What Happens When A Travel Blogger Can’t Travel?

I can feel the beginning of an identity crisis coming on.

Logically, it seems like something most mums-to-be and new mums must go through, so I wanted to share it with you. Because I guess becoming a parent does affect your identity at quite a deep level.

I mean, we’ve spent our lives forming our identities out of the work we do, our hobbies, our friends, the things we love, the labels we give ourselves. A lot of the time it’s how we see our self-worth, how we value ourselves.

So how do I currently see myself?

I’m a Sales Support Manager at a sports fashion company after studying Fashion Management at London College of Fashion and working my way up in the Retail industry. After setting up my blog in 2012, I’ve seen being a Travel Blogger as a key part of my identity too, writing about the awesome places I travel to and being lucky enough to work with brands I admire every now and then. I’m a native Londoner that moved out to Milton Keynes for a change of scenery, fell in love and stayed there. I also love colourful dresses, street food, festivals and going to quirky events with my pals.

That’s kinda who I am in a paragraph.

The identity crisis is coming from the new label I’m about to take on – “Mum”.

The thought of being someone’s mother doesn’t actually intimidate me that much. I think I have a natural maternal instinct, I’m organised and capable. I know I can do it. And dare I say it – I think I’ll be pretty good at it.

The problem is coming from the fact that I always thought that this new “Mum” label would just effortlessly be added onto my life amongst all the other ways I define myself. It would just be another part of my identity.

But with maternity leave approaching, I’m getting anxious about all of those other labels. Because for those months I take off with my new baby, I won’t be working in the fashion industry anymore, however temporary that is. I won’t be travelling for a while so how am I going to be a Travel Blogger? I won’t be able to flit off to quirky events with my friends or buy new colourful dresses all the time either.

Hence my dilemma. Is mum going to be my only label for a while?

I know, I know, being a mum is the most important job in the world, blah, blah, blah. But I get satisfaction and fulfilment out of both of my jobs. When I have a productive day at work, do blog emails on my lunch, cook a delicious dinner at home, bang out a blog post in the evening and catch up on Grey’s Anatomy all in one day, I feel like superwoman and I could take over the world. #GirlBoss and all that. So I don’t want to lose that part of myself.

Again, I think this must be something most mums-to-be think about. I know things won’t be like this forever, although they will of course change. But you adapt and find ways to fit it all in right?

Well I’ll guess I’ll learn whether or not that’s true soon enough.

But it’s that first year of motherhood I’m thinking about.

I always thought that although I wouldn’t be working my day job on maternity leave, I would still keep up with my blog, maybe even put more of an effort into it, y’know? But it’s only just occurred to me that I’m probably not going to travel for a while…

I have content planned up until Christmas, but then what? What does a travel blogger do when they can’t travel?

My first option is to just take a break from it. But like I said I feel like I’m already losing the day job part of my identity for this part of my life. I feel like that just makes me want to cling to the blogging thing, like a security blanket. I won’t be a totally different person if I’m still writing about festivals on the internet.

My second option is to just blog about my life. I write about things to express myself and get them off my chest and to be honest, just to process how I’m feeling about things. So I could do that. But then does that alienate the people who follow me for city break ideas or hostel recommendations? They don’t care about my life as a new mum, right?

Or finally I could continue to write about travel but from a slightly different perspective. Instead of writing about that cool road trip I just took, I can write about why road trips are good for the soul. Instead of writing about specific recent adventures, I can write more general posts about the top destinations to visit based on my past experiences.

It’s a tricky one. And to be honest I feel like I’m probably going to do a mix of all three.

My plan is to take a few weeks out after the birth to become acquainted with my new offspring and, y’know, learn how to keep a miniature human alive. But then I’m going to write about a mix of travel and lifestyle. I guess like I currently do but it might be a bit more weighted on the lifestyle side for a while.

Although, however shallow it sounds, I am worried that I am pretty much depleted of Instagram travel photos, so I may have to sacrifice that part of the travel blogging gig for a while…

Ugh, I don’t know, I guess it’s just a fear of the unknown. Isn’t that always the way?

But to be honest, I’d love a bit of feedback from you, the person that has read my little rant about life right here. What do you think I should write about over the next year? Or should I just take a break?

Let me know what you think, either in the comments below, on my Instagram or Twitter, or email me at hello@heelsinmybackpack.com. I’d love to know your thoughts on this, kiddo!