Seven Years Later

I started blogging seven years ago. SEVEN YEARS AGO.

geez louise, it’s crazy to think about that.

In the beginning I was just having fun, making crafts, showing off whatever crazy outfit I put together that day, and generally just experimenting. It was great. Then that whole blog craze kicked up – remember that? Everyone and their moms were blogging, and all the sudden businesses were throwing money at bloggers like it was a rap music video in the 90s. It felt like you had to blog every day of the week and had to find your niche like, yesterday.

I tried for a while to keep up, and even had a bit of moderate success, but eventually life caught up to me and I felt a little burnt out on the whole thing. I also ended up loosing my .com URL, but we won’t talk about that. Over the last few years I’ve been more focused on my career, my marriage, and also refocusing on my health and figuring out what that means for me. Blogging fell way to the bottom of the list, and most times, off of it completely.

When I did try to blog I found it was not something I was passionate about. Or, at least, I wasn’t passionate about blogging the same types of things I had in the past. I do still love putting together an outfit on occasion, but style is not something I think too much about anymore. Crafts, well, let’s just say the minimalist in me has put a stop to making anything I think might not be used. All of those things were great for me to explore in the past, but they’re just not me anymore.

So. Where does that leave me? I’ve thought at times about completely shutting down my blog. I mean, we’re well past the prime of blogs here. Yes, there still some mega blogs left that still make it work, but the day of the little blogger getting big seems to be behind us.

You know what? I kind of like that.

All that pressure of needing to “build your blog” is gone. True, there are way less people reading blogs these days, but is that really what it all needs to be about? I don’t think so. The blog started as a way for me to experiment and push myself, not have followers or make money, so why can’t it be that again?

One of my big goals for 2019 is to make writing a daily habit. I used to absolutely love daily journaling in high school, and I’ve always had these far off dreams of really pushing myself with writing, but, I’m going to be way honest here, I’ve been terrified. You may notice this post is hundreds of words longer then anything else I’ve ever shared on this blog. That’s because I’ve always been so afraid to actually put something that truly means something to me out there. But it’s time for that to change.

So I will be back blogging, but it’s going to look a lot different. Lots of words, not nearly as many pretty pictures (although, probably still some, since I still love photography and, heck, I’m a professional stylist for goodness sake). Those of you who have followed me in the past may not be interested in it or like it, that’s totally okay. Feel free to move along, unfollow, or do whatever else you need to. My husband and grandmother may be the only people who bother to read any of this, and that’s totally okay too.

So I’ll be here writing away, maybe oversharing, most definitely tripping over my own words. It may be weird and a little painful for a while, but just like I’ve learned with running, eventually it’ll get easier, and may even be great.