Every week, I sit down and write these articles. In the beginning, it seems pretty easy to put pen to paper (or rather, finger to keyboard) and crank out article after article.
After a few months, it gets to be more difficult. So, I look around for some inspiration.
One of the places I look is in my past articles. I would be lying if I said I didn't occasionally glance at the number of readers each article gets. Yes, I'm here mostly for myself, but sometimes it's nice to know that I'm not just typing into a void.
Looking at my articles and page view numbers, I've come to notice two things.
The first is that I have a tendency to write about life. Things about dealing with stress, how to manage conflict, understanding other people, and accepting things for what they are. I like to talk about the things I have struggled with and the solutions I have found to be useful.
When I write, I hope to help other people recognize things that took me a long time to see.
The second thing I realized is that people don't really want to be told about life. I've had articles with views in the thousands about the Olympics or Disney movies. But if I write something about accepting your own insecurities or dealing with the closed-mindedness of others, it seems like people aren't as receptive.
This could be for a few reasons. The first is that people are just more likely to share fun, light-hearted things than they are to share deep, important thoughts. Why would anyone want their feed to be full of seriousness when it could be filled with dog videos and Disney movies?
But I think we are all just less likely to seek out articles on things that are really the problem. If we're feeling anxious, we like to distract ourselves with things that we enjoy, rather than reading about being anxious.
Don't get me wrong, reading a happy-go-lucky article every now and then is great! But it's important to think about the things that burden us or those around us. It's important to enlighten yourself to different perspectives of the world.
Self-improvement is a marathon, not a sprint. Reading, writing, practicing, and talking about self-improvement are all essential aspects of broadening your horizons and becoming more comfortable with who you are and more accepting of those around you.
Am I saying this in hopes that more people will read my serious articles? Yeah, a little. But that doesn't mean there's no truth to it.
In the future, I want to write funnier articles, and I intend to. I think I've just gotten over a bump in my life, and now it's time to ease off the heavy and embrace the good things around me. If you're in a similar space as me, join me! But if you're having a hard time, reach out to someone.
Learn how other people see the world and, perhaps, you'll learn a new way to look at an old problem.
