2 Years of Blogging: A Reflection
Hi friends, hope you’re well! You clicked on a good one today because I’m going to dive into where I’m at two years after the blog launched. But first, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to the 2020 when this pandemic project started!
When I was 20, I was living in the Tacoma which I hated and was about to start my junior year of college online, which I also hated. There were a lot more things going on that I hated in my life, but the thing is I felt like I had no control over any of it. I’m a happy-go-lucky girl so I kept trying to put a positive spin on things to no avail. One day, bored out of my mind, I decided to go for it and start a blog which I’ve always romanticized. People with blogs seemed like they had their life together. Maybe, I thought, if I started a blog I could become one of those girls instead of a girl whose life was falling apart that year. No time like the present!
Writing and I go way back. I grew up in a broken home that I didn’t have physical escapes from. Writing kind of became that escape for me, because I could do it anytime, anywhere. Growing up I felt like I had no one to talk to, truly talk to, so I started writing down my thoughts and I’ve never stopped. It started with poems, and short stories, and then somewhere along the way I got a journal and started a diary. I go to college for journalism, and writing’s still one of my favorite parts about this crazy job.
When my life suddenly shifted and came to a halt during the pandemic, I knew I was going to try taking this writing hobby over to a blog. But you know how some dreams feel so out of touch that you never really see it happening for yourself? For some reason that was blogging. It seemed like the HARDEST thing to do in the moment, probably because it really was. I always thought I wasn’t sophisticated enough for a blog, because bloggers are a certain type of people who have their life together more than the girl I was in 2020 who had her life falling apart.
The hardest part was the beginning. I once read a book that said something like “I wonder how anyone survives their beginnings” and I honestly agree. The beginning of something new is always soooo hard and getting this blog off the ground kind of felt like it was never gonna happen at times.
I didn’t have anybody to help me out so I had to figure out all the basics on my own. Where to host the website. The domain for the website. SEL for the website. Graphic design. How to fix coding mistakes. It was a LOT. My brain got a workout everyday for about 7 months before I finally launched the site. And even then, a part of me was holding my breath that it wouldn’t all come crashing down with a simple slip up of a button. Building a website from scratch was 10x harder than I thought.
And I’ll admit, even with alllllll of that work, the blog still doesn’t look how I want it to. But it looks good enough and I’m happy with that because at least I have a blog to write on. At least I did the damn thing. I fulfilled one of my childhood dreams and I’m so proud of that because making your dreams a reality isn’t easy stuff. I started this blog for myself, and I’ve kept blogging for two years because it’s something I chose to do for nobody else but me.
I do a lot of things for other people every single day. This is my favorite thing I did selfishly. Even though it made me want to pull out my hair for 7 months, I’m so happy I didn’t give up on it. Life’s too short to make excuses. I had every single one to fall back on that year because it was one of the most difficult years of my life. But you know what? If I listened to those excuses, future me wouldn’t have a blog today. Yes it’s hard in the moment, but it won’t be that hard forever.
I remember the day I put the website out into the world. It felt like such a big moment but I was in a really bad headspace. I was burnt out and stressed like never before. I didn’t really have time to celebrate, but I quickly sped home and popped a bottle of sparkling cider with my family. I snapped a pic, didn’t finish my drink, and sped all the way back home.
Today I got to celebrate the blog’s birthday with one of my best friends and it was one of those rare early spring days that was so beautiful outside it felt like all was okay in the world for a moment. I got to catch up with my friend over cake and multiple drinks for hours. I wasn’t rushed, and I wasn’t stressed. Life was good. I was so happy to celebrate the moment, and I’m so happy I’ve always followed my dreams even when it wasn’t easy. Cheers to doing more of that in 2023 and cheers to seeing the journey through to better days in the future.
Sincerely,
Solen xxx