Happy June! I can’t believe the year is flying by so quickly! I hope you’re meeting all of your targets, achieving all your goals and getting all you wished for in 2017!

I just wanted to pop in and share you with you a personal hurdle I recently overcame.

Since I was 17-years-old I’ve worked as a local news reporter and writer and fell in love with journalism and media. It’s definitely my passion! When I transitioned out of mainstream news and became a freelance TV host, writer and running my website full-time, for some reason I found it hard to call myself a *coughs* blogger!

Sounds weird right?

But it feels like everything I worked for in school and on my beats as a news reporter was being watered down by the word blogger.

It felt like I was turning my back on my real true passion and career to take on this new and trendy role. I worked hard to be a well known and well respected writer and journalist and I wasn’t ready to give up the title.

Don’t get me wrong,  I always knew that social media and blogging would be big business and would come to be widely respected. But at the time I wasn’t ready to fully embrace it.

During my three years as a freelancer, I was able to grow my audience and following, be consistent in my craft and have social media influence that brands see valuable and want to be a part of. I’ve written for magazines, gotten featured in international magazines, written for websites, collaborated with brands, put out a blog at least once a week and stayed super active on social media with tips, tricks and tales.

Read more about my feature in Essence Magazine here! 

I was blogging. I was a blogger.

I am a blogger! 

Sometimes we get so stuck on labels and stuck on the things we used to do, that we downplay all the amazing work we’re doing now. I saw myself only as the TV reporter and writer who made my whole family proud and smile when they saw me on the nightly news and it was that title I held on to and jealously guarded.

I sometimes wondered what my colleagues would think, how they would now see me, the blogger; would they respect this new way of sharing my craft?

But, one day I cared…and then one day I didn’t. I soon realised that all that matters is what I thought, how I saw myself and how I wanted to express my craft. I realised that I was happy, fulfilled, not stressed, not working on anyone’s time, mapping out my own future, planning my own days, setting up my own schedules, writing the stories I wanted to write, taking on the gigs I liked best, sleeping in as late as I wanted, staying up as late as I needed to finish a piece, travelling when I wanted and living as I’ve always dreamed. And if that made me a blogger, then so be it!

Yes, I am a blogger. 

This weekend I fully embraced my role and title as blogger, both mentally and physically. I logged into my Facebook and Instagram accounts and changed my titles from “journalist” to “blogger,” because that’s what I am now and I love it.

Check out my Instagram page here and my Facebook page here and follow me to keep up with the fun!

Could I still write a great news piece and anchor the 7pm news? Heck yea! But it’s not what I’m doing now. Am I still a journalist? Yes, I’ll be one until the day I die. But, I’m a blogger too.

Don’t let fancy titles or a way of life from a time now past keep you from fully embracing who and what you are now!

[bctt tweet=”You don’t always have to give up something to gain another. We can have the best of both worlds. ” username=”iamianthia”]

Do you relate to this? Are you struggling with embracing who and what you are now? Comment below and let’s chat!

** this post was originally a newsletter I sent out to my private mailing list, but thought it would be great to share here as well. I usually share some real personal tidbits there and go a bit more in depth about my journey and course. I’d love for you to join my tribe and see more pieces like this! Just scroll up on this page, head to “Let’s get connected,” drop your email and hit subscribe!!!