Am I too old to blog?

In exactly 7 months I will be 40 years old, but this is a question I first asked myself when I was 36.

I didn’t start to wonder if I were too old to blog because I was closer to 40 than 30. I started to ask myself this question because I came across a blogging contest that I thought I would be perfect for only to realize that it was only open to women under 35.

When I saw the age limit I was pissed and ready to protest. But I didn’t, quite frankly, because I had too much other stuff to do.

So, then I wondered if busy schedules were the reason many women in their late 30s and beyond didn’t bother with blogging. Most of my blogging buddies from back in the day abandoned their sites long ago to focus on raising children, thriving in their careers, or giving back to their communities.

They’ve outgrown blogging. Shouldn’t I have outgrown it, too?

More Than a Hobby

For me, blogging is and always has been more than a hobby. Through blogging, I found my platform. When I started blogging I used my online space to discuss the things that mattered most to me like faith, feminism, and fitness. And soon my blog got the attention of media outlets that wanted me to write for their print and online publications, thus giving me an even bigger platform.

Blogging also helped me find my people. Because of blogging, I started See Jane Write and through this community, I met some of my closest friends.

Blogging has also helped me live out my purpose. Since I was a teenager I’ve known that I wanted to use writing to empower women and girls. But with the ever-changing state of journalism and the publishing industry, I started to wonder what it would look like to actually live out that mission. Blogging is my way. Not only do I seek to uplift women with the stories I put out into the blogosphere, but I give women the knowledge and support they need to share their own stories, too.

And I found a way to turn my passion into profit by turning my blog into a business.

For these reasons and more I’m going to keep blogging whether the world thinks I’m too old to do so or not.

Related Reading: Blog Like Everybody’s Reading

American media and society have a tendency to perpetuate the idea that women are irrelevant after the age of 35, but I call bullshit.

Every day I am inspired by writers, actresses, and other creative women in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.

Women over 35 are not irrelevant. Women over 35 are not invisible. And I’m going to keep showing up online to make this known.

The idea that we women should sit down and shut up after we reach a certain age is ridiculous because the older we are the wiser we are and the more experiences we have to share. I need women who are older than I am to share their stories. Their stories are my compass, my map, my guide.

If you have wondered if you’re too old to blog or write, I hope you will remember these words from Roxane Gay:

Write as well as you can, with as much heart as you can, whenever you can. Artistic success, in all its forms, is not merely the purview of the young. You are not a late bloomer. You are already blooming.