First, I was running late so I threw my makeup bag in my purse with the intention of putting on my makeup when I got to work.
Well, 3pm rolled around and I went to the bathroom and realized - no makeup!
Wait, that wasn't the big news of the day?
I kid, I kid.
As if you didn't know, there was major drama in the "healthy living" blog community today. If you are one of the few who have not read the Marie Claire article, well... I wouldn't really waste my time. It's kind of sad, poorly researched, and the bloggers are largely misrepresented. However, I do think it brings up some interesting points that probably needed to surface.
To be honest, I think everyone is making too big of a deal out of the whole thing on both sides. I'm hoping that when I fire up my computer tomorrow, the whole thing is done.
However, it really got me thinking about my own little slice of the blogosphere over here at Running Foodie. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this list, but here are some things I've been mulling over today:
#1 - I started blogging after I decided to run my first half marathon. I had never read a healthy living blog before I started my own and only started reading them to get some training tips. When I decided to start Running Foodie I felt a lot of pressure to blog like "The Big 6" and, until I realized it was totally unrealistic for me, felt kind of like an outsider because I wasn't posting bowls of oatmeal and spoonfuls of nut butter every damn day. I'm glad that I am finally starting to find my own voice and not mimic the voices of others. It might work for them, but it does not work for me.
#2 - I average about 30 visits per day, and I still think it's pretty incredible that anyone at all is interested in what I have to say, even if those people are my husband, my sister-in-law, and some of my sorority sisters. I'm not making any money off of my blog. And I'm OK with that because it's not why I started it in the first place. I think it's great some some people can do that, but to be honest the idea of blogging as my livelihood makes me want to claw my eyes out. I love my job and absolutely could not work from home.
#3 - I don't post everything I eat. I think that's boring and I usually stop reading blogs that do if they aren't offering anything else in addition to daily eats.
#4 - I don't post every workout that I do and I don't talk about every workout that I skip. That's not healthy.
#5 - I don't always make healthy living decisions. Some days I come home from work and eat a healthy snack and then go work out. Other days I come home from work and eat a slice of carrot cake and hang out on the couch. Other days, I come home from work and eat a slice of carrot cake and then go work out (like today). I am not perfect. No one is (but it sure is easy to make it look like you are).
#6 - I think the life presented by a lot of full-time bloggers is unrealistic has the potential to make the rest of us feel really crappy about ourselves because we aren't posting 3+ times a day and we aren't working out a bajillion hours a day and we aren't cooking elaborate dinners and we aren't having blogger meetups every weekend. I fall into this trap all the time and I have to remind myself that my life looks like this:
- 5:15am - Wake up, shower, breakfast, read the paper, check email, last-minute grading/lesson plans
- 6:45am - Leave for work
- 7:30am - Arrive at work
- 8:10-3:30 - Teach English literature to 130 twelve-year-olds, get a 45-minute lunch break, maybe have time to pee twice if I'm lucky, probably have a last-minute meeting called during my prep period
- 3:30pm - Leave for home
- 4:10pm - Arrive home exhausted
- 5pm - Sometimes manage to work out, sometimes manage to make dinner, sometimes need to take a nap, possibly post one blog entry, hopefully get more grading and lesson planning done and spend some quality time with my husband that does not involve talking about students
- 9pm: Go to bed (this is my goal bedtime, but it's usually closer to 10)
#6 - I read a lot of non-healthy living blogs. I think that's really healthy. In fact, some of my favorite blogs have nothing to do with food or fitness:
- A Cup of Jo
- Young House Love
- Walk Slowly, Live Wildly
- b*spoke
- Door Sixteen
- Three Men and a Lady
- First Milk
- We Met in a Bar
- Huff English
If you actually read this far, I'm pretty impressed! I try to keep RF as free from random musings as possible, but I also want this to be a space where I can be myself and share my feelings and ideas. I'm still trying to find a balance.
