My Life as a Blogger: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

It seems like every time I thought about throwing in the towel on blogging, the universe intervened with a reason why I needed to stay in the ring. 

Let's be honest. Blogging's tough. There's a huge time commitment (and financial investment) that goes into running a blog. For those that blog, the Return on Investment is often nil, so at times I've questioned where my time is going and if it can go to better use. 

About a year ago, I wondered if anyone was even reading my stinking blogs...

The universe answered back. The first was with a nod from a blogger named Outlaw Omnivore. I had just written,Dear Vegan, Please Don't Hate Me, in which I addressed how a diet that incorporates animal products may be better in the grand scheme of sustainability.  He messaged that he liked my blog (yay!) and was writing a chapter about THE SAME THING in his new book.  When you're feeling down in the dumps, there's nothing quite like an internet celebrity giving you some praise to bring your spirits back up. So I continued on. 

Shortly thereafter, I ran into strangers who said they read my blog and loved it. They even quoted parts to me (because I guess my incredulous look demanded proof).  While I do have analytics in place, I suppose that because our readership is for the most part anonymous, it can feel to us bloggers like we're casting our work out into a void - what I learned from these two experiences is that there are readers out there in that void and if they like our work, we won't necessarily know it. 

Through the years, I've had some lapses in my writing. It's been one of those things whereby the more time that passed in between blog posts, the more anxiety I'd have about writing, and the less excited I'd be to write. 

But I took a really, REALLY long hiatus this year. Too long. Embarrassingly long. So long that I didn't even bother to renew my domain name and when I learned it expired, I didn't hurry to do anything about it. 

It was on this most recent break that I noticed a Facebook post from a friend which lamented that certain "Organic" products were actually owned by bigger companies guilty of making products that are likely contributing to obesity, diabetes and heart diseases. These companies aren't just guilty of making shitty products, but engage in unethical practices in multiple domains. If you have yet to see the interview with Nestle's CEO, I highly recommend it.  It was so inspirational that I vowed to never, ever, ever buy anything from this company again. And I'm sticking that promise. 


You can't win, my friend's post seemed to indicate.  

This image has been tossed around the internet so much, I don't even know who to properly attribute it to.

But as I looked at some of the smaller brands, I realized that they were shit products, too. Some are green washed and sold at big grocery stores in a certain aisle and placed at eye level with big, persuasive marketing campaigns. In short, they ain't that great. 

I told this to my friend and suggested that she shop more independent brands. Those, she said, we're likely out of her price point. 

Maybe.... but maybe not. While I am guilty of indulging on some high end nutrition, like cacao nibs, I've also become a savvy organic shopper. There's a way to live this lifestyle on the cheap. 

For example, Trader Joes repackages some products from some pretty legit brands. Because I wrote a story about Wildbrine sauerkraut, I learned that some of Trader Joe's sauerkraut is sourced from Wildbrine. At whole foods, a jar of the fancy stuff will run you about $5.99, but a jar at Trader Joes is $2.99. It's the same stuff. IT'S THE SAME STUFF, just with a different label. While I prefer not to buy fruits and veggies from Trader Joes because it's trucked up from Mexico and I just cannot justify the carbon footprint on those kinds of tomatoes, Wildbrine sauerkraut is local to me and about as eco friendly as it can get in that regard. 

These are the kinds of things I tell people about. When I find a great product, I just can't help but shout it from the rooftops. When I learned about Sustain Condoms, I just about lost my mind. For years I had been scouring the aisles of pharmacies reading the labels of these intimate purchases, always disappointed with the options available to me. So when I found Sustain, fair trade condoms without crazy chemicals that hurt delicate vaginas, I couldn't help but pass out packs to my friends, some of whom had been going condom-free for lack of better options. 

A post shared by sustain (@sustain) on Jul 11, 2017 at 1:53pm PDT

And the great thing is that they also have lube made with aloe (and no petroleum - yay!) and healthy menstrual accouterments. This. All of this. 

Finding these gems is what I'm good at. It's what I do. 

And it's because of these realizations that I decided not to quit blogging, but to rebrand. 

​So, good bye Accidental Blogger. My blog is no longer a series of serendipitous opportunities and happenstance.  I know what I'm doing now (kind of). I have focus. I have purpose. 

Good bye Accidental Blogger; Hello Easy Organic Chick. It just fits. 
​