Should You Talk About Life Away from Your Blogging Niche? |

Ryan Biddulph June 2, 2025 blogging tips 🕑 4 minutes read

Quepos, Costa Rica

No; if it is all about you but does not relate at all to your blogging niche.

Yes; if it is about you but inspires, entertains, educates readers and you can tie it into your niche.

For example, my blogging tips are borne of my life away from blogging. I learned how to blog from pros. Yet my life experiences – many away from blogging – molded my story-telling, direct teaching style and sometimes….ahem….colorful circumstances on the road.

Let me break it down for you…..

My Experiences

Who I am as a blogger and how I teach blogging leans heavily on experiences I gained away from my blog.

For whatever reason, I have lived a somewhat eclectic life in some regards.

Perhaps observing my experiences stir up some of your memories. Maybe my sharing increases your creativity, or reminds you of what you once achieved. Or perhaps you double down on desire-fire to reach your blogging goal after reading about some stuff I’ve achieved during my humble experience.

By no means is this bragging or even backdoor bragging.

I share to:

help to get to know me better
give you a glimpse into some circumstances molding my creativity
goad you to leave your comfort zone

Let’s get started.

Ryan Biddulph Away from Blogging From Paradise

From off-the-wall stuff, to bizarre links, to seeming achievements…..here we go! (I’ll try to do this chronologically)

John List was a parishioner where I went to Nursery School (starting off with the macabre but it gets better)
Lost 55-5 in grammar school basketball to a team whose coach became responsible for catching John List (I told you it got better)
Won awards during grammar school as an orator at a regional speaking club: my topic was “Challenge the Summit”
Nailed 13 three-pointers during a JV basketball game (Al Bundy Polk High Moment)
Shrugged 365 pounds for reps while bodybuilding, dipped 115 pounds and decline bench pressed 365 pounds (in case you thought I only lifted Chromebooks)
Worked out at home gym (temporarily at least) of former Mr. America Matt DuVall
People from my hometown include Olympian Milt Campbell (Bud Greenspan called him the greatest athlete who ever lived), George Clinton, Joe Black (who also shared my birthday), Mary McCormack (who also shares my birthday) Archibald Cox and Robert Shapiro
Did my black and white photo shoot with the photographer who discovered and shot model and Baywatch star Michael Bergin
Got a callback from Lee Jeans for a commercial
Received my BS in Meteorology
Gifted a scholarship to play basketball at community college
Community college teammate of future NBA player Horace Jenkins
worked as an inside sales rep at Software House International during its early years; owned by billionaire Thai Lee, who now runs the largest woman-owned business in the United States
worked for 4 years as a security guard at Port Newark – Port Elizabeth shipping terminal
visited 40 plus countries (plus 27 US states) as a 14 year digital nomad
did an interview with National Geographic about my Incident in India before the network pulled the plug on the show at the last minute
bitten by street kid in Kathmandu
chased by Thai lady boy street walkers
faced down Javanese spitting cobra, monocled cobra, centipede, poison dart frogs, bullet ants, black bears, porcupines, Sasquatch
urinated on by a monkey
showered with a bird-eating spider in Thailand
barfed on a bus in Burma
got my flip flops pilfered by a homeless man in Nicaragua
toured a ‘hood in Nicaragua with a drunk guy on an odyssey looking for cigarettes (like all experiences here, I swear this is true)
sat in a cage with three 400 pound tigers in Thailand
lived in a hut with thousands of army ants in Costa Rica (with the ants, for only 2 days)
got caught in a dust storm in Qatar
spent 4 weeks deep in the jungle of Costa Rica; a 3 hour hike away from the next human being, no electricity, outhouse for “relief”

Enough About Me

Being creative gets easier if you leave your comfort zone.

Say “yes” to what you value.

Say “no” to what you do not value.

I create a steady flow of content. My experiences away from blogging helped me to gain different perspectives, to ease into discomfort and to be imaginative.

Make no mistake about it; this post is about experience not achievement.

Truth be told, you can achieve little as the world judges it and experience life like few others.

Life is supposed to be a fun buffet.

Eat it up.

Never take it seriously or it will take you.

Have fun away from blogging and while blogging.

If you do go off-niche for a personal post, try to tie it a bit into your niche, at least.

Hold your readers in mind to keep their interest.

Tie it all up to be truly helpful for them, at the end of the day.

Feel free to share your inspiration.

You never know who you may inspire.