Today we need to address something... Call it a feeling, call it an insecurity, call it #thestruggle...
One thing we can all agree on is this:
I wrote a post about the awkward conversations I've had with "real life" friends and family earlier this summer here, but today, I feel the need to elaborate on that even more.
Yesterday, I met my blog bestie for the first time in real life. It wasn't weird, it wasn't scary, I wasn't nervous, and honestly? I felt as if we've known eachother our entire lives. Why? Because we get one other... And we bond over the fact that the world of blogging is the craziest, most awesome thing ever.
On with the awkwardness here... Obviously, I had to let my parents know where I was headed and what I was doing for the day. I knew it was going to be a conversation with crazed looks and "are you INSANE's?" But I HAD to do it. I wanted to do it. I just didn't want to feel stupid, silly, and absolutely deranged in the process.
"Hey mom! Today I'm meeting up with my friend blog friend Chelsea and we're gonna hang out. I've never met her, but we're basically best friends... So yeah!"
"Excuse me... WHAT?! You mean you've never met her? How did you meet? And how do you know she's not some 40-year-old fat man with a love for Cheetos and teenage girls?"
About 20 billion texts and phone calls later... I was off. Somehow, some way, I'd been able to prove to them that I was 100% sure she wasn't a psycho killer waiting to stalk her next prey... Ahem. Me. And ya know what? I was right!
I didn't know how much my parents really "knew" about this whole blogging thing, but after I got home from hanging out with Chels + little Alea, I actually got to share a lot of it with my parents. For once, I finally felt comfortable talking to them about my #1 hobby and passion. For once, I actually opened up about it. And, despite what I thought they would do/say about it... They were actually incredibly supportive and intrigued.
When I laid down in bed, it hit me. I totally "came out of the closet" about blogging yesterday. I finally faced the initial awkwardness of sharing blog-land with people who don't get it, decided that it was worth working past, and now? I feel a lot more confident and excited about everything I share.
I don't think the awkwardness of explaining blogging to non-bloggers will ever, ever go away, but I'm glad that I took a huge step forward in sharing this passion of mine with two of the people who mean the most to me! After all, what do I have to hide here? This blog has always been a place where I hope to encourage and inspire people to do the things they love with confidence and a smile on their face... No matter what struggles come their way. It seems to me I just listened to my own advice!
28 comments:
I don't know if I could do this! haha. I know some IRL people know about my blog...but it makes me anxious.
As a Mom myself, I am so happy that you shared your blog with your parents. :) You have NOTHING to be ashamed of here and I have a feeling that if your parents read through your posts, they would be nothing but PROUD of their daughter!
I remember when I told my parents that I was meeting up with a blog friend for the first time, they still think that someone is going to kidnap me or rob my house. I keep telling them that most people just know that I live in Washington, and it's a pretty big state with lots of people.
That's so awesome that you got to meet up with Chelsea!!
You go, girl! I've been blogging for a little over 2 years now, & my mom still thinks it's weird! My best friend totally gets it. For the first 6 months or so, I didn't tell anyone, not even my husband. Now we have been some of our best friends through my little blog, even went on vacation with them!
I have met so many bloggers IRL. The blogging community here in Tampa is huge. I agree. It has never been awkward. Now telling John, family, and friends yes that's awkward.
My family was the same way when I met Neely for the first time! I went to stay a weekend with her, and when I got there my mom made me call her so she could hear my voice and know for sure that Neely was Neely. And I was 25!
It's amazing how you can form deep friendships with people you've only met trough blogging. Neely is one of my best friends, and I have quite a few others that I'm incredibly close too, some of those I've never met in person! I had a hard time finally talking about my blog with "real life" people. I waited two years to post my blog on my personal Facebook page! Going to Blissdom for the first time made me so proud to be a part of the blogging community, and now I share my blog with EVERYONE!
Haha, this post is AWESOME!!!! :) I love it! :) It is so fun to meet blog friends, that's the truth! :)
Props to you! I am not quite there yet :)
Good for you! I've always been open with my family and I know they read my blog and I share my goals and you know, blog things with them, so I've never had to come out of the closet so to speak. However, there are still times when I need to IG something or I say oh I have to take photos of this or that and they snicker a little like, "Oh Sarah, and her blog. I guess we have to humor her!" But truthfully some of my best friends I've never met in real life. In fact one of my very best friends I've never met. She commented on my blog one day and since then we've been like inseperable, constantly emailing, tweeting and texting. That's real. I think sometimes our IRL folks don't get it because a friend on the interwebz is not tangible to them the way it is to us.
Clearly this struck a nerve with me. Glad you wrote it and glad you got to meet your buddy!
It's really awkward sharing my life. I guess I don't open up as much as I thought to people I know.. vs people I don't know IRL. But I've made such better friends in the blogging world.
I totally feel the same way about my blog. My blogs linked to some of my social networks like Pinterest, but I don't talk about it with my friends I see in real life. I've had a few find it, and I was super self conscious about it. I have no idea why I find it so weird because I tell them the same stuff that's on my blog.
My friends in real life don't read my blog. I talk about it with them but they just don't get it and they always change the conversation. I haven't shared my blog on my personal Facebook because I just don't feel secure about it, I don't know why. My parents... well, they know I have a blog but they don't read it because they don't speak English. I totally get the situation of having a best friend who you haven't met in real life... Almost a year ago I met Brenna from Life After Laundry. She's a wonderful person and we've become real close. We are always emailing and texting each other. I can't wait to meet her in person one day!! I love this post! Thanks for sharing your experience when you met your bloggy friend :)
LOVE this post!!! Most of my IRL friends and all of my family have no clue that I blog! I love the friends that I have met thru this outlet and I love that I have net a lot of them IRL. I even traveled 12 hours in a car with one and stayed in a hotel with the others!! :)
blogging is so cool and crazy. but so worth it. meeting blogging friends is the best!
