Why You Should Blog (CV, Skills and Emotional Outlets)

Hello,

Today I thought I would share my experience with blogging and talk about how blogging went from being a hobby to a passion.

Why did I start Blogging?

During my first year of University I felt really lonely. I felt homesick and I felt like University wasn’t quite living up to it’s expectations. That is the honest truth.

One afternoon I was searching the internet in the hope of finding an article written by somebody who felt the same. I stumbled across another students’ blog and spent the entire evening reading it. I took comfort in the content of the blog, the way that this individual felt was very similar to that of my own feelings. Now, 3 years down the line, I know a lot of people felt a little overwhelmed with University- in fact, it’s sort of Changes can be scary.

Not long after I started my own blog (a separate one to University Blogging, as I was yet to discover this platform). I used it as a diary entry to start off with and that is where my passion for blogging stemmed from.

By the end of my first year, things were getting better at University and I had managed to document my emotions and the events of that entire year. Looking back at these now is really special and I remember little details that I think I would otherwise have forgotten.

By the end of my first year, I discovered the University of Warwick Bloggers, and jumped straight on the band wagon.

This was the first time I had even considered putting ‘Blogger’ on my CV.

So what are the benefits of Blogging?

Emotionally:

• It is a fantastic emotional outlet. Whether you want to privately blog away, anonymously perhaps, or feel the way I did at any point in life and simply need something to set your mind to- a task, a hobby even.
• It is a fab way to document what you do and feel, like a diary.
• It encourages you to reflect on actions, decisions and experiences.

Academically:

• Blogging motivates you to organise your thoughts and learn. It’s research and writing, but you can choose the topics.
• It familiarises you with different platforms. I will hold my hands up, I am truly rubbish with technology… but blogging both as part of the University of Warwick Blogging team and individually, has encouraged me to use platforms I would never have been able to navigate before. This is a skill.
• Blogging has opened up more doors to me than I could have imagined.
• I am currently looking at jobs, following my degree, and Marketing is something I am really interested in. This is another interest that stemmed from my own personal blog (through marketing myself I developed a passion for marketing elsewhere).
• I had no idea how highly regarded blogging would be for employers. In fact I had very little understanding of what employers after University really wanted…

What I’m trying to say:

• If you have a passion, pursue it.
• Hobbies are not only a big thing that employers LOVE to hear you talk about, they are emotional outlets, ways to make friends, explore new communities and give you the opportunity to learn more about yourself.
• Blogging was a comfort to me in my lowest point of University and now it is on my CV and has shaped my choice of career. A career that I would have never even considered before I started that hobby.

Doing something that you love really does make a difference. If you’re about to start University, get stuck in to as much as you can. If you’re struggling and finding this chapter of life challenging, grasp the little things, throw yourself into things you enjoy and fill your time with it. If you love doing something it is far more likely to be a success.

Please feel free to leave any questions,

Bronwyn