I started the year 2023 with the Ultimate Blog Challenge again. It’s the best pick-me-up for your blog and you must try it. It’s hosted by Paul Taubman who sends helpful nuggets via his newsletter for the 31 days the challenge runs and you meet the most amazing “real people” bloggers sharing authentic stories and not just SEO and AI-generated rehash.
That’s the main reason .
When it comes to going back to posts I wrote and looking at them objectively, I have a problem. I don’t want to get too attached to my work and don’t want to be biased either. Which work is more precious? That which brings us joy?That which brings others joy or helps others or that sponsored article that made me enough money to justify the money and time spent on the website.
From the time I started writing and publishing in 2014, I have tried to stay honest with my readers and the work I do. Just in offline work, what I say online has the power to impact.So the articles I write are always those which I feel will help my readers. But the economics of creation and marketing cannot be ignored for sustainable creation.
Sustainability could be my middle name. I let go of things that fail to help. Blogging as many declare is a dinosaur now. But they said that about books too right? But it helps in many ways and the story goes deep.
I still read books, even though I listen to audio and video. If the content is helpful to my current audience, I am a happy creator. Plus it makes me very happy to make friends from all over the world through, my digital adventures. Here’s Martha from Martha reviews who appeared on my podcast in 2020 during the pandemic. What a year that was.
But I made new friends in the art world in 2020 and they taught me a lot . You can see a few of my art here.
I have too many interests or rather I am impossibly curious.That takes its toll when it comes to writing and decluttering.Thats why, on the Healthwealthbridge Blog, I focus on Health, Wellness, Creative stuff Entrepreneurship, and education as a STEAM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math) fan. I was lucky I found friends who taught me. I could unlearn and relearn. So in no particular order, I share my 2022 favorites.
Health Posts
These habits are the foundation on which my health and happiness happen.
Talking about STDs with kids can be eye-opening. They seem to know more than they let on but one is kept wondering whether they understand the implications. As parents, we can talk about it and hope they understand. This blog post actually happened as it’s narrated. Give it a read and let me know if you have ever scrambled for words when it comes to sticky topics.
Blogging Journey
As a blogger in India, I didn’t have many avenues to make a living online. I had even fewer examples to follow. Pat Flynn, Amy Lynn Andrews, and Paul Taubman are some of the online mentors whose virtual guidance helps people like me to get started.
I need to give a necessary disclaimer here. Any monetization process mentioned must be vetted appropriately by you, before you use it. The online world, just like offline needs proper review before use. I have used the platform mentioned in the blog post above and earned money. But there is absolutely no guarantee that it will work similarly for any other blogger. Kindly make informed decisions after checking appropriately.
Disclaimers can sound stilted and official but my recent experience has made me glad that there’s that thing!
Making Money online and offline
While 2020 was all online, we finally opened our offline brick-and-mortar clinics in 2021 and 2022.So online is a good rehearsal to test the waters without getting drowned.
Wellness
My gardening, walking, writing, and art projects help in my wellness and give me truckloads of energy. Sharing some stories from my garden here. I started growing a few of the vegetables we eat in 2021 . We didn’t look back. After renovating our village home we now use that as a weekend home. It’s also the place for our kitchen garden.
The reason I share these tips about gardening and wellness on my health blog, is that I have realized disconnect from nature is behind a lot of modern-day ills. Nature therapy is much needed and you are the only one who can take a decision about that. Start small, but start.
Looking inwards was also the reason I started writing fiction during the lockdown of 2020. It was a wonderful way to stop obsessing about problems and calm down a chaotic mind. I wrote and published my first cozy mystery short story(the audiobook version is free here) in 2020 and the Darjeeling Diamonds were the fourth in the Krishna Mishra Mystery series. It’s free to read on Kindle Unlimited and so are my other books.
A bonus one is not a blog post but my web story about gardening which gave my blog stats a good boost.Have you tried web stories yet?