Last updated on May 27th, 2021 at 02:32 am
I’d been lying to myself all along.
I’ve been stuck in a rut for who knows how long, and it’s been getting harder to hide. My blogs grow increasingly critical of the blogging industry around me; I find it harder to put a solid post together now than in times past; and I feel like I’m dragging my heels, lethargic and unable to keep up with my peers that are doing some fantastic things. I even spoke with a friend about whether I’d already peaked and now faced what looked to be a life of utter normalcy.
It turns out I was looking at my life all wrong.
The Missing Ingredient
July 15th marked my 30th birthday, and I was happy to mark it with a few changes:
- After years of badgering by family and friends, I finally got my driver’s licence—and in style, behind the wheel of a 2011 Ford Edge Select, which I’ve enjoyed taking for spins around Toronto so far.
- I held my second annual DoomzDay birthday party on the 19th, and while the night ended less than optimally by losing my wallet and testing my tolerance for tequila (yet again), I was surrounded by family and friends as I prepared to take one of the most significant leaps of my life in only a handful of months.
- I heard the stories of other 30-year-olds still living with their parents and working minimum-wage jobs, feeling blessed to have a steady job, be in a healthy marriage, own property and readying myself for the magical
challengejourney of fatherhood.
I’m known for my luck, and there’s a lot of good in my life—so why did I feel like I was all out of steam with nothing left to give?
It wouldn’t come to me until I started reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It!, which Sarah gave me as part of my birthday gift. It was nothing new—it was a simple point that we’ve all known since forever, but dutifully ignore it to fit in. And that point is this: we do best when we do what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re all coded differently—we all have things we enjoy and things we dread; things we’re fantastic at and others we’ll suck at no matter how hard we try. And when you find the thing you’re born to do, and you pour your blood, sweat and tears into it—they say no matter how much you work at it, it doesn’t feel like work at all.
It feels like fun.
Everyone. Stop the presses! We’ve forgotten how to have FUN!!!
Why We Do Social Media Wrong. So Very, Very Wrong.
I remember being sad the day after DoomzDay that I didn’t have quite the turnout I did last year. With a storm watch afoot following in the heels of Stormageddon 2013 and three-hour delay, it was enough to slice the attendance to half of what I’d anticipated. I’d put months into promotion, planning, developing a playlist, scouting locations—I wanted it to come off just right.
Does any of this sound fun to you? It’s supposed to be a celebration—how’s stressing over every little detail going to make me enjoy my party any more?
And that’s only the beginning—let’s take a look at social media in general.
These past few years, I’ve been privy to numerous opportunities because of social media and my blogging. I’ve been to Vegas. Twice. I got a press pass to Toronto Pride, snapping pics of people like Keisha Chanté and Corey Hart up close and personal. I’ve stood on Air Canada Centre’s court and eaten at more places than I can remember.
So much happened, and all people asked of me was to write about it. Take photos. Spread the word on social media. Which all works… for a while.
It doesn’t take long before you start figuring out who the “big names” are in the industry and start getting a taste of the green-eyed monster as you look at their lives:
“They got a free trip to where?”
“They got to drive what?”
“Who gave them a free which?!”
And it’s not long before that envy turns ugly, with those feelings showing up in the conversations you have with your peers:
“They don’t deserve that. They don’t even fit the image of what that brand should be looking for!”
“I’m good at what I do—why don’t they pick me?”
“I heard they had to do this and this to get that and that!”
The lessons we learned about envy, gossip, grudges and spite as kids are the same ones we learned as teens and the same ones that apply to us now:
- When we wish ill on others, it only hurts ourselves.
- You never get ahead when you use all your energy worrying about someone else, and
- When you spend so much time welling all that negativity up in yourself, you leave so little room for positivity and actually enjoying everything that life has to offer you.
So what does this all mean?
I’m 30. I’ve been building websites half my life and blogging for a third of it. I know the importance of SEO, promotion, good writing and robust multimedia. I know that you need to stay authentic to stay relevant.
But I also know how easy it is to lose your way. To forget why it is you do what you do. To get so caught up in the minutiae of what others say you need for a great blog, and forget that your blog is simply the best representation of you and what you offer to the world!
Happy Birthday, Mr. Palmer
I am not my content—my content is part of my story.
I’ll still look at things to review, read the books, try the food and go to all the places. I’ll try new things and find new ways to integrate all of them into my life.
But if I don’t remember to have fun while doing it, I haven’t learned a damn thing.
I’m going to worry less about the page views and more about the stories. Less about the Klout scores and more about the feelings. Less about how many comments I get, and more about whether the blogs I write energise me enough to write more. Because I haven’t peaked. I haven’t quit. This isn’t the end of my life’s road—I’m only just merging onto the highway.
Happy belated, Casey Palmer—welcome to the rest of your life.
HYFR and YOLO,
