Luxarazzi turns seven this year. That's seven years of big weddings and small snippets of news about the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg and, by now, three and a half years of not as big weddings and smaller snippets of news about the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. And as it is the case with Middle-European weather, it's not 365 days of sunsine in Luxarazzi Land. Over the course of seven years you do not come home every night and look forward to cover yet another audience or visit to some obscure company. Truth be told, it feels more and more like a struggle.
Luxarazzi has become more as anyone of us ever expected over the last seven years. I don't think one of us even expected for Luxarazzi to last seven years. It has brought us joy, it was fun and we formed great friendships that go beyond this little space on the world wide web. But doing something for seven years, it becomes more and more difficult to still see it for what it is - a hobby - and not a second (or third) job. None of us have ever made any money from Luxarazzi. We use our free time to share our knowledge, news and events.
Back when Luxarazzi started, there was no place to go else to find English-language news and history on the Grand Ducal Family. Somehow royal watching was different back then, it was all about sharing that knowledge with others. Over the years, royal watching changed. Today, it's about whether you like a person or you don't. They either have to be the best thing since sliced bread or pure evil. There's hardly anything inbetween. If I voiced my opinions about the members of the Grand Ducal and Princely Families, you would probably wonder why I run this blog. But then I remember that I do not know them. None of us do. We base our opinions on snippets of their lives, often just pictures - and seriously, you can't judge a person by that. It's something that long bothered me and the reason why I hardly participate in discussions these days.
My interest in royalty has always come in waves. There have always been times over the past seven years when I didn't keep up with anyone else than the Liechtensteins and Luxembourgs (and that I did just for the sake of this blog). There have also been times when I spent every waking minute on learning about another royal or noble family. To be honest though, I'm currently in the deepest and longest trough of the sea of motivation to continue Luxarazzi in the past seven years. This is not to mean that the blog will shut down tomorrow or next month, but I have started to seriously question the things we do.
It's not the first time I thought about stopping but my thoughts have never revolved around the topic for so long. I can't say why that is exactly. Maybe it is a certain fatigue after seven years of basically writing about the same stuff over and over again. (I could really use a big wedding or something! Now where can I petition to make that happen?!) It just feels like same old, same old. Nothing new, nothing fresh. There may be 99 nice comments about what we do but it is that one comment that gets you down. Of course nobody has to like what we do but it's hard sometimes to deal with people's expectations and complaints. After all, this is just a hobby.
A hobby that I couldn't have continued without the help of a great few. A very special thank you goes out to Bonnie for all the daily blogging you do and to Nikki for always cheering me on behind the scenes. And thank you to the millions of site visitors over the years. I understood long ago that we were never going to be the blog that has heaps of comments on their posts but the fact that you keep coming back must mean that you like us.
And while this may have sounded like a farewell post, it actually isn't. I'm also fairly certain that it comes across as way too negative than actually intended. Like I said, I'm not going to quit Luxarazzi just yet. In fact, I thought about taking a hiatus but I'm actually afraid that I won't miss it as much as I expect and that taking a hiatus would mean goodbye - and I'm not ready to say goodbye. I know that there are hundreds and thousands of blogs that get abandoned all over the internet every day. Luxarazzi has been a part of my life for the past almost seven years (coming on board in 2010) - and it simply means too much to leave it behind.
So instead, I and us need new motivation and that's how YOU come into play. Please tell me and us: What do you like about Luxarazzi? What don't you like about Luxarazzi? What would you change about Luxarazzi if you could? What would you like us to add to Luxarazzi? What have you always wanted to say about Luxarazzi? There are like a gazillion ways to contact us: Either do so via Twitter, Facebook, E-Mail or simply leave us a comment below! It is much appreciated!
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