Let’s Talk: Why I’m Glad I Joined the Bookish Community This Year

Before March, I had no idea a “Bookish Community” even existed outside Goodreads or some cool edits on Tumblr. I didn’t know BookTube was a thing and I definitely didn’t know Book Blogging was a thing either. I thought blogging was reserved for things like fashion and cooking.

I’ve told the story about why I started blogging a million times so I won’t bore you with that again. Instead, I’m just going to list some reasons why I am so eternally grateful that I discovered this community and joined it.

 

Of course this is going to be the first thing I talk about! For the first time since my Livejournal days, I felt like I’ve truly belonged somewhere. I feel like I’m a real part of the community here. I have met so many wonderful people this year and I am eternally grateful. It’s kind of overwhelming to think that if I never started this blog I might not know they even existed. There’s way too many people to mention individual names, but I’m sure you all know who you are ♥♥ I honestly can not thank you enough. Even if you haven’t known it, all of you have helped me so much this year. You’ve all inspired me, made me laugh and helped me realise that I need to be kinder to myself. I feel like the luckiest person ever for having known you all. It’s so great being able to have discussions and fangirl with all of you. I love how we can have serious conversations and then also squeal and keysmash about our faves.

I have severe anxiety. It’s something that affects my life to the point where I struggle with the most simple of tasks. I find it hard to even have conversations with people online. That is until I started blogging. This year I initiated conversations, I joined in with Twitter chats and the craziest of all – I contacted big name publishers. When you have anxiety you think your entire existence is an inconvenience. It’s hard to not think that every time I speak I’m annoying people. Blogging has made me slowly start to realise that’s not true. I am still extremely shy. My anxiety isn’t “cured” but things I’ve done this year I never would have dreamed of doing before. They’re tiny little steps, but they are still really important to me. Before blogging my life was: wake up, Tumblr, ?????, sleep, repeat. Now, I feel like I have a little structure. I feel like I have a reason to get out of bed. Blogging also gave me the courage to open up a society6 and RedBubble store.

This is an obvious one, but still. I have discovered so many amazing books through blogging and ones that I probably never have found without it: The Yellow Wallpaper and Homegoing and ones that I knew existed but probably never would have read like The Book Thief. Blogging has reminded me why I loved reading and it made me fall in love with it all over again. It makes me wonder how I ever went so long without reading something. Even though my TBR is literally the size of several Mount Everests stacked on top of each other and my bank account hates me I am so grateful that I get to discover so many new and wonderful books almost every day.

Blogging has definitely helped me become a better person. I have learnt so much. I’m constantly being educated on important topics. It’s made me really take a look at the media I consume and realise that I need to make the conscious effort to diversify it. I definitely come from a place of privilege and there’s lots of problems in the world that I never even noticed before. I’m not perfect and I’ve definitely made mistakes and I’ll probably make some more, but I’m growing and learning and I owe a lot of it to blogging and all the wonderful community members who are willing to share their experiences. Thank you!

What are some reasons that you love blogging?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I hope you’re all having a fantastic day.

Find me: Twitter – Goodreads – society6 – RedBubble