My blogging journey

My journey so far: peaks and valleys.

"will it be easy? nope. worth it? absolutely!"

Starting up with a blog in third year of graduation wasn’t easy, in a four and a half years Bachelors in Physiotherapy program. You know a lot of things but you still lack many.

When I decided to join physiotherapy, I wasn’t much aware of what actually I need to do as a professional. Just the same way my family and friends didn’t know much about what this profession actually holds. All I knew was exercise, but trust me, it’s much more than that.

As I began to understand physiotherapy slowly, by the end of my first year or second year, people around me began to ask questions about it. The simplest of questions like, why do we use heat? How does heat relieves pain? Heat or ice? How can I be benefited with a therapeutic machine? How does exercise help us? And many more.

India is still lagging behind in understanding the role and importance of physiotherapy. People still prefer to go for a medicine instead of spending an hour in physical activity to relieve pain. The exercise sessions are often long and people are impatient to wait for the results to come.

5^th of June 2016, with the best of my knowledge and whatever I knew and learnt about physiotherapy and its use so far, I laid the first stone.

My aim behind writing about physiotherapy was solely to spread awareness. I did not know, whether I was ready to take such a step at this point of time, but I just decided to go with it. I was growing each day, with each class in college and with each article. I was learning, how to write. People often say “you must read a lot before you write”, well, I was never fond of reading, I was never a reader and I’m still not. My idea behind writing is just to pen down your experience, your feelings, and the inner voice that comes when you actually sit in front of a computer and begin to write. That’s something which grows along with you.

Finding a niche….

When I began writing a blog post, I was just writing about physiotherapy, disorders and their managements as you can read in my early posts. But, as I understood slowly what blogging actually requires, I changed my niche a bit. Now, I try to communicate with my readers. I use the simplest of language that my readers can understand. I now write articles my readers can relate with. I write whatever I encounter, whatever people tell me as a patient, as a family or friend. I try to find my own way of treatment and I jot it down to share the same with my readers. By the end of the year 2016, I took a deep dive into blogging and was finding solutions for my readers. My writing style was improved, people were now connecting to it. Hence, I chose my target audience to be the common people, who actually need solutions to their day to day problems in a layman language. And that's  how PTalert found its niche. Along with a physiotherapist, I would love to be a blogger anytime.

The mandatory criticism…..

Okay, so these people are always around you, keeping a watch on you and finding a reason to criticize whatever you do. “This has not helped people earlier”, “how far will this even take you?”, “blogging is a piece of cake, anyone can do that”,”don’t waste your time”, “physiotherapy and blogging?”, “Blogging!?, wha..What?”

Pheww…..

A “pheww” kind words I heard all this while. But there was one thought constantly running through my mind, if it doesn’t benefit you, it doesn’t harm you either. Your blog might not be good today, but don’t stop writing in a thought that it will never be good enough for people to read. Write, when people say you are not good at it, write when nobody is reading your blog. Keep writing even if someone say you shouldn’t. All you need is the affirmation.

How blogging helped me….

As I began to write, many people began to connect with my writing. People even suggested me a few topics which they were finding a solution for, and it eventually helped them. As I grew in writing, my contribution in health and fitness magazines was welcomed. I occupied a corner in some of the magazines and some health oriented websites as well. This made me learn more and more about my profession. If you have been following me since my early blog posts, you have been learning with me.

Me as a blogger today…..

I am still learning to grow each day as a blogger. My blog might not be much popular at this stage, but its successful I believe. What I always wanted to convey, I am able to convey that. I am able to spread awareness, I am able to connect with a few readers of mine. That’s all what keeps me going. So, if you want to be a blogger, be a blogger. Start today, not worrying about the end results. Everything that you do, has ups and downs, I experienced some lows and highs too. All you need is an idea, an objective, and strong will. Don’t let external criticism affect you and lower your self-confidence. Be what you want to be, do what you want to do. Start today, just like I did a year ago.

Take care.