Reading, not Writing

I love reading. So when it comes to blog posts or social media, my stance has always been to read more than I write. In fact, I read other people’s work even more because I feel why anyone would read my work, if I wasn’t reading theirs. Reading other people’s work is not only enjoyable but also the decent thing to do. 

Unfortunately, sometimes reading too much can be distracting. 

Sometimes, we get so consumed with what other people are saying that we tend to lose our voice. We start to adopt the persona of those that we follow on the internet. If we see a popular writer our instinct is to hang on every word they say and then without thinking we start imitating them. 

Other times we lose our motivation. 

We tend to follow the most popular people online. We look at the popularity that some people have gained and think to ourselves, that could be me. But, when you don’t get there overnight or fast enough, you tend to lose your drive. We start to think that we’re just not cut out for this. Harsh as this may sound, we may be consumed with an envy that makes us feel insignificant. 

But the truth is, we are in very different places in our journey. Maybe we are just starting out. Maybe we have a different life, job and responsibilities. Or maybe, we’re just following the wrong people. The truth is, we won’t know until we’ve tried and reached the same point in the journey. 

So, sometimes it’s not a bad idea to just take a break from reading social media and blog posts and focus on yourself. Hit publish and don’t look back.