The Truth About Blogging That No One Talks About

Competition, competition, competition…

A word that, even if we don’t mention it in our daily lives, we experience it in every interaction. I can, of course, speak from a Western perspective. This is the society I grew up in, the one that exposed me to all the stimuli it generates. No matter how much I try to avoid being influenced by it, it seems to creep into my life. Below, I’ll explain how this happened and how I tried to deal with it. I would genuinely love to hear your thoughts as well, your insights could help me see the nature of competition even more clearly.

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It’s been almost a year since we started blogging. I can honestly say that it’s the most beautiful and therapeutic hobby I’ve ever had. Over time, I’ve been thinking more and more about the interaction between us and our readers. So, I started looking for platforms specifically designed for blogging. Two of them, which I recommend checking out if you’re interested, are Substack and Medium.

Setting up an account there, excited to share the beautiful effort Mary and I have been working on with others, I stumbled upon a massive database. I came across thousands of other people who, besides blogging, use creative and inventive ways to promote either their blogs or themselves. The goal, in every case, is to attract readers and followers.

But for me, this process distorts both authenticity and creativity. What happened was that I started constantly thinking of ways to create something "cool," something original, something trending, so people would click, send messages, and make me stand out. And in the process, all authenticity was lost. I’m not trying to criticize those who use social media in this way.

However, blogging as it originally started in the mid-1990s, with platforms like Blogger, LiveJournal, and WordPress, was different. Back then, people wrote about a wide range of topics (daily life, relationships, politics, philosophy, the internet, etc.),  just like today, but with one key difference. There were forums, of course, which you could say were similar to today’s social media where people promoted their work. But even then, there were significant differences.

Blogging is personal. It's creative. Back then, you had to actively search, invest time and effort to find blogs you liked. You had to read the content. And the most beautiful part? If you liked something, you’d share it on your own blog so that if I visited, I could discover the work of other people through you. All of this required an investment of time and genuine interest. It wasn’t just about catchy topics. It wasn’t something you could find instantly on an app, pre-packaged and easy. It wasn’t about competing to see who could get more followers.

Maybe my romantic view of blogging will prevent us from building a large follower base. But you know what? 

Quality comes first in our lives. And the story or comment from a person who took the time to search, read, and choose to engage with our work means more to us than anything else.

That’s why we are truly grateful to every one of you who takes a few minutes of your life to visit our blog. Let’s not allow competition to ruin yet another beautiful and creative process. If we set competition aside, what will surface instead are creativity, authenticity, peace, and beauty. And that’s why we’re here. ❤️