The Twisted Path of Writing About the Contemporary Woman

Trying to establish a career as a blogger is more complicated than I ever imagined. I have always wished to engage my audience as authentically as possible so that many women find my content relatable. I understand not every woman will relate to every story I put out, but for each story, it is always my hope that many women relate. I have realized this means that I have to be always alert and keep literal tabs on the events going on in my life – my personal life and those of the women around me. It means that even the slightest of events, instances, stories, or circumstances I find myself in, or a woman I know finds themselves in, is news- because there is always another woman out there, in a similar or related situation.

Unfortunately, most of the time, the minor events pass me. Other times, I get stuck and wonder, does that even count? What if people find it boring? What if no one likes my content? What if no woman can relate? What if that is not what women want to know or hear? Then I end up not writing about it. Interestingly, I have avoided addressing some stories, then later on seen them in another blog post. Then I feel like if I write about it now, my audience will think I wrote about it because I saw it in another post and question my authenticity – you know, like those copycat blogs that never have content of their own.

Other times, I wonder, is the story too private, or can it/should it be shared? Like, as much as I want to share my life events with my audience so that they can relate, I cannot help but wonder, is that not giving up my privacy? But then there is also the dilemma of feeling like if I only share the happy events in my life and leave out the sad and/or messy ones because they are private, then again, I lose authenticity. We all have happy and sad moments in life, don’t we? That said, it would be wrong to create the illusion of a perfect (even worse, glamourous) life.

I will be feeding my audience with real stories, yes, but not all of them, leading to the illusion that my life is not flawed.

You see, there is a thin line between being authentic and having all your dirty laundry in public. All this requires extreme precision and knowing how to be honest and genuine while still retaining some privacy- this applies to both sad and happy events.

If you were to ask me, this is where most bloggers, influencers, and celebrities, in general, go wrong. They overpost their happy moments, making that side of their lives public, but leave out their lows. It explains why most of them are accused of leading fake lives on social media, even though it might not be entirely

accurate. The thing is, they do have happy and magical life events. That is real and not fake. However, when they never post any lows or issues in their relationships or lives, they give the impression that their lives never have difficulties, which is why they are said to lead fake lives.

I say, do not overshare, or better yet, try to be genuine – post both happy and sad life events while still leaving out what you deem private. That is what I plan to do. I will try to be authentic, to the best of my ability, and hopefully, my fellow contemporary women will relate. That is the only way, I believe, to make a meaningful impact on the contemporary woman.

❤❤❤❤

Nyambura Macharia