
Ps: I love how you ended this with “the end”. Perfection, Paul!
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My grade 1 teacher put on my report card that I shouldn’t share my food with others, so…. (this is a true story)
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Well what if they had allergies?! You were saving them from a horrible trip to the hospital! Your teacher probably meant it in a good way. You’re so nice, Paul. Always looking out for others lol
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Oh it was definitely a negative haha my mom had them change it. The next year, the teacher put that I socialize too much which I didn’t understand either.
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Haha! Teachers are weird! And school is such an outdated paradigm that doesn’t actually work for 95% of students and teachers (says the OCT certificed teacher…)
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Wait… Canada doesn’t do pennies anymore? One more reason to consider moving there. Pennies are so pointless. Slightly unrelated… Why do we say, “Penny for your thoughts,” but when someone gives an opinion, they’re giving their two cents?
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Lol yeah we got rid of them about 5ish years ago? Everything is rounded now if you are paying in cash. But if you pay with cards it’s still the same as it always was. Everyone thought it was going to be sooooo difficult to switch but it was really easy.
And I’m not sure why it’s a penny for your thoughts but you give your two cents….maybe it’s cos you think your ideas are worth more than other people think they are worth?
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Okay so I already knew about the no pennies in Canada thing because Paul and I had a LONG discussion about it and I asked A LOT of stupid questions. I still think it’s super weird.
Congrats on your nomination! Is it cool if I make my own post about this? I’ll obviously link back to yours 🙂
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Haha it does seem a little weird but it’s really not once you get into the swing of things.
And yes!! Totally do your own post!
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I really like you definition of it and agree 100% with you. Blogging is not the same without the connection and community. It’s really what I miss the most since putting my blog private…
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I know your reasons for putting it private, but do you ever think you’ll make it public again?
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I would love to. I tried before Christmas but it only took the stalker a few days before finding out… As far as I know (which is not much since she’s gone private too), she has not posted anything online about it or me. I guess I’ll have to either keep it private or learn to deal with the possibility that she might be reading what I write and be okay with that.
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Yeah, always best to take the safer option. I really hope she stops her need to be involved in your life. It can’t be healthy for her and it’s definitely not good for you.
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I’ll probably stick with the safer option for now, but I’m hoping she’ll get over it all very soon. Thanks for your support!
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😊 anytime!!
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Solidarity is a big thing for me. I love the people I have met through blogging. What I love most though is being able to talk to one another and letting each other know if something is wrong – like an image not loading or a broken link! Plus I love being able to celebrate the small things with people as well.
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I love the people I’ve met too! 🥰 you included! Hehe
And yes the support is a major bonus to blogging. Helping each other out and lifting each other up
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Congrats
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