10 Reasons I Love Blogging (Why Blogging is Worth It!)

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You guys, I love blogging a lot, a lot, a lot. I’m sure I’m stating the obvious here. It’s impossible to blog for as long as I have without liking it. Believe it or not, I’ve been running my travel blog since May 2015 (oh my god, say what?!), and without a doubt, my blogging journey has taken me to many places.

Now I usually don’t “blog for a blogger audience,” but still, every so often, I like to share the benefits of blogging in the hopes of inspiring some of you to create your own business or hobby blog. I also want to counteract the negativity flowing on the internet. If you’ve ever read any dating advice (warning: don’t, it’s sexist and terrible), then you’ll realize there are a lot of bitter people spewing nonsense online. It’s the same with blogging advice. For instance, do a quick Google search and you’ll read that blogging is dead or too saturated, but I don’t agree with naysayers.

Actually I’m trying to cut out naysayers and complainers entirely. Same with people who brag about “being honest” and “telling it like it is” aka jerks. I want to cut out bitterness, too. Whiners bring down my energy, and I’ve had enough of it.

Instead I’ve been trying to have an abundance mindset in all aspects of my life, and therefore, rather than whining that “blogging is dead and you’ll never earn a cent!,” I believe the internet (and world) has plenty of room for more voices especially regarding travel. You belong in this space.

How Blogging Changed My Life.

Ugh. I’m not even sure where to begin describing how blogging changed my life. I can’t imagine my life without Blond Wayfarer at this point. Can you? Haha. I didn’t think so.

All I gotta say is that my travel blog has stayed consistent through my life’s many positive and negative changes. It’s been a safe outlet for me through a job loss, a big move to another city, a brand new job, multiple break ups, deaths in my family, and so much more. I firmly believing having a solid purpose during my life’s hard times kept my mind clear and peaceful in the face of all sorts of adversaries. I’ll always be grateful for having the money and time to manage my blog. I’m very lucky.

Unsurprisingly, the advantages of blogging firmly outweigh the costs of creating said blog and running it, which I’ll talk about at the end of this post. I wouldn’t trade my travel blog for anything in the world.

The 10 Reasons I Love Blogging – Yay!

Are you ready for the specific reasons I love blogging? Of course you are!

If you already blog, let me know how you feel about my list. If you don’t have a blog, then I hope I inspire you to start your very own website and grow your voice. You deserve to be heard in this crazy world. Embrace your experiences and share them with a larger audience. You never know what doors will open for you.

1. My Blogging Journey Gave Me Friends.

First and foremost, I made a ton of great friends through travel blogging. It’s hard to believe I never would have met these people without taking that first step on WordPress. It’s crazy to think about not having them in my life. Like, I can’t even imagine that alternate reality.

Some of my closest blogging pals – such as Amy from Temple Seeker and Amanda from The World Incorporated – have helped me through difficult personal times and motivated me to keep writing even when I was close to quitting writing my blog entirely. 

Simply knowing people who have the same passion and love for travel makes me feel less alone, too. Sometimes I feel as if I’m “weird” for loving travel so much. My newfound social circle is a reminder that embodying a “traveler’s spirit” greatly benefits me, regardless of what society believes is “proper” for a young woman in her thirties.

So, if you’re on the fence about creating a blog, you ought to do it for the social connections. Meeting people with the same passions drastically increase the quality of your life. I promise!

2. Blogging Provides a Creative Outlet.

Creativity makes the world go ’round. The painters, philosophers, playwrights, and poets. The world would lose its luster without their great works illuminating the human condition.

Although I was capable of transforming my blog into a business, one of the advantages of blogging is that it’s also a lot of fun expressing yourself! You’re an artist. For instance, I’ve learned how to take better photos, as well as effective ways to edit my photos to make the colors brightly pop. As a kid, I loved to draw and paint, and blogging helps me recapture that carefree childlike state in photography.

