As with all jobs, there are days when you wonder why you keep doing it. Instead of moping, I’ve listed my reasons to keep blogging.

Lately I’ve been feeling less and less enthralled with blogging. I feel like I should do something different–go back to school, become something useful. I’m sure you’ve all had those days.

Sometimes writing comes easy. Other days, I have to force myself to do it…and I’m sure it’s painfully obvious to all of you when those days have arrived.

I keep thinking about all the things I hate about blogging. I have draft and after draft written on the subject. And they expand every time things go wrong, as they have been lately. Let’s face it–blogging is a never-ending journey of self-improvement. No matter what you blog about, we all worry about improving our writing, our photography, our social media presence, etc. It’s freaking exhausting.

Blogging is a never-ending journey of self-improvement. Click To Tweet

So this morning, in an attempt to remind myself why there is no other job for me out there, let’s talk about the things I love about blogging.

10 Reasons to Keep Blogging

1. Working from home.

I know you’re thinking, “Well, yeah, who doesn’t want to do that?” Actually, I know quite a few who don’t. Zach has worked from home and worked in an office…and he really likes the office. Many people tell me, “I’d never get anything done, I’d be too distracted.” Which is a problem. Especially on bad days. Some days, when I don’t feel like blogging, I’ll procrastinate by doing the laundry. Blogging takes a lot of focus and a desire to get All The Things done.

But then there are the days when I get to stay in my pajamas, drink way too much coffee, and sit by my open window. And I know there’s nothing else in the world I want to do. Or if there is, I would be fired immediately because I’d insist on showing up in my pajamas.

Also, my cats love me because I never have to leave them. Zach is a little jealous of the bond we have. 😛

2. You get to have friends, not co-workers.

Co-workers are the worst, amiright? I’ve worked multiple jobs with co-workers I liked, co-workers I tolerated, and co-workers I hated. And the latter two can turn even the best job into the worst thing ever.

With blogging, I don’t have to deal with that. I don’t feel like talking to you? I don’t have to and chances are it won’t affect me in the long run. Collaboration is very important in the blogging world, but it’s nice to be able to choose who to collaborate with.

Basically, the people I work with are awesome because I choose to work with only awesome people. Which includes brands.

3. I get to write about things I love.

I love cooking, knitting, embroidering, and all the other things we do on this site. And who doesn’t love to talk about the things they enjoy? Having an outlet to teach people skills that have brought me joy (mixed with some frustrations, yeah) and talk about things my real life friends and family don’t really get…that’s great.

4. I get to develop new skills…for the sake of blogging!

I never dreamed I could be a somewhat decent photographer. Blogging gave me an excuse to do it. Same with coding. I taught myself HTML and some CSS in high school and never thought I’d actually use it as an adult. Not only do I use it nearly daily, I find myself learning more and more of it. (Speaking of which, if you want to teach yourself coding, HTML and CSS is a great book. That’s an affiliate link, btw. Because the book is really that good.)

I didn’t think I’d ever be the kind of person who learned to knit or embroider…and who knows what else I’ll be doing down the road. Having something to write about is a great reason to teach myself all these skills.

And what better reason to guiltlessly ignore everything just to spend a few hours knitting…because I have to come up with content somehow, right? 😉

5. I get the best grocery shopping hours.

Who hates grocery shopping? This girl. Who doesn’t mind it so much now that I can go during the store’s slow hours? This girl. I get the best times and the best deals (since Manager’s Specials come out at around 9-10 AM). It also means I can use the self-checkout without irritating the people behind me…because no one is behind me. Which is great, because I’m an introvert and there are just days I don’t feel like talking to people.

6. It’s taught me time management.

There’s a lot to blogging. My posts need to go out MWF at 7 AM, in order to be ready for the 8-10 AM crowd. So I need to find time each day to write three posts of at least 500 words each. I need to schedule all of my social media posts before 11 AM. I also have to come up with content, make whatever it is (food, project, etc.), take photos of it, edit those photos (both of which take longer than you’d think. A couple hours, generally). Find a way to promote the content, etc.

I went into more detail in How I More Than Doubled My Page Views in 2 Months, so I won’t bore you with it here.

Blogging correctly takes a good chunk of time, and if I fail to do any of these things, it can set me back. I won’t notice it for a while–but one to two weeks later, I’ll see the dip. So time management is very important.

7. I don’t have to worry about taking vacation time.

I can take my work with me. Or bust myself getting it all done beforehand, whichever. So whatever Zach’s schedule is, I can make it my schedule, too.

8. I’ve learned a lot about how the Internet works.

I understand more about SEO than I ever thought I would. When members of my parents’ and grandparents’ generation are baffled about stupid YouTube videos, I have a rational answer as to why “kids these days” are making fools out of themselves.

For inquiring minds, the reason is that a viral YouTube video can earn you some decent cash. Pewdiepie is the #1 most subscribed YouTube channel and he makes something like $2 million a year. From YouTube. There’s your reason.

I know a lot of older people think the fact that people can make that kind of money playing video games is proof that society is declining. But I’ve noticed that the people complaining about it tend to be the same people watching reality TV shows like 16 and Pregnant, Hoarders, Intervention, etc. Hypocritical? Definitely. Proof of society’s impending doom? Probably not. And why shouldn’t these YouTubers make money doing something they love? Isn’t that the dream?

9. Other bloggers provide great inspiration.

Especially when it comes to DIYing art for my apartment or finding recipes on nights when I can’t think of anything to make. Blogging has opened me up to the best of the blogging world. I rarely even have to Google anything, because I know a blogger who’s covered it.

Just a few weeks ago, I was craving chicken alfredo. Instead of Googling a recipe and trying to figure out which one to try, I remembered Cook, Craft, Love had recently posted about her easy one pot chicken alfredo. So I bopped on over there and printed it out. Easy.

It saves me a lot of time stressing over things.

10. It provides a creative outlet.

On days when I feel angry, irritated, or overwhelmed, blogging gives me a way to use that energy for something that probably won’t send me to jail.

Even if I don’t publish all of the drafts I write, they still help. Which is the reason most bloggers start a blog in the first place. Most of us start out doing it for ourselves. Connecting with other people is just a nice consequence of that.

Any bloggers out there? Why do you love it?