Welcome to my blogoversary celebration! For the next ELEVEN days, I’ll be sharing guest posts with a huge giveaway on the last day after a post shared by me. Keep track of all the posts in order to enter the huge giveaway at the end!
We have Christine from Oh, Chrys today with a post about how blogging has changed her!
I am a constant person in regards to personality. In fact, many old friends admire that the only thing that has changed about me are my waistline and other physical features. When people find a new passion though, it can be the very outlet that helps them discover new traits about themselves and hone those that induce positive progression. Blogging has not changed me in any dramatic way, but what it has done for me is nothing to dismiss. Below are four ways were I can say Oh, Chrys! and blogging have had a role in my subtle transformation:
Social Media Appreciation and Virtual Friendships:
Before Oh, Chrys! I never cared for social media. I always thought it was a breeding ground for narcissism (which it still is), extravagated lifestyles, and ads.I owned a Facebook solely to laugh at the aforementioned and to contact distant relatives. That negative view, though still existing to a degree, has been replaced with more positivity. Now I am happy that I have a medium for socializing with other bloggers, some like Octavia, Shelly, and Cee who I can rightly call buddies. While I do prefer face-to-face
interaction any day as an extrovert, if it was not for blogging I would not discover the thrill that comes with interacting with book enthusiasts across the globe. I used to be wary of internet friendships, but now I am less skeptical about it.
More Responsibility and Intellectual Exercise:
When I started blogging in August 2012, I was working at my grandmother’s stationery store in Belize. I was behind a computer all day, and I freely used the internet all day. It felt great knowing that I had a blog to keep updated and ARCs to review promptly. This sense of responsibility was needed, especially since I had just graduated community college and had no other intellectual responsibilities. This was a needed change at the time. Presently, I have much responsibility from work, so my blog has been on the
back-burner, but it still gives me an outlet to write, to discuss, and to analyze while I am out of college. Basically, it is allowing my brain to keep busy until I start school.
A Hobby I Really Love:
I discovered blogging via various giveaways. I would visit book blogs and give no attention to what theywere all about. I never would have known that satisfaction of book blogging had I not been very bored one summer day. It obviously was a compulsive decision. Little did I know that this hobby would be so comfortable and enriching! I have been interested in photography before, but book blogging allowed me to expand my love for reading – and to a greater, appreciative audience. Now I have something that I can think of everyday that makes me happy! I do not get update regularly now, but the sense of having something to do in my free time provides more than enough solace.
First World Exposure (US):
For most of my life, I lived in Belize, Central America. Belize is a third-world country. The healthcare system is practically primitive, and literacy is at a low even though it is the only Central American country with English as its official language. I was born and raised in California, but that was long ago. Through blogging, especially social media, I learnt of many things that were not offered in Belize. I am now back in the US again, but blogging exposed to me to various things like SnapPea Crisps, Steak &
Shake, and Blogiates. It helped alleviate any form of culture shock that I could have had on my return even if what I learnt was trivial. This was a very technical change, but I find it worth mentioning because
my migration is perhaps one of my hugest milestones as of late.
So really, blogging does have the power to change your life whether it is subtle or blatant. I am grateful to be a book blogger, and I could not imagine a life without having this experience. I know I will not blog for the rest of my years, but this will be a period of my life that I will never regret. I am pretty sure Shelly can agree with this sentiment as she celebrates one year of blogging, and for this accomplishment I congratulate her! I wish you many more, Shelly!
I can definitely agree, Christine! Book blogging is definitely something that I love and THANK YOU so much! Christine’s blog was actually one of the first blogs that I loved when I started blogging and I never imagined that in a year, she’d be writing a guest post for me wishing me many more celebration! That’s life, eh?
Stay tuned for more guest posts tomorrow!