Lastly, in a world where science and STEM are placed on a pedestal at the expense of other fields, blogging offers a space where it’s okay to “color outside the lines” and break the rules.

Creativity is cool again.

3. Blogging Cheers Me Up.

Mental health is so so so important, you guys. Just vital as your physical well-being. Don’t ignore your feelings, and don’t worry about being “selfish” if you need to cut things and people out of your life to feel better again.

Furthermore, you need to throw yourself into activities that make your heart sing. As for me, I love blogging, because writing makes me insanely happy. I like creating stories, but also enjoy sharing ideas that are important to me, regardless of whether or not anyone reads my words.

Journaling has always been therapeutic for me. Writing down my goals and strengths make them more “real” to me. Blogging is another, albeit more public, way of keeping an upbeat diary.

Finally I feel a deep sense of accomplishment once I complete a blog post and share it across my channels. This fulfillment benefits my mental health, which makes all the work worth it. Yesss.

4. Helping People Through My Blog is Rewarding.

As a teacher, helping others is the cornerstone of my profession. I chose this job, not only because I love my students, but giving back to the community strongly benefits one’s self-esteem and self-love.

Meanwhile, blogging provides me with yet another opportunity to give back to the world. My audience is incredible. Private DMs and emails from readers never fail to brighten my entire week. Throughout my blogging journey, I’ve inspired people to travel to Paris, Budapest, Seattle, and Scotland. On top of that my writings have pushed men and women to embrace their dreams and travel alone, encouraging them to face their fears. How great is that? Again, I love my audience.

Helping fellow travelers is a major reason why blogging is important to me. Writing to an empty vacuum wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying.

Read More: 8 Things I Wish I Knew About Travel Blogging

5. Making Some Extra Money is Nice.

Ahhh, blogging and money. What everyone wants to know, haha. Sorry to say I’m not bringing in thousands of dollars from my blog, but I gotta admit it’s nice when my blog covers my car payments. Earning extra money strictly from a business I built is quite empowering.

I don’t want to dwell too much on money, though, because the other reasons I love blogging are more meaningful. I never would have managed this website for so many years if money was the sole motivation.

6. Blogging Gives Me a Purpose.

Although I’ve already alluded to this idea, I still want to dedicate an entire point to purpose.

Folks, it’s essential for you to have a purpose. Actually, life without purpose is meaningless. We deserve more than waking up, going to work, faking social interactions, eating the same meals, and sleeping. I mean … how demoralizing does repeating that schedule sound to you? It’s important to reach inside ourselves and discover a deeper meaning. For me, my purpose is to share love with other people. I’m here to express love and embody love. Furthermore, one of my greatest passions is traveling the world, so why not share my love of adventure with thousands of others.

If you feel as though blogging will give you a purpose, then I highly encourage that you bite the bullet and create your website as soon as possible. Purpose will shake up your world in the best possible way.

7. Blogging Helps Me Plan Epic World Trips.

Another reason why I love blogging is because the community helps me plan trips. I see incredible destinations promoted on blogs and immediately add them to my never ending bucket list.

Travel blogs have been inspiring me to pack my bags and go for years. Waaaay before I created my own cozy corner of the internet, I’d read a lot of other blogs and imagine roaming the world without worrying about other people’s opinions. Travel blogs helped me “escape” some dark times in my life such as when I couldn’t find a teaching job and was trapped in my childhood town.

I’m grateful for the ideas I take from other bloggers. Perhaps your new blog will inspire me to go to your favorite destination.

8. Running a Blog has Taught Me to Wear Many Hats.

Time for a confession. I’m horrible at multi-tasking. Seriously, I’d make the worst housewife ever. You gotta see how bad my kitchen gets when I focus too much on another part of my life, like writing or working out. It’s ghastly.

Blogging forces me to suck it up and multi-task. As a blogger, I’m not just responsible for producing content on my personal website. I wish. Nope, instead, I need to wear a lot of hats to make my blog successful. For example, I need to learn about Search Engine Optimization if I want other like minded travelers to actually read my work. Otherwise Google would just bury my posts forever. What’s the fun in that? I can’t believe that a few years ago I had zero clue what an “algorithm” even meant, haha.

