“One dimensional labels limit your potential”
I started my blog around a year ago, it began as just a collection of my writing that I had been working on that I wanted to showcase because I felt brave enough to share with the rest of the world. Then in October I saw an advertisement to apply to be a blogger for the Birmingham Hippodrome which was ideal for me as all you needed was to have a blog and an interest in theatre. As I was studying musical theatre at college, I had a strong performing arts background and a passion for theatre, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to combine my two favourite things, writing and theatre.
My blog has progressed profusely, as I’ve upgraded my site and boosted my views I’ve started to take it a lot more seriously. I’ve been contacted by other theatres to write reviews for their shows and I’ve displayed a talent for theatre critiquing.
As I started looking to the future and where I want to go with my blog, it was only when I was trying to write an “about” page, I realised that I couldn’t describe my blog. Yes, I write a lot about theatre and I know what I am talking about therefore people in the industry take me seriously, but my blog isn’t a theatre blog. It’s also filled with a lot of writing about issues that affect me or inspire me, there are a few posts about books, some about travel and others about anything I just have the urge to write about.
I then felt stuck, I felt my blog had nowhere to go because it didn’t fit into any specific “blogging category”, I just wrote about what I wanted to write about. I’ll admit, this made me feel like I’d slightly failed, that my blog had no direction. I felt like readers who are engrossed by the theatre reviews probably couldn’t care less about posts I may write about feminism, and vise versa.
When I was stuck in this rut, I luckily came across the powerful and reassuring Venus campagin #UseYourAnd, a video that went viral encouraging girls and women around the world that they don’t have to abide by one label and they can be whatever they want to be. It states that “you are polished nails and a polished mind” and we can be a “soccer playing ballerina”, it tells us that we can be pretty and smart, sporty and fashionable. The advert motivates people to use their and to step outside the stereotypes and display all the attributes that make them who they are.
I really connected to this advert as I felt that in order to be taken seriously in the theatre industry I had to make my blog soley a theatre blog, but I was wrong. I know that I am highly knowledgeable when it comes to theatre and I’ll continue to convey my passion of theatre through my blog, however I will also express my other passions through the writing on my other posts.
“When someone labels you this or that, use your “and” to take a stand”
I shouldn’t feel the pressure to limit myself to labels in order to compete with other bloggers or theatre critics out there. The #UseYourAnd video really inspired me to stop battling with the word “or” in my head when I can replace it with “and”.
I am a theatre blogger and a lifestyle blogger and a travel blogger and writer and a feminist and one day I’ll be a Journalist too.