I still feel like I haven't "come out of the bloggy closet" with a lot of my close friends. I feel like they won't "get it". You know?!
But I totally understand what you mean about meeting a bloggy friend in real life. I have met a ton of blog friends and it feels like I've known them forever!! P.S. I'm totes jealous I live all the way across the country and couldn't hang out with y'all!
KENZ. I just want to give you a big hug right now. This is exactly what I've been going through since I started blogging 2 years ago! I've only told 4 people about it this whole time -- my parents, my sister, and one of my friends. Out of those people, only my sister has actually read my blog (the rest just know I have one). I am so proud of everything I've done with my blog and it makes me sad sometimes that I have no one to share it with. When I try to explain it to people, they just don't get it.
But on the other hand -- I have SO many wonderful blog friends who do get it that I would love to meet in real life. Unfortunately, none of them live close to me. :( Reading a blog is the best way to get to the know someone, especially with the truly honest, open, kind-hearted bloggers (like you!).
For the first few meet ups I went to I didn't tell me mom but eventually I had to because she was so nosy!! Haha so when I told her she kinda freaked out on me and so now I always call them my serial killer friends to her.
I have not met and blogging friends IRL yet because I cant seem to find many bloggers in my area BUT I know how it feels to keep a "blogger secret". I didn't tell anyone about my blog for a long time, including my boyfriend, because I didn't know how to tell them. Now my immediate family know that I blog but they still crack jokes once in awhile and think it's kind of strange. Blogging is such a huge thing now that I can't believe it is such a weird concept. Great Post!
Justina @ www.justinawho.blogspot.com
So glad you got to meet your blog BFF! My family gets it to a point but it is still funny to try to explain the friendships!
It's interesting to see how many bloggers are "in the closet" so to speak. I'm one of them! Sisters and husband have link. Only husband reads. I have told friends I have a blog. It's such a big part of my life its hard not to say a word, but I refuse to give up the link. I haven't met up with any bloggers but I love hearing the stories of friendship that have formed over blogging.
I totally get ya. I came out of the closet yesterday with my blog and a whole slew of other stuff yesterday as well. Blogging will always be one of those topics that people don't understand unless they blog. But thankfully my mom kinda gets it since she has virtual friends from FB games lol.
Charity
The Word of A Nerd
I TOTALLY get this. And I even wrote a blog post about it awhile back. Only I met some of my best friends via a baby internet bulletin board. If that doesn't sound creepy...well.... lol! Imagine my parent's horror the first time we said we were vacationing with some people I met online. Yeaaahhh. But over time, it got easier to come out of the closet. Its still got its awkward moments. Like each time someone asks, "so how did you guys meet?"
It's weird - I've kind of been open about my blog from the start, but there are times when I totally wish I never told anyone. I get so much support from my family and IRL friends but it's awkward when someone I haven't seen in months stops me to tell me they love my blog, or my aunts will say something, or my mom and aunts' friends will say somehting and I get SO awkward and I kind of mutter a thank you. My parents never really understood it until I started getting a lot of views, and until my name started going around local publications.
WHOA sorry for that essay.
Hahaha, that definitely is always awkward. My boyfriend mentioned to his mom's boyfriend that I enjoyed blogging and he was like, "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT?" And I was secretly thinking: WHY did you bring this up???
I feel like this dates me or makes me feel really old, but the first time I met an online friend was when I was 13. I wasn't blogging quite yet but we found each other through this teen magazine, hit it off, wrote every day for a year, and were best friends and wanted to meet. And so we did! And I'm still alive today, so it worked out!
A lot of people don't get meeting someone from the internet and even as I type this, I feel a little creepy talking about it, haha. But at least it's becoming a bit more common and normal (but it still is super awkward to explain). Glad your meeting went so well!
--Erika
http://www.chimerikal.com
P.S. Thought I should mention: I found your blog through the sponsorship on Mal Smiles, I think? Or some sort of sponsorship! Just in case you're wondering where this random comment came from!
I 100% get this! Sometimes when I talk about my blog friends with my non-virtual friends I wonder if they think I've lost my mind. In a way, the virtual friendships do take away time from the other ones. Once in a while I worry that I'm spreading myself too thin. But like you, I love blogging too much to give it up!
Glad to finally get a chance to poke around your blog. It's really quality!
I'm too new of a blogger to share it with many people so only a select few know about it: my boyfriend obviously, two coworkers who share a desk with me so they've seen me working on it, and two more coworkers who ask what I do all day at my desk during slow times... Guys nonetheless. They both think it's really cool and ask me about it sometimes. Other than that, my boyfriend's parents know since we live with them and they were wondering why I suddenly started wearing something other than yoga pants and had a camera at all times.
Maybe if the blog takes off I'll open up to more people. For now, I like keeping it known to internet strangers :)
Lauren
Exploring My Style
GIVEAWAY!
Love this post so much!! It's so true!
I do share posts on my personal Facebook but half of them I don't think even look at it! Some friends really want to know all about it and others don't care. I'm not got a good secret keeper and when I really love something.. I want to talk about it! So that had been the hardest for me. Some friends that I would love to share with, just don't really get it. And my mom.. Haha love her.. But she still doesn't understand what a blog really is. But she is supportive and knows I'm sharing my talents with others.