Another reason I love blogging is because it teaches me to juggle more than one thing at a time. Thanks for the lesson.

9. I’m More Confident Thanks to My Blog.

Blogging builds personal confidence. Why? Think about it. Putting yourself out on the internet isn’t easy. The internet isn’t nice. I’m lucky I haven’t gotten many trolls (erm, as of right now) or hate mail. Honestly, the worst comment I’ve ever gotten was someone whining about Cubans taking over Marco Island, and needless to say, I just deleted it, because racism much?

However, a few of my blogger friends have attracted full blown “haters,” and the ruthless vitriol present in some comments blows my mind. And, I gotta say it, as a woman, you’re more likely to get hate thrown your way, especially if you’re opinionated and not willing to apologize for it (good for you, seriously). You cultivate your self-esteem by putting yourself out there.

Not to mention, the confidence that I’ve gained from my travel blog spills into other areas of my life. Like everyone else, there are times when I don’t feel smart enough, pretty enough, skinny enough, or rich enough. My mind is my worst enemy. I also have a bad habit of blaming myself whenever life suddenly goes crazy. Oh, did I lose my job cause of budget cuts? Oh, did I get dumped? Absolutely 100% my fault! … barf.

Ultimately I created a sustainable business and brand by myself. That speaks volumes regarding my self-worth. Knowing I’ve inspired other women (and men!) to travel to places like Budapest, Seattle, and Milan empowers me, and gives me the energy to face unpleasant challenges.

And let’s not even go into all ways travel itself build confidence. Blogging and traveling makes us total rock stars. Yesssss.

10. My Travel Blog Keeps Me Mindful of Others.

Ahhh, a major point. Mindfulness.

So, back in high school, I had a livejournal and would babble all my unfiltered curse-ridden opinions on the internet. I’d make my feelings on school, teachers, other students, pop culture, politics, and religion very clear for everyone to see. And guys? The internet in 2002-2005 was the equivalent of the Wild Wild West. It was a lot different. Cyber bullying wasn’t really a “thing.” Laws weren’t in place to deal with technological advances either. I’d rant about everyone from ex-friends to popular fanfiction writers (I know), and name names in the open. Luckily as a minor I couldn’t be sued for slander.

I’m a lot more mindful these days. I know this sounds arrogant, but my audience grows every single day. I reach a lot of people simply by publishing a post. However, blogging in such a public space taught me to respect other people, regardless of my opinions on them.

So I avoid writing personal narratives involving characters in my life, and if I was ever inspired to do so, I’d always ask permission and request that they read the post ahead of time. My seventeen year-old self would be shocked by my manners.

Not to mention, travel blogging has made me more respectful of how my writing depicts other countries and cultures. As an outsider, it always pays to think about the words and phrases to use to describe a place that isn’t your home country.

The Advantages of Blogging Outweigh the Costs.

I wanna wrap up this post with a few words on money, everyone’s favorite topic.

Running a travel blog isn’t exactly cheap especially in the beginning when setting everything up. You need to pay for hosting space with a quality server and expensive plugins to stop hackers from attacking your site. Bigger bloggers need to shell out extra cash for virtual assistants to help with their social media channels. And travel blogging conferences? They’re not cheap in the slightest. For example, although I love Women’s Travel Fest and attend every year, a ticket costs about $300 per person. Not exactly chump change.

However, I think all the advantages of blogging outweigh the costs. My blogging journey has left a huge positive impact on my life. I can’t wait to see where I go to next! As for my readers, thanks for your crazy consistent support throughout the years! Love you all, xo.

I hope you enjoyed these reasons I love blogging. The advantages of blogging are wonderful and added a lot to my life. So how about you? Do you own a blog? Would you ever start one? Share all your thoughts and ideas in the comments.