mistakes – Anna Down South

I was thinking about accountability. I was also thinking about growth and how the internet is a highlight reel. I was thinking about how all these things mix together. For younger people it’s harder to process the fact that you’re not seeing everyone life as it actual is by following them online. Adults know that, and we know that well, but we have no drive to make dents in our online perception because we all like looking better than we actually are. We like to display ourselves as if we have no room for growth, because we are, for lack of better terms, fully grown.

I don’t want the internet to know all my darkest secrets. I’m really careful about not posting anything that will come back and bite me later on. I worry about what I like and how it would effect me if someone I knew scrolled through every single Favorited tweet of mine. It’s something to be careful about- after all employers, colleges, and people in powerful positions are known to do that.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to be held accountable for my failures, because being accountable for them helps you grow, and no matter what social media portrays we all have a lot of room to grow. So how do we frame our online landscape to push us towards growth and help us become more?

Part of that is following people who inspire us, who teach us things, who motivate us, and who do so with honesty not envy. We need to follow people who are accountable and who are open. That doesn’t mean that they blast their mistakes with reckless abandonment, but it does mean they share their growth that came from past mistakes. It’s a easy way to say “yes I mess up” but also “I’m better off now because I corrected it”.

I don’t really find myself inspiring or motivating, but I thought I’d share some of my recent mistakes with you and what I learned from them. Then at least I can try to take steps toward inspiring and motivating myself.

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Doing work without payment is something I’ve been asked to do a lot this past year as my blog grows. At first I seriously considered it, but then I realized that unless the post was in collaboration with the company- I was doing all the work and they were getting all the profit. Payment can be a loose term, it can simply mean they’re giving you exposure too, but as a rule, if something is a one way street… just don’t walk down it.
Publishing other peoples work without credit is the worst. First of all it’s copyrighted and they could press charges if they wanted too, but even if they don’t it’s still not cool! That’s someone’s sweat and blood. Plus It’s really easy to put a source, and a real source at that- give a link to something other than pinterest!
Worrying too much about aesthetic can be tiring. Do I completely fit into the group I want to be writing for? You a human being, it’s okay to be true to you more than your audience. Chances are they’ll appreciative you for being true and real. Running a blog that only has one viewpoint on everything can be tiring, because people aren’t like that.
Advertising your blog when commenting on other peoples blog can be done tastefully, like leaving a link at the end of your comment. Hey- I’m not offended by that at all! But writing out “check out my post!” or whatnot shows that you only came to their blog to get their view in exchange for yours. That’s not what blogging should be about! I’ve gotten to the point were I will no longer approve those comments on Anna Down South.
Taking what not to do posts too seriously. Yeah, this is one, but sometimes you read through things and think- but that’s what I like about my blog- and in that case ignore the rules. If you cover more than five topics and someone says it’s bad but you really don’t want to get rid of any, then don’t! This is your place and you can do with it what you want. Take everything with a grain of salt.