CURLY AND CANDID

Blogging Pressure

Nicki CawoodOctober 13, 201119 Comments

Do you feel pressured when it comes to blogging? Over the last few weeks and months my timelines have been littered with tweets and status messages about people feeling they “have” to blog.

“Really need to blog today, didn’t do one yesterday”

“I need to do some posts but I just can’t think of anything to write?!”

Seeing messages like these sadden me. For the most part, people blog for themselves, for fun, for their families and for an outlet. It seems that when they start they thoroughly enjoy it but it can become a chore, why is that?

I love blogging, it’s an outlet for me, it’s fun. I can use Curly&Candid for whatever I like, to share recipes, family news, debates, to discuss world events or to campaign. It’s a tool, a thing… it’s not “me“. If I don’t blog one day, two days or a week I don’t worry that the blog might cease to be or that I will implode. The day that I wake up and feel I have to blog is the day that I stop blogging. I don’t think anyone needs that pressure.

I hear lots about link-ups, again how people MUST make sure they do it. I’m pretty sure no-one who runs a linky would want people to feel this pressure to perform as it were. Britmums now have a weekly blog prompt, and although this isn’t something I would use myself, for some I expect it can be fun /useful; will it however become another of these things that people feel they have to do? I hope not.

At what stage do you feel like you have to blog, when did it become a job, do you feel the pressure to keep up with everyone else?

Social media is the greatest tool and sometimes the worst de motivator. The recent surge of “experts” popping up from nowhere ready to tell you how to blog better and how to be the best blogger don’t help. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve your bloggy technical expertise or work on your writing style and sites such as Blogger.ed (which I highly recommend!) are a fantastic resource of info and advice. I just think that overall bloggers can be bombarded with info on what they should rather than being offered hints, tips and advice.

So where does it come from, is the pressure forced upon us as a blogger by social media and the blogosphere or do we pile it upon ourselves? This is an issue I’m genuinely curious about. What do you think?

In General

The Recyclometer and the Plant Bottle

Nicki CawoodOctober 12, 2011April 14, 2012

That all sounds very Sci-Fi doesn’t it?

This isn’t however an alien mining colony but another two ways that Coca-Cola are making advances in their on-going quest to save the world. Dramatics aside, Coca-Cola have strived over many years to beome increasingly environmentally savvy and the recyclometer and plant bottle are great examples of how they have succeeded.

The Recyclometer. The Recyclometer is an online tool and information source, produced in collaberation with WRAP (working together for a world without waste). With just a few clicks you can see how much energy you could save as a household by recycling everyday household waste.

I could type for hours about the wealth of easy to find and use info in the Recyclometer, from local services to handy tips. The best idea is for you to have a look yourself. Kieran (5yrs) loves the site and is very keen on recycling, together we have explored and have already found just a few extra ways to reduce waste and save energy.

The Plant Bottle.

Coca-Cola have now launched their new packaging, the PlantBottle. The PlantBottle is made with up to 22.5% plant based material and up to 25% recycled PET plastic. This makes it 100% recyclable. The launch has been part of Coca-Cola’s journey to create a genuinely sustainable bottle. More than 200 million PlantBottle packages will hit the UK shelves this year.

Coca-Cola have also launched the Coca-Cola Recycle Zones – you can read more about these here. You can actually search to find your nearest zone.

In the past, whenever I’ve thought of Coca-Cola I thought of great taste, red labels, the Coca-Cola Santa and Christmas Truck adverts which for many signal the beginning of the “real” Xmas season. Now I think of them of an environmentally concious company that are willing to go the extra mile.

To read more about what Coca-Cola are doing as a global company to make real changes visit the environment section of the website and make sure you explore the Recyclometer. Little changes can make a huge difference.

*This is not a sponsored posts. I did receive a PlantBottle of Coca-Cola to look at and a (gorgeous) umbrella made from recycled goods after doing some work previously with Coca-Cola but am posting about this purely because I am impressed with the changes Coca-Cola are making and rate both the PlantBottle and Recyclometer personally.