Blogger Appreciation: When the Numbers Don't Matter

About a week ago or so, I was invited by Eli of Marshmellow's Diary to read a particular post -- and so I clicked the link, thinking it was probably going to be a tag post (we all know that I adore tag posts!) but it was, in fact, something even better.

Discussing her last two years blogging, Eli wrote about how grateful she was to the blogging community for always helping her out when she needed something and then listen seven blogs that she particularly wanted to thank -- and when I saw my name and my blog on that list, I was almost moved to tears with happiness.

I'm not normally a teary kinda girl.

I just think that it's such an important thing to do, to appreciate the bloggers around you. There's more of us than there were when I started blogging 18 months ago, and it's very easy to get caught up in numbers and stats. You can sit at the computer screen and look at a blog that's been going for just as long as yours and think, "How? How do they have thousands of followers? What are they doing that I'm not?"

None of it matters.

What matters is why you began writing in the first place.

I started writing a blog because I ate a bowl of pad Thai so disgusting, Gordon Ramsey would've been lost for words. I wanted to tell people about how terrible it was (I never actually did), and then I started thinking about other things I could write about, and my blog evolved from there. Blogging isn't a full time thing for me -- it simply can't be -- and so it needs to evolve at my pace. I edited my layout when I was ready. I began using better cameras once I was ready to move on to them. I'm finally at a place where I can plan blog posts so that they come out consistently, and it's because I'm ready. In the future, I'll start to edit my photos too -- but I'm not ready... yet.

Eli listed off a number of bloggers who seemed to mean more to her while she was blogging, and I'm going to do the same here. These are the blogs that always brighten my day. I get excited when I see a new post on Bloglovin' because... Well, to put it simply: they inspire me to keep at it and be a better blogger:

1. Danielle | Confessions of a Beauty School Dropout
2. Emma | Peace Love Vintage
3. Sarah | More Than Adored
4. Jess | Pretty Chit Chat
5. Iqra | The Blushing Giraffe
6. Astrid | Makeup by Astrid Lam

I hope that you all have a really good weekend, and don't forget to show someone some love and appreciation -- people feel it more than you might think!

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