Let’s get straight to the point.
Last week someone said this about me:
“Isn’t she… {insert eye-roll here} just a blogger?”
I heard it through the grapevine, and although I don’t specifically know the context… I can imagine… I can always imagine.
It’s a feeling I have known all too well since starting this blog, and it’s not a good one. There have been nights where Ashley and I have sat on the phone, and talked each other off our respective ledges due to comments like this. We couldn’t understand why people would be so cruel. Why they’d support us to our faces but snicker behind our backs.
It’s not fun to go through…no matter how thick your skin is.
We got it a lot in the beginning. We understood that people doubted us, but we figured it just came with the territory. The blog was something new and we rationalized that it would take people a while to get used to it. In all of our conversations, Ashley and I decided that no matter what, we would take the high road. We would ignore all the people who wanted to see us fail, because in the end… they didn’t matter anyway. It was a good and positive way to look at things. However, get us together and give us a couple of glasses of champagne, and we’d tell you how much it stung… how much it sucked… and how much it hurt.
Inevitably, when you put yourself out there in such a public way, people are going to talk about it.
However, halfway through last year we found our blogging voices. We found brands that we loved to work with, we found a loyal readership of people rooting us on, and we found that we felt really, really good about what we were creating. The negative comments pretty much stopped, and we continued on our merry blogging way.
Then last week happened.
“Isn’t she… {insert eye-roll here} just a blogger?”
And finally after a year of blogging, I’m ready to take this comment, and all comments like it head on.
So first and foremost, to set the record straight, let’s start with this: Yes… very obviously… I am… a blogger.
Hold the eye roll.
AND Yes… very obviously… I am… offended.
I am offended because I love this blog, and I am offended because this blog is something that Ashley and I work hard at. I am also offended because I feel that comments like these are said with the intent to be mean, to poke fun, and to hurt.
So without further adieu….
Dear Girl with the eye-roll,
If you knew me, you’d know that my days go something like this:
My three alarms start going off at 4am. I wake up at 4:30am. I body shower. I make a cup of coffee. I down it. Half asleep and in the dark (so as not to wake my husband) I throw on whatever outfit I picked out the night before. I dry shampoo my hair. I brush my teeth. I sneak into my son’s room and give him a kiss goodbye. I try not to cry. I turn off our alarm. It’s 5am. I head to work. I am in my chair by 5:30am. I work East Coast market hours and I work in a field that is dominated by men. I take my lunch at my desk. I take no personal calls. I take phone calls from my husband on the way to the bathroom, and if my son’s school calls, I excuse myself to the hall. I am incessantly in a state of stress, but if you ask me how my day is going, 9 times out of 10, I will answer you with a smile. At 2:30pm I try to leave my office – although some days it is later. I talk to Ashley on my way to pick up my son, William. We discuss page-views, upcoming post ideas, marketing strategy, branding, you name it… we go over it. I pick William up. I go home. I pump. I feed him. I put him down for a nap. I tidy the house. My husband gets home. He finishes where I left off with the house. By now it’s 5pm. I pick out an outfit to shoot for the blog. I write for the blog. I coerse my husband into taking photos for the blog. I then edit photos for the blog. I social media for the blog. I play with our son. Depending on the night, my mom, or dad, or friends come over for dinner. You see, I take it upon myself to help take care of everyone in my “family”… I always have… but I’m sure you don’t know that about me. We cook. We clean. Now it’s 7pm. My husband needs to shower. I need to pick out my clothes for tomorrow and catch up on whatever financial news I missed out on in the hours since I left the office. I catch up on emails. I try to catch up with my husband. I can barely keep my eyes open. I go to bed at 9pm, because guess what? I’m up to do it all over again at 4:30am tomorrow.
Is it exhausting? Yes.
Am I tired? Yes.
Would I have it any other way? Not right now.
I tell you all of this… not so that you’ll feel bad for me. That is sooo not the point. The point is that you never know what someone is going through until you walk a day in their shoes.
And that is a very normal day in mine.
That being said… I hope you see now that I am “not just a blogger”.
Sincerely,
Emily
(Blogger. Bond Trader. Mom. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Philanthropist. Volunteer, etc… )
AND… P.S. (because you all knew there was no way I was leaving it at that)
Is anyone, really “just a blogger”? Sure… some people blog for a living. But guess what? It’s hard. It’s a grind. It’s a job. And just like any other job, it’s work. Every post, every trip, every meal, every brand relationship, everything… is documented… everything is posted… everything is written about. And that, Girl with the eye-roll, takes time. Whether you know it or not, people who manage to blog for a living are marketing masters. And they’re doing the scariest thing in the world.. they’re selling themselves every damn day.
And now to my last order of business, Girl with the eye-roll, just for kicks… guess how long it took me to stage, and make, and shoot, and edit, and write, and then post.. that kale salad post last week? (here)
One hour? Two hours? Three hours?
Nah… try six.
Six hours.
All so that people… people like you… can read it.
And then pretend that you didn’t read it.
And then roll your eyes and talk about about me writing it… and you not reading it.
All in the hopes of making yourself look cool… and me look so uncool… because I’m {insert eye-roll here}… just a blogger.”
blah blah blah… blah blah.
I mean… God forbid you like it on Facebook…. Gah. What would people think?
….end rant.
And on we go…
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Dress: Wayf
Shoes: Sole Society (old) similar here
Bag: Cuyana
