Following Our Own Advice: Are Bloggers Hypocrites or Human?

by Sam on April 28, 2009

As you scan through your RSS feeds, you’ll probably find that most of the posts you read offer some sort of insight or advice. We bloggers are pretty smart people, and many of us blog because we feel like we have something valuable to share, and we definitely do. But, do we always practice what we preach? If not, does that make us hypocrites? Should we only give advice that we will try, or have tried, ourselves? 

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always follow my own advice. To be honest, I think any blogger who says anything different is probably lying.  I write about things that have happened to me and what I’ve learned from them. The advice I give usually comes from those lessons, and if I haven’t followed it yet, it’s at least something that I hope to be able to follow in the future. But, sometimes life gets in the way, and I can’t always live my lessons. I don’t think this makes me a hypocrite, I think it makes me human, and that’s part of why my blog is so authentic in the first place. 

I’ve written about showing your friends some love, dealing with change, valuing what we have before we start looking for more, facing your emotions and letting yourself be sad…and these are all things that I believe are important, but just like you, I’m not always able to implement these philosophies into my everyday life. 

What about you? Do you always follow your own advice? What do you think of bloggers who don’t? Are we human or hypocrites? Where do we draw the line?

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  • http://bymelissa.wordpress.com/ Melissa

    I think it's human to be hypocritical. Everyone has been hypocritical at some point. I mean, therapists spend years learning about psychology, and with that knowledge they offer advice to their patients. But if they don't follow their own advice, does that disqualify them from providing advice to their patients? No. Just because you have knowledge and share that knowledge, but don't use it yourself…well, so what? Evveryone does it.

  • http://www.lifeschocolates.com sameve

    Melissa, thanks for reading and sharing your comments! You are totally right that it doesn't have to be one or the other, and the example of a therapist is a great one. Part of being human is realizing that we are imperfect, and all we can do is try to be the best version of ourselves.

  • http://www.mckinneyoatescereal.wordpress.com Marie

    I agree with Melissa that no advice would be given if we were expected to follow all of it. Hypocrisy is human. To be honest, I find blogs so much more interesting when they talk openly about how they struggle with the advice. Like you said, it translates as being authentic and authentic is always interesting.

    I will say that once I write about something I'm significantly more likely to follow through on the advice because I don't want to be hypocritical. So my blog is like the ultimate accountability partner.
    Great post and questions!

  • http://www.lifewithoutpants.com Matthew

    Sam – I think that as bloggers – we write about the ideal, we write about what we believe is best, what we strive to be, what we want to do, where we want to be. It's almost impossible to follow our blogging advice to a tee – and there going to be some times where we flat out contradict it – I don't think it's being hypocritical as much as it's being human – we're going to make mistakes, we're not always going to be inspired to inspire others, it's only natural.

    With that being said – I don't think you shoudl ever write about something that you don't believe in (unless you are intentionally arguing the point) – or at least, don't write about something you aren't willing to try yourself. There's nothing worse than giving advice that you aren't willing to take to heart yourself. I think this is when we fade from human to hypocrite.

  • http://littleinsomniaclolita.blogspot.com/ andhari

    I'm not always able to do my advices, but I'm trying. You're not a hypcrite if you believe what you say and try, although it's not 100% success yet.

  • http://www.lifeschocolates.com sameve

    @Matt–I totally agree that we should never write about something we don't believe in, that's where we lose our authenticity.

    @andhari–Definitely a great point. It's important for us to believe in what we say and be willing to try, regardless of whether our attempts are successful.

  • http://legaldunki.wordpress.com Kristina

    This was something that I too have wondered about and even blogged about it a few weeks back, i think it was a few weeks ago. I don't think I have come to a resolution yet.

  • http://www.lifeschocolates.com sameve

    @Marie–I think you say it best, “Hypocrisy is human,” and blogs are much more interesting if they are open and honest about the struggles we all face. It's great that your blog has motivated you so much. Thanks for your comments!

    @Matt–I totally agree that we should never write about something we don't believe in, that's where we lose our authenticity.

    @andhari–Definitely a great point. It's important for us to believe in what we say and be willing to try, regardless of whether our attempts are successful.

  • http://legaldunki.wordpress.com Kristina

    This was something that I too have wondered about and even blogged about it a few weeks back, i think it was a few weeks ago. I don't think I have come to a resolution yet.

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