Seven of the best gifts that blogging can give you

In just two days time, on Sunday April 17th, this blog will turn seven years old. Can you believe that? Sometimes it boggles even my mind, and I've been the one powering the ship, if you will, that whole time!

I was in my mid-twenties when Chronically Vintage kicked off, now I'm less than three months away from my 32nd birthday.

Time tends to move more quickly the older you get. I can remember adults, especially those in their mid to later years telling me that when I was little, and though I readily believed them, it wasn't until I started to experience such myself, that I fully understood just what they meant and how incredibly precious each and every day that we're given on this planet is.

In last year's blogiversary post, I feel like I said a lot of what I had to say until in terms of looking back on CV's life and every word that I wrote then still applies, so I don't feel pulled to pen a similar entry here today.
 
Actually, for a long time (months) in advance, I wasn't sure what I was going to write in order to mark this exciting blogging milestone. I knew that I didn't want to rush into a topic or simply say "It's my blog's birthday! Yay!" (though I do very much feel excited + happy like in that way).

I pondered a lot of possible topics and even wrestled with some deep emotions regarding certain things that I debated writing about, but when this week approached and I meditated on the topic one more time, my mind kept returning to what a blessing blogging can be in our lives and how very, very much this continual act has enriched and enhanced my world over the last seven years.

I know that I am by no means alone in benefitting and feeling bettered by the act of blogging, especially after a person has been plugging away at it for several years. Blogging, though common in the sense that countless people do it, is a unique experience.

More intimate than many (traditional) websites, yet perhaps less "in your face" than social media can be, blogging deserves its rightful slice of the web and though I know many have moved on from it in recent years, the longer some of us remain here, the more devoted than ever I sense that a lot of people are to their sites and being active members in the blogging community as a whole.

There is no shortage to the number of positive things that can arise from blogging and the handful presented here today are just the tip of the iceberg. These seven things are ones that I have personally experienced, often on a daily basis, throughout my blog's life, and which I'm sure many of you will be able to instantly relate to as well.

Seven of the best gifts that

blogging can give you 

1. Blogging helps you to get to know and understand yourself better: I am often astounded by how much this point rings true for me in my own life. I've always been an extremely introspective person who is open to growth, change and self-realization, but it isn't wasn't until I started presenting elements of my life, my work, my passions, and my own past online, that I hit upon many important discoveries about who I am - while also becoming more self-confident through the act of sharing more about myself with all of you.


2. Blogging gives you the chance to help others, as well as to benefit greatly from your peers: This is, hands down, one of my favourite elements of blogging. Whether it's presenting my own knowledge in a post, replying to questions, running the Vintage Secret Santa gift exchange come the holiday season, brainstorming ideas with an online friend, or learning from others, blogging instantly gives you a built-in community and a vital support system that, arguably, is even more important for those of us who are the sole (or very nearly so) vintage enthusiast in our own town.

There is no limit to the ways that you can give and help others when you blog, and in turn that you can benefit from the interactions that you have with your fellow blogging community members.


3. Blogging helps you to filter and grow your thoughts in a really positive way: If I had a dollar for every "ah-ha" or light bulb moment I've had thanks to blogging, I could whittle down my vintage wishlist mighty quickly. I've said it before, but I'll say it again because it really does ring so true for me: creativity - including blog post writing - begets creativity and the far from running out of post ideas, the longer I keep writing, the more seem to come my way. As you hone your attention on a given topic (be it vintage or otherwise), you often become more driven and focused both in terms of how you blog, as well as how you carry out other areas of your life.


4. Blogging makes you a better, more focused writer: Just as blogging can help give us incredible new thoughts and to filter out others that may not have to do with our online work, so too does it help us to hone our abilities and talents as a writer.

I've always loved writing and can't fathom not doing it in one form or another, and I’m sincerely grateful for the ways in which this digital art has helped me to grow as a writer (no matter what context I'm creating in). I don't just mean, of course, that we might make less typos, but rather that it - like practising anything often enough - we become more skilled and confident, which so often translates into posts that are more positively received and a higher quality blog over all.


5. Blogging can help you create incredible friendships: It's true. In this day and age, when so many of our interactions are via things like Facebook and FaceTime, not actually face-to-face in person, the innate need to bond with others that we can relate to is stronger than ever before, and while there will always be difference between online and offline friendships, there are a great many similarities between the two as well.

Blogging can lead to a wide array of friendships, some of which may, ultimately result in bonds that last for the rest of your life. As well, for those who may be highly shy, introverted, deal with anxiety and/or depression, chronic illness, or a myriad of other things that can cause real world social interaction to be a challenge (at least some of the time), blogging is a beautiful way to form the connections with others that we crave, and genuinely need, while still being comfort in our own homes.


6. Blogging teaches you better time management skills: I had a revelation of sorts last year when I decided to dedicate days both to just replying to emails as well as to miscellaneous "this and that tasks. Both have proved to be hugely beneficial and successful in terms of helping me to management my time, just as having a blog schedule had already done for years.

Blogging, when carried out with any degree of regularity, can take up a huge amount of time and whether your site is a hobby, your career, or anywhere in between, we can all benefit from from the constructive ways in which blogging helps us to map out and plan how we're going to spend our time - both on and off-line.


7. Blogging is always there for you: Granted, it might not snuggle up in your lap like a beloved pet or ask you how your day was when you get home like a family member or roommate may, but because our sites are digital worlds that we've created for ourselves, they are there for us 24/7 and are, in many respects, a constant companion.

Just stop and ponder, for example, how much time you've spent thinking about your blog? I promise you that there are many people in your life, even some that you love and care about dearly, that you've not devoted anywhere near as much time to over the years.

The relationship that that we have with our blog is, likewise, often akin to those with a human being or pet, too. There are highs and lows, points of frustration, great joys, new experiences, new challenges, and the need to continually (if only subconsciously) recommit ourselves to being a part of that union day in and day out.



{The act of blogging itself can be a gift that keeps on giving and one that I feel especially lucky, on the eve of my site's birthday, to have been able to learn from, teach others about, and be inspired by for so many wonderful years now. Vintage photo source.}

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Seven is a number that I like a great deal. I was born in the seventh month of the year and my first name has seven letters, so those two points alone help me to feel a kinship with this digit. Much as I have felt since the get-go that 2016 will be, when all is said and done, a positive year, so too do I sense that Chronically Vintage's next year of life will also be a great one – and all the more so because this will be its seventh.

I like to look ahead, to imagine where this blog will go (and sometimes, even, just for the sake of it, to picture what my life would be like if I didn't blog here any longer), but at the same time, the older I get, the more I try to live in the moment as much as possible, too.

For time is, as those grownups told me all those years ago, fleeting and life far, far too short. I feel called, if you will, to embrace the here and now (in so much as it relates to a life lived amongst the pages of the past through my passion for history and vintage) and to never lose sight of the blessings, like those detailed here today, that blogging has given me.

On the cusp of this site's seventh birthday, I ask you, my dear friends, how has blogging enriched your own life and what gifts would you add to this list?