Interaction is a crucial part of blogging, so what do you do when you love to write but suck at engaging?

Silent Things

I don't think I say it a lot, especially in my writing, but I am an introvert. The worse kind; if the fate of the world depended on me stepping out of my complacency zone, I still wouldn't yield.

I speak of introversion fondly, because it is not a terrible thing. People are different, and our differences make us who we are.

My issue, in truth is with the metaphoric idea of 'leaving one's comfort zone to be successful'.

Shouldn't life be about finding comfort? Things that make you at ease and relaxed? Shouldn't you do things you love and want, in a space where you're not agitated and uncomfortable? Why then do we continue to attribute success or hard work to discomfort and extroversion?

It's madness I tell you. We've gotten so lazy that we don't question things or do our research anymore. Any attention seeking 'influencer' can spurt nonsense, and we just cling onto it regardless of whether it is accurate?

Frankly, the inception of 'comfort zone' is a redundant notion formed from myopic cultural discourse among uninformed motivational speakers and momentum chasers.

Introverts are mind people. They introspect, internalize, think deep, research and plan. They are the actual doers, if I do say so myself. Extroverts are the opposites, loud and social, and that is their comfort zone and their comfort level.

Good for both.

Where it doesn't quite add up is when extroverts try to push introverts to believe they need to become extroverts to live. We forget that 'living' translates differently for everyone. How about we just do what makes us happy, and not try to force people to conform to our definitions?

There's never been and there is nothing wrong with being an introvert. Mindset is everything, and I'll keep repeating this until we understand it.

Pardon my rambling, but here's why we're really here. The term 'comfort zone' is the wrong term, and I also think in the agenda to try to get people to be more productive, their characterization as either introverts or extroverts does not play any significant role whatsoever. There are extroverts that are, to put aptly, busy doing nothing. But because they're social and loud, we ascribe that to productivity. It's a twisted notion.

We all need to work to get out of the Complacency Zone.

Silent Things

The complacency zone is a space of uninformed self-satisfaction. A good enough state where we rationalize our inactivity. That is what needs correcting, what we should replace the famed 'comfort zone' with, because it is what is correct.

We can work to better ourselves from our comfort zones, whereas, in a complacency zone, we do not feel we need to do anything as we've already attained enough.

Now are there introverted traits that may falter you in your pursuits of a successful blogging goal, yes there are. So how, as I stated in the opening of this post, does someone who sucks at social interactions gain the traction they need in the blogging hemisphere?

I only have the one tip, which I’m now working into my routine, and if you have any pearls of wisdom to share, please have at it.

Engage.

Do not make excuses for those traits that hinder you; you’re feeding the complacency. As I’ve rightly said, nothing you don’t work for will come to you. If engagement is what you need to do to thrive as a blogger (spoiler alert; it is), ENGAGE.

Set a few hours aside every week to really connect with the blogs you follow and those that follow you. Go on your social media and join conversations about what you care about, connect and have conversations with other writers and bloggers.

For the longest time, I figured ‘if I don’t respond to the comments on my posts or chapters on my writing platforms it didn’t matter, as long as I updated regularly my readers will know I see and appreciate them.’

That’s a hindering trait that makes me complacent.

Respond to everyone who engages you, unless of course it’s hateful attacks, those don't deserve your time. Your readers will not know you appreciate them if you don't show them by telling them. Half the time, it's because we hardly ever know how to respond, but that itself is still not a reason; it's an excuse that feeds into the complacency.

Do what you must, do what is required and keep doing that.

This is where I leave you; your introversion only gets in the way of your pursuit if you let it. Step out of your complacency zone, and do what you need to get what you want. It's got nothing to do with your comfort zone, don't stop until you see results.