“Why did you think about starting a travel blog?” This is one of the most common questions I get. And in an effort to open up more to all of you, I thought it would be fun to share some of my blog backstory and inspire you to take a chance and achieve a dream you can’t get off your mind!
Reason 1: I needed a hobby
In college, I felt like there were so many things that made me who I was, aka things that built by identity. I was a Golden Gopher, I majored in Marketing, and I was part of multiple organizations and clubs. After college, I quickly started to notice that I had lost a lot of the identity I felt I had before.
When I started working at my corporate gig, people would always ask me: “What are your hobbies?” Or I would get the dreaded icebreaker question: “Tell us a fun fact about yourself!” Ugh. I found myself struggling to come up with anything that I was proud to share, because all I seemed to do in my spare time was hang out with friends or watch Netflix.
Even though we all need that Netflix binge every once and a while, I started thinking about all the time I spent on the couch and how that time could be used creating something, bettering myself, or doing something I love.
Reason 2: I needed a creative outlet
While I love my job, I felt I needed to learn other skills other than the skills I was building at work everyday. Specifically, I felt the need to be more creative, wanted to indulge my love for writing, and wanted to learn more digital skills.
What I found is that everything I’ve learned so far through starting a travel blog has helped me get ahead at work and vice versa. Building a website and marketing myself has helped me learn new ideas to take back to my marketing role at work. And my public speaking skills I built at work help me with the networking I do for my blog. Win win!
Reason 3: I needed to do something for ME
Finally, I needed to focus on myself. I’m a very driven person who wants to stay busy and be proud of the life I’ve built. Because I wasn’t feeling this way last year, I started working with a life coach to talk through what I wanted in life. I never thought I would need a life coach, but this was probably the best thing I ever did. She asked me hard questions that I didn’t want to face and made me say things out loud that I was too shy to tell anyone else.
Along with challenging me, she pushed me to reach out and grab my dreams. I always thought about starting a travel blog because I love storytelling and am always the go-to for recommendations whenever a friend is traveling somewhere new. That, and I love to explore places near and far and inspiring others to do the same.
Even though I thought about this all the time, I had a million excuses as to why I shouldn’t do it. The market was too saturated, I didn’t know how to build a website, and I didn’t think people would want to read what I had to say. Instead of focusing on this, she helped me figure out how my point of view is different and encouraged me to articulate why it is valued.
Where I am today
Everyone has a story to tell, so here is mine. I’m still learning every day and am slowly figuring out this whole blogging world. I hope this blog gives you the inspiration to book that trip or explore your small town. And now, when someone asks me what I do for fun, they can’t shut me up.
If you’re in the same boat I was a year ago, I would do yourself a big favor and set up a consultation with Kelsey from Everme Coaching. You deserve to live a life you love and to start NOW! It’s never too late. (I promise, Kelsey didn’t pay me to say any of this!)
If you made it this far, thanks for supporting me in my hobby. If you ever want to chat, shoot me an email!
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