From my love for writing…

I loved and still do love writing. I must admit that I was more inspired to write because of the challenges that I was faced with in my “past life”. I guess writing was just my way of venting some very dark, intimate and deep thoughts. That was the main and probably only reason that contributed to the reasons back then as to Why Do I Blog. I wasn’t very serious about writing for any other purpose back then. That was about 8 years ago.

Prior to the birth of my son, I lacked any balance in my life when it came to separating work from home life. The imminent arrival of Kayden in 2016 was the catalyst I desperately needed to implement some drastic changes to my lifestyle.

After pondering this over the course of my maternity leave, I finally made the decision to start writing again, but this time was going to be different. I would be more focused and dedicated! In January 2017, I published my first post on my blog.

I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed at first…blogging was a whole new world for me. It requires a lot of thought and preparation. But I was keen to learn and make it work.

As I am someone who loves expressing my thoughts through various mediums, I started to feel the need to be more expressive on my blog.  I wanted to start sharing not just my thoughts but also my opinions……on all things lifestyle related.

…to sharing my opinions…

For me, the following areas was a natural start:

• Dining Out
• Travel
• Motivation / Inspiration
• Parenting
• Lifestyle
• Product Reviews
• Giveaways / Competitions

Dining Out

I love dining out, and there’s nothing better than enjoying a delicious meal in the company of friends and family. For added enjoyment, add a bottle or two of Rupert & Rothschild Classique (my personal favourite) or an assortment of cocktails. I have on numerous occasions chosen restaurants based on the advice and experiences of other people, as opposed to traditional advertisements. Looking at real pictures and hearing true and honest opinions is always the best, in my opinion. However, a one-line review is not sufficient!

There is an abundance of wonderful dining available throughout South Africa. In most cases, we tend to stick to the ones we know and enjoy, but there are a lot of hidden gems that we don’t normally come across. So, I decided to start blogging about restaurants and dining experiences, with the goal of sharing my experience at such places. After all, word of mouth goes a long way!

Travel

Who doesn’t love travel? Besides exotic international locations, South Africa has an abundance of beautiful locations to visit. I have found that a lot of foreigners working in South Africa have actually seen more of our beautiful country than I have. And that’s a reality everywhere in the world.

Travel and photography go hand in hand, and I love capturing all my experiences, sometimes to the annoyance of my husband. Besides having the ability to provide real and meaningful information to other people, blogging about my travels is also a way for me to take a snapshot my life…expressed through a combination of words, photos and videos.

I have travelled quite a bit in the past, prior to the start of my blog. How I wish I was blogging back then! Sigh!

I would love to do more travelling and travel related blog posts in the future. And with Kayden, I do think that travel posts with a toddler will be much more relevant.

Motivation/Inspiration

I have always enjoyed being able to make a positive difference in people’s lives. It brings me joy and satisfaction to know that I can influence people for the better…even if in the smallest way. I love to inspire people……and that probably stems from the personal challenges I was faced with, and how much my life has changed since then. And because of this, I do believe I have a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share.

My blog is diverse and I welcome the diversity in those who follow. I respect different views and opinions and I encourage engagement on social media with me. Sharing is caring, and when you share your experiences, it inspires others to do the same. Such engagement also stimulates me and contributes to the reasons as to Why Do I Blog

I have met some wonderful people online via my blogging journey thus far. There are some fans/followers who send me messages to thank me for certain posts and how much it means to them, I can never get enough of this! It’s MY Motivation to continue doing what I am doing.

Parenting

I have posted a few topics related to parenting and I love sharing milestones about my now toddler and our journey of parenthood. However, privacy is important and I have been somewhat reserved about these posts so far. However, as Kayden grows up, I do think there will be more frequent posts.

Lifestyle

All other posts are about things related to my Lifestyle – there are no limits, so I can’t say I have a niche, well not at the moment. Maybe that will change in future, but for the moment, I am content to blog about a wide range of topics and those which are relevant to me.

I do receive a lot of press releases for various types of events and products. I am selective in what I accept or post on my blog.

Product Reviews

To this point, the focus was predominantly on toys. I love watching Kayden play with them and observing whether it is fit for purpose or not.  This inspired me to create my very own YouTube Channel, as video reviews are very helpful.  There is another steep learning curve to creating YouTube videos, and I am in the very early stages of this.

I would love to do more reviews on a variety of products, not just toys. So when I do come across something lifestyle related, you can be sure that I will share my thoughts on the blog.

Here are a some of the reviews already posted on the blog:

            

Giveaways/Competitions

If you love freebies, give this post a thumbs up! As a blogger, the reason that I run giveaways on my blog is because I know that I have many followers that will love that certain giveaway and if you love it and want to win, then you’re going to share the post, etc. This of course helps to drive traffic to my blog and social media accounts. So it’s a give and a take – we’re all happy.  It’s as simple as that!

Personal Reflections on Why Do I Blog

I continue to come across other blogs and have built some good relationships online with a few bloggers. Due to time constraints, I try to actively engage with as many people/bloggers that I can manage, in order to learn from them as well as to support them. I know how difficult it is to build a following.

I may decide to scale down or expand the scope of my blog in future, but one of the main principles of my blog is credibility. If something doesn’t resonate with me, it will not be included on my blog.

On the other hand, as an example, if someone wonders in Shock why a mommy/parenting blogger is posting about alcohol, they are welcome to have their opinions but I will not “stage” who I am, just to portray the “ideal” online image. I’m a mommy who enjoys alcohol, it’s my life and I am an adult, and I’ll share such posts, cos it’s part of my lifestyle.

What you see about me online, is who I am in real life, my blog is reflection of me; a true one and friends, family, colleagues and others who know me, know this.

I aim to provide relevant information, or at least what I deem to be relevant to my audience.

If you enjoyed learning more about my reason for blogging, I’d love your feedback in the comments below and of course, for you to share with those you feel may enjoy this blog.