Rosie and her 20's
I wrote about my “blogs you should be following” posts earlier this week, so I thought I’d end the week with one! Check out the bloggers below 🙂
Have a great weekend!
xoxo
Rosie
Every once in a while, when I’m too busy to blog, I throw up a post giving a shout out to bloggers I follow that I think other people should also follow.
I had some time to go through some of the posts like that I’ve put up over the years and was very sad to see how many blogs were inactive. I should’ve noticed they had been gone, but as new followers join my blog I end up just keeping in touch with people that keep in touch with me and whoever else is popping up on my reader.
I totally get blogger burnout. There have been so many times when I sat down to publish a post or Instagram and thought – does anyone really care? I put a decent amount of time into everything blog related and a lot of the time it feels like no one is even listening.
Especially on Instagram, I feel like there is so much mumbo jumbo about whether my picture looks good, my hashtags are good, etc. Then I’m worried about if I’m getting my personality across, if people actually like the products I promote, if I’m authentic like I’m trying to be or just as fake as the many beautifully filtered and curated feeds out there.
Then I’ll get a message or a comment from someone telling me how my blog has helped them or answering a question I left at the bottom of my post. And I’m inspired to keep going.
If you’re a reader, know that bloggers really do appreciate knowing that you like their blog. Whether you throw them a like, a comment, or an email. I am definitely more prone to staying on the silent side when it comes to expressing how I feel about something. I think about it like this, though, if I liked someone’s dress then I could make their day by just coming out of my shell a little bit to tell them I like it. The same goes with reaching out to your favorite bloggers.
If you’re a blogger, I know how hard it is to write to what feels like no one. But that one person you could help with your blog exists and they’ll find you eventually. Do it for yourself, but do it for them too.
Thank you all for asking me amazing questions and celebrating my 2,000 WordPress followers with me. Below are the answers to your questions! 🙂
1. Has your blog followed the path that you wanted it to take or has the content you published changed? What’s been the biggest influence of that change?
So my blog has definitely taken the path I wanted it to take, but the content has really changed. It started out as a relationship blog called Hookup Culture, but as I evolved and grew (this blog is three years old as of the end of October) I changed it to Rosie Culture and made it more personal. The biggest influence of that change was graduating college and then ultimately leaving behind the single life and entering the relationship I’m currently in.
2. What’s your favorite blog post that you’ve done?
I really love the series I did on being better off without my exes. You can start here and go backwards.
3. Least favorite?
Anything I wrote when I was first starting out lol. I really had to dig deep for this one, a very dry post about Tinder.
4. What sort of influence does your blog have on your real life (or vice versa)?
When I was in college, it was almost kind of a negative impact because boys would ask me if I was writing about them and it just created like this weird vibe when I was dating people. Now, it has been super helpful to me mostly because of the advice I’m offered and I have an avenue that I’m not judged on.
5. What do you like most about the U.K?Â
While it’s on my list of places to go, I’ve never been to the UK! I have to say my favorite thing that I know about the country though is the awesome accents and slang! 🙂
6. How long have you been blogging, and what are some of your favorites to follow?
At the end of this month, it will be three years! Here are some blogs that I really love 🙂
7. A question for my boyfriend: Do you read Rosie’s blog? Is it helpful to your relationship to read her insights or do you feel awkward knowing certain posts are about you that random bloggers are reading?
I do read Rosie’s blog! I check it almost every day, and I actually read it occasionally when it crossed my path in college, back in the Hookup Culture days.
I think it’s super helpful to read it. Sometimes it’s a little weird to know things are about me and strangers are reading them, but I’m comfortable enough with myself and with us that it doesn’t make me uncomfortable. I think that in relationships, the most important things are honesty and communication. And it’s not always easy to be honest about the tough things, or figure out a way to express how you’re feeling. The blog really helps me understand where Rosie’s head is at on things – how she’s feeling, what she’s feeling, what works, what doesn’t – and it even gives me insight into how things have made her feel previously. Our relationship is successful partly because of this blog and the WordPress community because both provide her with an outlet to clear her head and get her thoughts out there. Plus, she literally puts checklists of what she wants to do each season up, which is like handing me date ideas on a silver platter.
