Several weeks ago, while I was reading all I could find about starting a blog or a website, I stumbled upon a popular post on choosing a blog niche that is easy to monetize. There were more than 100 blog topic ideas that were marked as highly profitable.
All but one were focused on us, and us only: our hobbies, our career, our finances, our fashion, our diet, our health, and fitness. The only topic among more than 100 that had a slight note of something else than people in focus was creating eco-friendly homes.
That list made me think. Humans are highly self-aware beings. They have a strong need to connect with others, to create a circle of people where they belong and where they feel truly loved.
I think everyone wants that, even the strong, independent, “tough” ones.
I also want that, and I am happy to have it. And, although seeing only the human-related topics on the list with profitable blog ideas made me a little sad at first, I soon realized it is probably true. Probably the most profitable blog topics are the ones that focus on humans, the ones that give solutions to human problems and offer ways to improve different parts of our lives.
We are self-aware, we do seek ideas and solutions to our problems. In fact, our own problems will seem more serious than other people’s problems most of the time. If my friend makes a mistake, I will try to comfort him and try to explain gently that everyone has flaws, and nobody can do everything perfectly. But if I do the same mistake, I will probably be disappointed and harsh to myself.
As we are focused on our imperfections, we put a lot of effort into seeking advice and methods on how to improve and be better:
- mentally, how to build up self-confidence, develop positive thinking or self-care;
- physically, how to do the right exercise for your body type, how to take good care of skin, how to solve health issues, which diet to choose and which supplements to use;
- in our career, how to find your passion, how to improve your skills, how to speak and look at the job interview, how to write a CV or ask for a raise;
- in our finances, how to manage them, how to save, how to invest;
- in our relationships, how to go through different stages of our social life – friendships, love relationships, weddings, pregnancies, divorce, marriage, etc.
- in our hobbies, how to find them, develop them, and master them.
There is almost no place for nature, except when it is a part of our hobbies, for instance as a “landscape” in “landscape photography”, or “eco” in “eco-friendly home”.
I do not blame people, it is just the way it is – all of us feel a similar instinct to protect and help our close ones and ourselves, putting humans in the first place. If someone close to me had a problem that caused trouble, whether it was about their way of thinking, finance or health, I would also rather search for any possible solution to the problem than read about environmental problems in another country or on another continent.
I am only human, and I would do anything to make it better for my close ones. There is no more important thing than that.
But nature, it brings something unearthly.
It waits to give us peace, inspiration, home, if we just let ourselves feel it.
It is here when nobody else is. In the beginning and at the end. Early in the morning and in the middle of the night. It is always somewhere there, waiting silently for us to recognize its power and beauty beyond this world.
Just like that evening near the sea. The entire day was cloudy until the sun descended and broke its way under the clouds. I have always longed to see sunsets in African savannas, fiery red skies beyond the silhouettes of tall lonely trees. This scene made me feel just like I imagined. Calm, strong, grateful.
Nature reveals many feelings in us that we forget we possess.
Some of those feelings are hidden inside, and nature has the power to show us that they exist.
Every time I went to the seaside, the same question arose: How could I ever live in the city, so far from this?
Life in cities made us forget the feeling of a deep bond with our nature. We forget all those hidden feelings, the hurry is constant, we become impatient and restless, the number of everyday distractions is rather high.
Not only we forget about nature, we also forget about ourselves. We forget to listen to our thoughts, to be alone.
But as soon as we go there, go into the woods or take a walk by the seaside in the early morning, we remember how good it felt – how right it felt.
Many people find walks in the nature therapeutic. Nature gives us time, quiet and serenity to feel, think and act better.
Maybe none of the facts about environmental problems, pollution and climate change will change us.
Maybe we just have to spend more time in nature. Because if everybody found what I found there, if everybody let nature bring profound beauty in their lives, we would all take good care of our planet.