Hey Owlets,
One of the best things about my little corner of the internet is getting to chat to you every day, but every now and then you’ll ask me something that really makes me stop and think for a minute. Today someone asked me why I was still talking about travel when it’s something that we’re being told not to do? Why would I encourage something that could promote the spread of a virus that’s managing to make it’s way across the globe without us making it worse? When the world has been thrown into chaos and countries are going into lockdown, isn’t talking about travel kind of taboo now? Well the short answer is no, I’m not going to stop.
You know I’m always 100% honest with you, so let’s just get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Yes, this is what I choose to do with my life and I do, on occasion, get asked to promote things. If I stopped blogging right now I wouldn’t be able to go and get a job because no one wants to hire staff in these uncertain times. Having said that, you know I’ve never been that person who does this for money (trust me, there really isn’t any in it!) - it’s first and foremost always been because I love what I do.
Since I stepped on my first cruise ship back in 2017, travelling has become a huge passion for me. Travel is hands down one of the best things I’ve ever had the chance to experience in life - being able to meet new people, explore new places and experience different cultures is an incredible, and totally unique, feeling. I think at this point it would be fair to call it an obsession, rather than a passion. However, as much as I love travelling the thing that makes it special is that when I’m at home in between trips I get to sit down and talk to you. There’s something magical about getting to share my experiences as well as learning from yours, and as well as helping me to be smarter about travelling, it keeps the post-trip blues at bay and helps me to get inspired and then excited for where I’m going next.
When I asked you how you felt about me continuing to talk about travelling, someone said they felt like it was a bit irresponsible and I should be using my platform to promote travelling safely and keeping you up to date with the latest advice, but there’s a few reasons why I’m not doing this. First of all, you know I’ve never been one to talk about what’s going on in the world - my blog has always been about escapism and inspiring you to make the most of your time- yes, I occasionally give you frank advice (like in my Safety in Morocco article) but again, that’s only related to helping you choose where to travel.
Having spoken to a lot of you I know that hearing about *that virus* on every news channel, website and social media platform makes you feel more anxious at an already stressful time, and I refuse to contribute to that. Finally, and most importantly, I’m not a medical professional. Like you I’m sat watching the news and scrolling through Twitter with absolutely no idea what’s going on. If I’m in the same boat as you I can’t offer you any new advice, and when I have a louder voice than someone with no following I’m even more conscious of not wanting to say the wrong thing. If you don’t know what to say then it’s always better to keep quiet and listen instead, which is what I’m doing.
I will admit, going through all of this has made me wonder if I still want to only post travel content and I kind of do, but from now on I don’t want to be so strict with myself. I got excited and started only posting travel content when I came back from my first trip, but if I’m totally honest with myself I miss posting a look book or writing a blog post rambling about my life, and it’s taken having this downtime and worrying about running out of content for me to assess what it is I really want to be talking about. I’m still always going to be a travel-focused blogger, but I might throw in the odd unrelated thing now and again, just because I feel like it.
At the end of the day, passion for something doesn’t go away just because you can’t do it for a while. If you truly love what you’re doing then it can wait, and when you go back to doing what makes you happy you’ll probably appreciate it a lot more. The world might be a bit of a scary place at the moment, but I still love travel and nothing is going to stop me - it’s just getting delayed a little.
I’m not going to be travelling at the moment because it’s not fair to put more vulnerable people at risk, but you can bet I will be the second it’s safe again. For now, thinking about where I’m going to go next, scrolling through travel hashtags on Twitter and reading destination guides is helping me choose where to go next and is giving me something to look forward to.
For now, I’m going to be curled up in my pyjamas, writing, looking at photos, editing videos and planning my next trip. Whatever you do, look after yourselves, your friends and your family, and plan what you’re going to do to give yourself something to look forward to.
Love and Feathers,
The Owlet 💜
You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say; it's a hoot!