10/4/13

A Blogger's Life: Reflecting on Putting It All Out There

Hi, my name is Jason and I tend to over share. Whether in conversations or in writing, more often than not I end up giving up a little bit too much personal information. I might tell a complete stranger one of my deepest fears or about my older brother's death when I was a teenager. Or I might tell my boss about how the bullying I experienced in my childhood has affected my adult relationships. While most people would hold back and save these personal stories, I'm likely to just blab it out. Usually I'm OK with that. My life is an open book, I've always said. But every now and then I'll reflect on what I've said and I'll wonder how I could have been so loose with information.

In many ways, my habit of getting personal has served me well as a blogger. I think the fact that I'm willing to share what's happening in my life makes my posts more engaging and easier to relate to. In my early days at Apartment Therapy, when I was writing about my many home projects and giving first person accounts of my DIY life, I would often hear from readers that they appreciated my personal perspective. As I became an editor and the posts I was writing shifted to product roundups, I would still find a way to make them personal. The first person perspective is just how I write. I think it's one of the things that makes me a good blogger.

Sometimes, however, I wonder whether I'm doing a disservice to myself by putting so much of  my life out there in the world. Before I left Apartment Therapy a few months ago, the executive editor informed me that I would probably be better off building my own brand. In the months leading up to my departure, my social media accounts had come under scrutiny by my boss. I would get frantic evening email messages that I had to pull at Tweet from my personal Twitter account because it wasn't fitting for the Apartment Therapy brand. In many ways, it seems, my openness spelled my doom with AT. The very thing that had attracted readers in the first place had ultimately infuriated my bosses. And once that happened, I found myself in a spiral of self doubt and depression. Of course, I shared those feelings with co-workers and, in a more generic way, on social media. This exacerbated the issue and angered my bosses more.

It's easy to look back at what you've done and see your mistakes. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. It's when you're in the thick of something, living it from day to day, that it's hard to know whether what you're doing is right or wrong. While I regret some of the things I've shared, whether at Apartment Therapy, on my own blogs or in conversations, I doubt it will have any impact on how I behave going forward. I'm a little nervous that if someone Googles my name and clicks around a bit, they could learn just a whole lot about me. But I'm clearly not nervous enough to pull back. I mean, I'm writing this post, aren't I? This post is just another way to putting myself out there, telling it how it is and letting the wider world get to know me. I am still of the opinion that my personal take on things is the right thing to do. I'm just being me, after all.

Let's just hope that others see it that way as well.

So how about you? Do you hold your cards close to your chest or broadcast your feelings loud and proud?

Image: Jason Loper

1 comment:

  1. Sometimes we feel alot better sharing personal things with others. Theirs a need to feel like people are interested in you that often comes into play as well. Never google yourself it is just a panick attack or stress case waiting to happen. Just remember whatever you choose to put online at one point in your life you felt you needed to share. Perhaps it made you feel better and that is important to have. Sometimes people have no idea how many may view what they post online and relate or feel like someone understands them. Not everyone is able to shell out their true self to the world in bits and pieces like you do. Consider yourself awesome :) Also you really do rock the bow ties very nice. Keep on writing great things abcd.... Anonymous

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