Social Media Has Blurred the Lines Between Personal and Professional
It is no secret that I have been essentially unable to keep up with both a personal and professional blog. I just don’t feel like I have a lot to say on The Laine List. My readers are losing interest, because I am too.
I think about the work I have done to create my brand. I’ve never been totally comfortable with having two online identities, but I wanted to establish trust and credibility in my work. Along the line, though, between cross-posting on blogging networks, and increased presence in social media, the boundary between the personal and professional has become elastic, and it seems unnecessary. Joining Pinterest and Instagram has been the tipping point for me. Everything I do, and everything I like is already out there. Anyone can find out whatever they want to about me.
From a professional standpoint, I want to focus more on creating my personal brand.
From a personal standpoint, I just want to be me. I want people to know *me.*
Another factor here, which when I began blogging, I didn’t think would be an issue, is I finally feel like I know how I want to focus my writing. Or, in bloggy terms, what my niche is. Of course I will continue to write about WordPress, social media, etc. The personal component I would like to add is working at home, and making it work. This is something that I think about and do every day, and I know there are others, readers of the EGD blog included, who are interested in learning about how to make it work for them. So, the personal meets the professional.
I do also want to talk about my Roller Derby adventures, and I think is another area where the personal can meet the professional. I discuss personal strength and confidence when I write those posts, and how is that not business related?
I anticipate wanting to write some of the more deeply personal posts at some point. I think those posts will be posted on blogging networks, but honestly at this point, I’m not sure I have it in me to write the deeply personal anytime soon.
I will not shut down The Laine List. It will remain, and the posts will remain, and maybe I will want to write something deeply personal and post it here. I will always have the option of coming back.
This idea is in its infancy, and this is really kind of a brain dump. I’m not ready to take this risk yet, but I’m seriously considering it.
What do you think? Is this a risk worth taking?
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How Do I Make My House a Home?
Bedroom (Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn)
Do you love your house?
I have a love/hate relationship with my house.
I love it because at least we have it. And I hate it because, well, it’s not what I want, or where I want to be.
My husband and I bought this house a few months before we got married. It has three very small bedrooms and one bath. It’s a 1950’s “bungalow.” My husband was in love with the house before we even looked at it. The idea of a bungalow was irresistible to him. Great marketing, right? I was never really that convinced of my love for the house, but I did love the ceiling fan in what was staged as the living room, so I agreed.
It didn’t seem like a big deal to me to not love the house. This was not supposed to be our forever home. We had planned to sell this house before our first child went to kindergarten. But then the economy happened. And the housing crisis, and we have our own financial struggles, so we stay here, in this super cramped house, for fear that we might not qualify for another loan.
Every day our 1950’s bungalow looks more and more like it has been rode hard and put away wet. Sometimes I feel like the house is crumbling around us, and truth be told, I feel embarrassed by it.
There are cracks in a couple of the walls. There are doorknob-sized holes in the walls where doors have been slammed into them. The poor-quality door jams are loose from improper installation, 60 years of wear and tear, and the occasional slam. The paint is chipping. Our bathroom needs a complete overhaul. Our bedrooms are way too small, and we don’t even have a closet in our room. In fact, our entire house has three functional closets. THREE! Our finished basement is wet and moldy. My office is in our dining area. I don’t even want to talk about the appliances. The garage roof leaks and the whole thing just needs to be burned down. For real. I have a hard time keeping up with the gardens, so they like an overgrown wasteland.
I’m not much of a decorator. I have decorations, and pictures, but they are not displayed, because I keep thinking it’s pointless when we need to paint – again, and try to put the house on the market.
How do people make this shit happen, because I feel stuck. I know all of the problems with this house are fixable. But where do we find the time and the money? Do we really want to take care of them, or do we cut our losses and run?
In the meantime, how do I OWN this house, and not feel embarrassed by it? How do I make this house a home?
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