The “Why” Behind my blog

Hey everyone and welcome to The Alternative South. Today I wanted to talk about the why behind my blog. The Alternative South kept sticking out to me almost all year. I’m not even entirely sure why my mind was so set on creating this blog but it was and now I’m kind of glad that I did.

So where did The Alternative South come from? I had actually come up with a different blog name called The Sprouting Peach. I had my mind set entirely on that and working under that name. But now that I’m thinking about it I’m kind of glad that I didn’t stick with that. Why? Because I want this blog to be a little bit open and with The Sprouting Peach I would have been a little stuck with a growth blog rather than anything else.

I know most of us bloggers have heard that we should really niche down. We should only pick one thing and actually stick with that. But I don’t want to do that. There are so many things that I want to talk about, but some of them tie in together. Besides that, I feel like if I work on all of the topics then I can eventually narrow it down to maybe one or two topics.

So, here’s more on the “why” Behind my blog.

I want to grow

For the longest time, I have felt like I have been in the same mindset. I never want to do anything and I constantly want to stay home. It’s getting a little tiring because I feel like I’m not really living my life at all.

It doesn’t completely help that right now we don’t have the money to really go out and live our lives as much as we can. But I do need to figure out how to make life fun for me and my son at home. I have a tendency to make life hard and figure out what to do even harder.

I’d like to use this blog to grow from that. I want to grow from other things as well. Life isn’t meant to be hard and we’re supposed to enjoy things before we really kick the bucket. I’m hoping that this blog can help me strive to do better. On top of that, I’m hoping that this blog will help others strive to do better as well.

I know this sounds a bit naive but if you’re living on this earth then you’re meant to enjoy it. It would be nice if we could all enjoy it.

The “Why” Behind my blog is that I want to find something for me

For the longest time and even now for the most part I have felt like I don’t really have anything for me. I have put my focus on others which doesn’t help. On top of that I am very critical and a perfectionist.

I have always been the type of person who kind of feels like if I’m not good at it when I first start then there’s no point in even trying. Everything should come easy to me as they do for others. Because of this, I have started things and then within a day or two, I stop even trying. Therefore I do not get better at it all.

This is a very toxic thing to do because I’m not allowing myself to do something that I would enjoy. I don’t have anything for me and this is resulting in me not enjoying my days. It doesn’t help that I’m struggling to figure out how to fill my days. I have a tendency to stress out because I’m not fulfilling my and my son’s days. I always hear to not let them have too much screen time and since we’re home almost all of the time it’s a huge struggle.

I want to ease my anxiety and stress

Ever since I became a mom my anxiety and stress have only seemed to get worse. I stress about every little thing. Certain things seem to trigger me and there are a lot of times I feel like I’m not really doing enough.

I always feel like I’m not getting my son around many people at all. I feel like I don’t read enough to him and there are a lot of times I feel like I let him get away with too much. But you know what? He has grown a lot since last year and not just physically.

I’m always looking at the negative of things rather than the positive and that needs to change. We have all grown a lot in the past year or two. Instead of looking at how things are going in the moment, I need to realize that everything I tend to stress about can be worked on. Things can be fixed. I just need to learn to put the time and effort into actually fixing it.

If you’re wanting to find ways to ease your anxiety then check out this other blogger’s post here.

I want to use my blog to find my passion (and help others)

As I stated earlier I don’t really know what I like. I always start something and don’t really give it time to get better. But I’m wanting to start creating monthly goals where I pick one hobby and spend thirty minutes to an hour on it each day for just one month.

Why for only one month? I figured this will give me the time to figure out if I like it or not and whether or not I want to keep spending time on it. This will also allow me to get a little bit better at it and see if it’s something I would enjoy doing.

If I can actually push myself to stick with something then this might be the best approach for me. I do want to help those around me as well. Especially if they have the mindset that I do. I’m the type of person who really holds myself back because I’m expecting something better to just fall in my lap and things just don’t work out that way.

I need whatever is in my mind that is making me think this way to switch. Things don’t just fall in your lap. You have to actually work for the things that you enjoy and sometimes you just have to do things that you don’t really want to do.

The “Why” behind my blog is To be bolder

I always feel like I hold myself back. On top of that, I feel like I allow what others will think of me to hold me back as well. I’m absolutely sick of doing this. I’m tired of trying to be what everyone wants me to be. It’s draining and I don’t like it.

I want to be bolder and I want to find my style. With that being said I would like to find my personality as well. But I do have the mindset that I can’t really work on myself while I have a kid. I don’t know how many people have told me that my son comes first. Even though he does come first that doesn’t mean I can’t work on myself at all.

When people tell me this I always feel like I need to give him my all every day all day. Even though he does come first I can still work on myself as well. I just need to figure out how to balance it where I can give him my all and also be able to work on me as well.

To find me

Ever since I was in high school I never really knew who I was. I didn’t know who I wanted to be. I thought I knew what I wanted to do but I never really pushed myself to do those things. Here I am in my thirties and I still don’t know who I am.

The best part is that I can actually work on finding me and while I’m doing that I can work on finding out what my son enjoys doing. He can do some of the things that I do and it will allow me to work with him as well.

These sorts of things don’t have to be a struggle. I just need to put in the time for it and actually manage my time better.

Get to know the cities around me better

I’m actually starting to realize that I don’t know the cities around me hardly at all. I have lived around this area all of my life and I haven’t really explored it.

This is something that I really want to change. I know you’re probably wondering why? What’s the point? Well, I love to explore and I love getting to see new things. But I keep holding myself back from doing these sorts of things and I don’t know why. I need to stop always holding myself back from things that I want to do.

There are tons of opportunities around me but I’m not allowing myself to actually do it. I have always held myself back and come up with some sort of excuse as to why I can’t or shouldn’t do it. It’s time for you to change and it’s time for me to change.

I hope this helps with why I came up with the blog.

Just because I forgot to bring this up earlier but there is a reason why I named my blog The Alternative South. That’s because I live in the south and I feel like I’m not your typical southerner. I don’t dress as they do and it seems like my interests are a lot different than theirs.

I hope this helps as to why I started my blog and I hope you join in my journey. I’m hoping my journey will help push you to strive for yours as well!

If you liked this post then make sure to check out my Bucket List Post.