What if no-one’s listening?

I jotted down my thoughts down on sharing a couple of months ago, but the online world can still be a daunting place. Especially as feedback is relatively rare.

I glanced past a tweet a couple of weeks ago (I wish I’d copied the URL!) that made me chuckle; it said something along the lines of:

I get far more engagement on Twitter from posting about my cat than I do a carefully crafted blog post, and that’s just the way I like it!

Whether it’s just the way I like it is up for debate, but it’s true that spending hours writing and editing a blog post only to watch a vaguely bird-shaped tumble weed blow past can feel deflating. My advice? Keep putting yourself out there.

Before having children, I was the singer and rhythm guitarist in a band. When a gig was going badly (wrong crowd, dodgy sound, having a general off-day) and the crowd were generally disinterested, I would look for one or two people who seemed to be getting something out of it and play for them.

Even if nobody is listening, think of it this way: they’re not listening yet. One day, something you write will get someone’s attention via a Google search, or a stray Retweet, and when they visit your website they’ll have a healthy back-catalogue of interesting articles to read and share.

Keep writing. Keep vlogging. Keep doing your thing. If what you’re doing gets through to just one person—teaches them something important or ignites a spark—what you’re doing is worthwhile.