I was not very popular in high school. At least I don’t think I was. Although several years ago I talked to someone I went to high school with and he commented on how shy I was back then. Shy? Is that why people didn’t talk to me? I thought they just didn’t like me! So I’m open to the possibility that I have a distorted self-image.
At any rate, I know for sure that I did not do a lot of the things that were supposed to lead to popularity. I never drank or smoked or used drugs. I wasn’t a cheerleader, didn’t go to parties, didn’t go on the cool road trips like beach week. I did all my homework and studied for tests. Once I got 100 on a history exam and the teacher gave me a hard time for being a curve buster. The teacher. Talk about unpopular.
But I was OK with the choices I made because if you are a follower of my blog, then you know that I obsess about going to hell. So I was willing to forgo popularity to avoid eternal damnation.
But now, after a lifetime of escaping peer pressure and of preaching about the perils of social media as a psychologist, I find myself vying for popularity. In order to have a successful blog, I need followers, likes, tweets, shares, and comments. I had to open all of these social media accounts even though I have no idea what I’m supposed to do on them. I need to say stuff on these accounts that will make people like me and want to read my blog. The only problem is, self-acceptance never seems to be a trending topic.
I try really, really hard to use all of my knowledge of psychology to avoid getting down about how few followers, likes, tweets, shares, and comments I get. Here are a few of my strategies:
1. Perspective-taking. I remind myself that I have only been blogging for a year as of the 24th (my blog birthday!) and that it takes time to build an audience. In fact, my life will go on even if my readership never grows. And I would be perfectly content to write for this small group of people and for myself.
2. Intrinsic motivation. I remind myself that I am not in a race against other bloggers. I am not trying to win. The thing that drives me is to find out how far I can take it if I give it my all–to find out what I’m capable of.
3. Quality vs. quantity. I will probably never have a post go viral, which is OK. It’s more important to me that my blog is personally meaningful rather than popular–even if the only person it is meaningful to is me.
4. Honesty. Before I publish a post, I prepare myself for the possibility that people won’t think it’s as awesome as I do by reminding myself that the most important thing is that it’s true.
5. Control what you can control. I have limited control over what other people do. I can’t make them follow, like, tweet, share, or comment on my blog. However, I can control what I do, and the best way to get more readers is to write more posts.
So I am one post closer to my goal.
Normal in Training 
Good list, Christy. As writers, honesty is key. Somehow the audience can tell when you are forcing a ‘voice’ and writing about something you really don’t believe in. It will also bore you as you read your own words. Building an audience does take time. It’s harder for some, even me who’s been blogging more consistently since 2009. I have found that blogging means you also read a lot and comment A LOT to build traffic. A lot of my hours are spent reading, tweeting and commenting. It’s exhausting! Which then brings me to my last point. Some days we need to step away and reboot. I feel too pressured sometimes and some days I feel overwhelmed by the sense of competition. Blogging is a lot of hard work and we do need to stay connected to our sense of purpose, asking ourselves every so often, why we do this, what our goals are. You’re on a good track! Keep it up 🙂
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Thanks Joy! The following, liking, reading, commenting, and sharing of other people’s blogs is the most challenging part for me because I do not spend a lot of time on social media outside of blogging. So even going on any account and looking at posts for more than 15 minutes overwhelms me. But I’m trying to do my part.
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