The Reason New Bloggers Want to Keep Their Sites Secret

At least from family and friends.

For me, it all boils down to the fear of criticism, as I’m sure it does for most others. I come from a family where most of my relatives work in the medical field (my mom is a physician assistant, dad is a chiropractor, uncles are surgeons, etc.), so doing anything in a creative field is strictly taboo. Every time I would consider different career options – apart from veterinary school, that is – I would have my dad berate me with one question: “Which job will make you the most money?”. The answer, if you can guess, is most definitely not blogging.

Now, I know this is not an uncommon story with family members, and especially immigrant parents. Particularly those who escaped a life of communism in the Soviet Union and now take every chance they can to remind you exactly what they risked to bring you here. I know if I came up to my dad one day and said, “hi, I really hate veterinary school, but I love creative writing so what do you think of me trying to make a career out of that?”, it would end up something like that scene from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 where Orlando Bloom is caught on the pirate ship and is punished with a series of whiplashes from Bootstrap Bill.

It almost feels like until your blog is actually successful, it is unworthy of sharing. I honestly haven’t even had the courage to share my articles on my personal Facebook yet, although somehow I find it remarkably easy to share this blog with random strangers in a Facebook group and ask for their advice.

Maybe I feel like the only 24-year-old out there who’s stuck in a quarter-life crisis and doesn’t know where or how to forge their own path. The thought of putting my blog, which details entirely how unsure I am of my own future, into circulation amongst my friends and family is a terrifying thought. Especially to those who, on a nearly daily basis, tell me how proud they are of me for making it to veterinary school. Yet the truth of the matter is that I enjoy writing more than I have ever enjoyed sitting in an anatomy lecture hall and learning about the innervation patterns of the Vagus nerve in canines.

Will I ever share my blog with my family? Maybe when I hit 100,000 monthly views and have Nike reach out to me for a sponsorship.