Sukaina of Sips and Spoonfuls recently blogged about a topic that resonates so closely to what I feel as a blogger.
The post talks about how Sukaina got an email from one of her readers and how the reader thought she had a perfect life with everything about it perfect- “the perfect house, the perfect blog post, the perfect meal, the perfect recipe, that perfect image, the words or story that sounds just perfect.” But, of course, as she points out in her post, in reality, things are far from perfect.
For me, Sukaina’s blog is perfect. Her recipes look and sound great. The pictures are bang on in terms of styling, lighting, sharpness, and focus. The video she made is still, in my opinion, one of the best cooking videos I have seen. So it was refreshing to know that she goes through the same doubts as I do, that like me, she too is constantly struggling with getting everything perfect and somehow that more often than not does not happen.
Take this post for example. I made and took pictures of this “oats khichdi” a few days back. I was not happy with the pics. So I decided I will have a go at them again. I made the khichdi again, and I had a picture in mind as to how I wanted to style it (which I did even the first time but this time I improved on it). I tried different surfaces, different stylings but somehow what I wanted I couldn’t achieve, mainly because that would have required props I did not have. So I ended up with these pics that I am posting today and I am just not satisfied. None of them were how I had imagined it to be. But, since the recipe is good I decided to post anyway with what I have, mainly because of what Sukaina had to say.
I know I have come a long way from where I started almost 3 years back, but I still look at blogs and sigh to V, when will I be THAT good!
I also know there are people who have started blogs with the perfect pictures, the perfect recipe and everything about their blog being perfect; but I have come to terms with the fact that while some people catch on quickly, some take their time. I am the latter, but then, I try every day to improve myself and I think that says for some thing. So even though I am not happy with what I have to put forth today, I know tomorrow I will improve on it. But because of my insecurities I should not let a good recipe go by and as Sukaina puts it:
There would be no blog if that moment of perfection is coveted. Perfect is not always possible. And that shouldn’t be our aim. If you succeed each time, you will stop trying. And if you stopped trying, you would stop creating.
