the beginning of my blog…

I’ve been working on this blog for a few months now, and I wasn’t really sure what I was doing when I first started.  To be honest, I don’t 100% know what I’m doing now, but I do know that I have gained quite a bit of knowledge since I first began.  

My main reason for starting a blog when I first had the idea (technically a suggestion from Nick) was just to keep family and friends updated on my chaotic, ever-changing life.  I was pretty nervous to start a blog, especially because I had absolutely no clue where to start, but luckily, I think I figured the basics out pretty well. (:

Now, I have a whole list of reasons for why I continue to post on this blog and why I’m trying to post more on other social media platforms (TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest).  If you’re thinking about starting a blog – or just trying something else that’s brand new to you – maybe you can relate to some of these reasons!  If you do, I highly encourage you to just go for it and see what’s possible if you step out of your comfort zone! (:

Why I started a blog…

To have fun!

Around the time I decided to start a blog, I was not having a lot of fun… I was stressed about school, work, my daily routine, traveling home for the summer, wedding planning… basically everything.  I felt so burnt out, and I wanted that to change.  I was unsure of just about all the things going on in my life at the time (this was when I was trying to decide if I wanted to take a gap year or not), and I needed something different.  So I knew if I started a blog, I was NOT going to make it into a whole thing that required all my time and energy; I was over that sort of stuff.  I wanted it to be FUN, enjoyable, something I looked forward to doing, so that’s what I did. (:

To try something new (and a little scary) + push myself out of my comfort zone

As I mentioned before, I wanted something brand new – never been done before (by me), but I also wanted a challenge, so I decided this would be the perfect thing.  I love writing and learning new things, but I have a hard time opening up to people and sharing a lot of details about my life.  However, I knew that I wanted to be the kind of person who was vulnerable through social media platforms, so I was going to have to push myself out of my comfort zone – which has been a little scary but also rewarding.

To help people

One of the things I really want to do with any job I have is help people, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into my blog.  I’m hoping that by being open and honest with my thoughts and experiences, I can help someone in some way. (:

To (hopefully) make people smile (:

In addition to helping people, I also want to make people smile (or laugh for bonus points), so if I’ve accomplished that through a screen, you should totally let me know. (;

To keep people in the loop

Since I live pretty far from just about everyone in my family, I thought that a blog would be a great way to also keep people in the loop – especially because I feel like my life is going 100 miles an hour and it’s hard to update everyone all the time. (:

To learn a new skillset

I really like learning new things, but I don’t often make the time to actually learn them.  I’ll often say I want to try something new without following through, so when I decided to start a blog, I knew I had to follow through on it.  And I’m really glad I did!

To be 100% myself

Another thing I’ve struggled with for a while is being 100% true to myself.  I’ll often agree with people just because I don’t like confrontation, or I’ll only act super hyper and crazy around people I know really well and am very comfortable around.  I’m also a super big people-pleaser.  And, just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with being those things (to an extent), but I don’t love this about me.  I want to be so comfortable and confident in who I am that I’m not worried about what other people are going to think about me if I disagree with them, or if I don’t act the way they’d want/expect me to act.  I’m working on this still, but I have noticed myself start to open up and “come out of my shell” with people much sooner after meeting them than I used to, so I know it’s working. (; But not only do I want to be like this in person, I also want to embody this online.  So I’ve been working on posting what I want without worrying too much about what some random person (who’s opinion I don’t even really care about) is going to think about it.  And if there’s anything you took away from this post, I hope it’s that it is none of your business what other people think of you. (: