Blogging Depression

I haven’t been able to post anything lately even though I wanted to.

At first it was because I was running into problems with Jekyll ( more on this here ), but more recently due to depression - blogging depression.

During the period of time when I couldn’t post, I went through the blog. It was really disappointing. This was not the blog I had envisioned. I started this blog, with the intention of it being my brain on the web but it has turned into a pile of excuses for not posting and no relevant content whatsoever. This didn’t feel like my blog.

This was not my blog, at least not the one I wanted it to be.

It’s my fault really. I thought this blog could be anything but I was wrong. If this blog tries to be everything, it will turn into nothing, like it did.

This blog felt wrong to me as I read it back. I constantly thought what is this blog even about. The best thing I could come up with was that this was an excuse blog. You get an excuse with every post.

The most this blog ever got to what I wanted it to be was during my winter trip to Islamabad a few months ago. That was just me writing about my day, what I did. Writing those posts were fun. It was as if I was inviting the reader to explore with me. That was what I wanted this blog to be. No, not a travel blog, but my brain. This blog is a digital representation of me. So far, it portrays me as a messed up person who makes too many excuses.

Over the last few weeks, I got really sick of this blog. I hated my own blog! I couldn’t get myself to post.

So, it was time to make changes.

The first thing I did, was open up Google Docs and laid out my blogging plan. I wrote about all the things I want to write about and distributed them to blogs according to their topic. One thing I straight out got of it was that I need at least one more blog for my code life.

I wasted no time in creating a new blog, “Ammar Codes”. So far I’ve made 3 posts on that blog. If you ever read my blog for the code/tech stuff, you should go there.

That left behind this blog - what was I going to post on this blog?

I really wanted this blog to be a representation of me. I love reading, watching movies/shows, food, travelling and a lot of other things. That was all a part of my life, so there was my answer, I turned this blog into a lifestyle blog.

Now what exactly does that mean? Well it means that this blog is going to be a mix or reviews, recommendations and travel logs. I’ll also be posting the occasional thoughts on a matter. So in short, if it’s happening in my life it’s on my blog.

I’m sure over time I’ll turn this into the blog I had originally planned. To ensure that, I’ve actually made a few rules.

  • No stock imagery. I’m going to use images I took/own or I won’t use them at all.

  • No schedule. I’m not going to burden myself into posting regularly. I might post once a month or 3 times in a week. This way, I won’t have to excuse myself for not posting.

  • No click bait. This is serious. I don’t want to use click bait headlines to get people to read.

I’m also dropping the blog name. The blog doesn’t need a name. If it’s representing me, it will bear the same name as me. This transaction will take place once I shift my blog over to WordPress and buy the domain.

Well that’s all for now, best of luck to all of you!

Ammar Shah
Ammar Shah Ammar Shah is a writer, Digital Marketer and Software Engineer based in Karachi, Pakistan
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