8. How do you balance blogging, work, social calendar and the other things life throws your way?
I think it’s a little easier for me because social media and writing come very naturally to me. Usually I write my blog posts during my lunch break or while I’m walking on the treadmill then schedule them. I also have a content calendar for my Instagram. I just kind of consider it a second job that always needs my attention!
9. What makes you more excited on your own blog?
Sometimes I ramble when I write, so I get pretty excited when people leave comments and actually understand what I’m saying lol.
10. What makes your readers get connected to your blog?
I don’t really know. I know my break up and dating posts help a lot of people because it’s not something widely talked about and I always try to be as honest as possible.
11. Have you ever regretted a post that you’ve written?
No, but I do feel bad about how hard I was on some people I wrote about.
12. Do you ever struggle with how much of your life you want to share on your blog? Are there any topics/issues that are off limits?
I do struggle sometimes with how much I feel like I can really put out there because of my professional life. I limit my cursing and anything inappropriate. One thing I almost never talk about anywhere is politics.
 Thanks everyone for reading! xoxo
Rosie
I have often tried to forget about fragments of time in my life. I blurred out most of high school, can barely remember middle school, because I just wanted to move on. I wanted to shed my skin and start all over. I wanted to do it better this time.
When I went to college, I tried to find myself. I explored and went out of my comfort zone. I wanted to be the best version of myself, I wanted to know what I was capable of.
During that exploration, I kind of lost myself. It was the opposite of what I wanted to do, but maybe it was what I needed. A wake up call came when I graduated college and had to figure out who I was outside of the sorority, laid back, college life.
That’s when I realized I’ll always be who I was at 16. I can’t just shed skin after skin after skin and expect to start over. I can’t completely forget middle school, high school, and college and try to become a new person again.
I didn’t need to find myself, I already knew who I was. I just needed to build upon it. Every experience, every version of yourself is just a brick to the building. It makes up who you are. So even though I’m not 16 years old, that high school brick still takes up a part of me. I still rock out at concerts and write in a journal and get really shy sometimes.
And even though college is over, that buckwild 21 year old brick still makes up who I am. I can still go out and have fun, nap all day, and get a little dramatic.
It’s time to stop denying the past, because your past makes you who you are. Every ex-boyfriend, every girl fight, every failing grade, and dumb mistake was a lesson. You are learning and becoming the best version of yourself every day, brick by brick. I’ll always be who I was at 16 and I’m starting to love that.
As I was writing my first How We Met post, I started contemplating who else I would write about besides my current boyfriend.
I listed the people I’ve dated and written about in the past in my mind and I just grew tired of thinking about those same old stories. Most of these people I haven’t spoken to or even thought about in years. Their impact on me has been far forgotten. So I decided to stop writing about them.
I’m retiring writing about old relationships and people that disappeared from my life a long time ago and for good reason. I’m tired of them, I’m tired of their stories, and they never really deserved that much from me anyway.
So I decided to only write about people I’ve spoken to in the last year, the people who still sort of linger. Or the people I’ve never written about, the stories I never told. Even they will disappear soon, but at least they are still relevant.
As time passes, these things seem to matter less and less. I’m sure those oldies but goodies will pop up now and then. And I’m sure the more recent people will get boring too. Time truly does help to heal wounds.
When you’re in a not-so-great place, it is not easy to find five things that will cheer you up. But as you grow, you begin to add to that list. You find more and more things that help put you in the direction you want to be in. The direction of happiness.
Here are five things that made me a happier person when I was a not so happy person. And here are six things that make me a happier person now that I am in a better place:
To all who are on WordPress today –
Happy Thanksgiving! I am forever grateful for anyone who is reading this right now or for anyone who has read my blog ever.
I have changed and grown over the past two years, much of which I was able to cope with because of this community. Because sometimes I complained about boys and you guys related. Because sometimes I was completely lost and you guys gave me advice. Because sometimes I reached awesome goals and you guys congratulated me.
I am thankful for all of you and hope you have the best Thanksgiving and holiday weekend!
xoxo
Rosie
