As I’ve been approaching to this time of the year, I can’t shake the feeling of nostalgia. It reminds me about my first years of book blogging and what I’ve done and who I become to this day. As I looked back, I wanted to write about what I learned along the journey, let’s walk down this memory lane with me, shall we?
Talking about what you’re passionate about
If you’re looking for a good reason to start a blog, find what subject you’re most hyped and passionate to talk about. I always imagined what would I talk to someone for hours and hours? That’s how books and food come along. Because somewhere in the entire world, someone may also read that same book and eat that same food. Blogging is a platform to share your thoughts to the world.
Discovering myself
I will always be grateful for blogging. Throughout all my posts, hours of design, editing to share my thoughts, I also found myself along the way. I learned a lot about what I like, my limits, what I can tolerate, etc. It builds up the confidence, reminding me the purpose and the value of my goals and ambitions. When you’re ready to share a part of your story to the world, you are not ashamed anymore of your mistakes and vulnerabilities, you have something to offer, the wisdom of experiences.

The Community
Book blogging as well as food blogging taught me that the most loyal communities can be formed online. I will never forget your comments and tremendous support. Even if I’m doing a terrible job at answering them and reciprocating the comments nowadays, know that you guys are always in my heart. You contributed to my life, when no one was around to discuss about books, when no one was reading about my rantings, you guys were there. Miles away maybe, but you were there.
To be honest, I’m at a place of my life right now where I grow so much more offline that I find it hard to review as religiously as before. But, it doesn’t mean I stopped. I’m simply taking everything at own rhythm. I want to come back when I have something very dear or meaningful things to say.
Being consistent
What comes with blogging and social media, is that your followers will expect you to create content and always post, post, post that it’s difficult to keep up with being consistent. It’s hard but it’s possible. 4 years of Bookidote and 6 years of being an Instagrammer taught me that much. So many things will happen in your life that you simply CANNOT always post here and there. But you will manage, you will learn the twists and turns and make it work. It will come, be patient.
The I-don’t-want-to-blog phase
It goes with consistency, it’s that down and demotivation feeling you hit one day. It may be the exhaustion, lack of time that builds up into laziness and doubts. Those feelings are the worst things because I know how blogging genuinely makes me happy but I forget sometimes I don’t want to write book reviews and that’s okay. You will pass by a similar phase, and when you do know that it’s understandable and to take all the time you need to rest and recharge.
The Envy
Like in many fields, there will always be someone who will be envious of your success. It’s even more obvious in the blogging and social media community. Numbers are so important, the metrics and the stats are all over your feed. It’s hard to ignore. Every time I share my big wins, I can feel the sense of doubts and insecurities in other bloggers’ and influencer’s words. It sucks because the supportive words are not genuine. My advice is this, try to not compare yourself and empathize. Try to see from the other person’s perspective. Maybe they blogged longer than you thought, they took more time to finish a project, a milestone, you don’t know what that person is going through their lives.

P.S: I’m coming back slowly to blogging! Missed you guys, will update soon with a post right after my sister’s wedding but here are some pictures with me and my Mom 😉 she’s doing better now, cancer free, thank you for your support ❤
I am so happy to hear that your mom is doing well! That is amazing!
You have managed to perfectly put in to words my personal experience with blogging. Awesome post and even better update about your mom!
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THANK YOU SO MUCH KRISTIN! 😍 Happy to see that you agree about it too! And yes I’m so grateful for my mom’s recovery 🙏
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I’m so glad your mom is doing better!
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Thank you so much! 💕💕
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You’re welcome!
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Being consistent is really tough .But you got to do what you love 💕
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Exactly! I think we all reached a point where some things become more important and we have to move on, 🙈
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This is all so true Trang! Take it easy because we have to keep the passion and the will. It must stay fresh and not a chore!
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I totally agree! When it becomes a burden and the spark and passion are not here anymore 😭 It’s just sad
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Glad to hear your mom is doing well and cancer free! 🙂
Ditto on the good and bad of blogging. I always find it hard to be consistent.
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Another great blog post 💕 Being consistent takes so much work and sometimes you just have to take breaks and post whenever you feel like it to get back that motivation!
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It’s so good to read a blog post from you again, Trang and I’m so happy to hear about your mom ❤
Being consistent in blogging can be complicated at times and… well, everything takes so much time as well, it's so easy to burn out. It's important to take breaks and remind ourselves of the positives of blogging, while knowing our own health matters more than it all – something I need to remember ahah 🙂
Sending you lots of love! ❤
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Glad to hear that your mom is doing better.
And a great post about blogging!
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I’m so glad to hear your mom is doing better! That’s wonderful news.
Thanks for this post. I think I needed to read this today!
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I’m so happy to hear your Mom is cancer free!!
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I’m so glad to hear that your mom is cancer free!!! That’s really a great news! You both look adorable!
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Your post is spot on. I get that I dont wanna blog mode once in a while and the consistency is a difficult thing to get on to. But once we do, it is addictive. I am glad your mother is feeling better. Have a great week ahead!
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Yay, hugs to you & your mum ❤ What great news!
I'm currently in the i don't want to blog phase… it prolly won't last forever, so i'm just kinda rolling with it 😀
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It’s good to take a break from blogging every now and then, even if that break is not posting as much content for a while. If it means you’ll eventually change your blog’s direction if it means you’re more motivated to write again, that’s also fine. For me, I needed to take a step back while focusing on buying a house and moving. This of course also meant that I fell behind on everyone else’s blog posts.
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I’m happy to hear your mother is doing better.
I totally agree with all of your points.
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