Starting this blog has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Losing yourself in such a creative place is so rewarding and fulfilling. The people you interact with and the content you create on a regular basis are two of the things I love most about blogging. Your blog is however you want it to be. There are many different tutorials advising you on how to start and grow your blog. But ultimately, the way you manage, grow and create is uniquely down to you.

There’s a saying that states how there’s never an original idea anymore – everything has been done before and we can only rework an existing idea. But I don’t believe that. Reworking an existing idea is surely creating an original idea, which is a new idea. And we should be proud of every idea we create.

My festive break was spent reworking my blog as a whole. I redefined the categories I blog about, completely renewed my content schedule and really had chance to think about how much blogging means to me. It creates happiness, and here’s how.

1. It allows you to completely lose yourself

Your blog is a projection of you. By creating content for your community you are giving your readers a piece of yourself. But going through the process of drafting, writing, photography and everything else that comes with blogging means you can completely immerse yourself in it. It’s only natural that it might take time for you to find your feet and let’s face it, followers don’t triple overnight. But you get to look through your archives at your progress and know that you did everything. All of it. That’s more than one reason to make you happy.

2. You get to create

We are creatives. We create and share what we create with our community. Maybe it’s your full time job, or maybe you love blogging much more than your full time job. We blog because it makes us happy. It gives us some sort of fulfilment and satisfaction when we hit publish on each post. And so it should! You may not have thought of yourself as a creative before, but blogging is in the creative industry and creating content is what keeps me addicted to this space.

3. You meet and interact with so many people

Did I ever think when I started this blog that I’d end up meeting a fellow blogger for coffee? No. Did I ever think when I started this blog that I’d want to collaborate with another blogger? No. That’s what’s incredible about this community. We don’t want to be alone – we want to go on the ride with others who are just like us. Having people we can go to who we can chat to, laugh with and share our stories and ideas with makes our blogging experience even more valuable. The more the journey continues, the more people we’ll all get to meet.

4. It helps you to grow

Think how many skills you can say you have, just from creating a single blog post: researching, writing, editing, photography, creating content. And that’s just from one part of blogging. If you consider design, all the elements of photography, social media, scheduling and everything else that comes with the job title, I bet you could fill at least one sheet of A4 paper with the skills you learn and develop daily. People say everybody has a blog these days, but why not? Companies and businesses thrive off individuals who can show they are able to work on their own projects successfully. If you have a publishing schedule that you stick to regularly, employers will love that about you. Do that alongside a full or part time job? For me, one of the reasons I started this blog was because I knew it would help my career. Ever since my career started, this blog has only helped me and I know that will only continue.

5. It’s fun

If a hobby wasn’t fun, would you do it? Something that took up so much of your time and something that you poured a lot of yourself into? Blogging creates happiness for me because I enjoy it. I get a thrill when a new post goes live on my website, I smile when I see someone has left me a comment and I get a buzz when another blogger shares my content. Running your blog and business for you is what matters most in this industry. Of course, there are times when it won’t be fun and that’s when you know to take a break. But like everything, you’ll come back stronger and that’s when it’ll only become more fun.

How does blogging create happiness for you?