I have done this for a year, can you believe it?!
I decided in January of 2020 that I wanted to figure out new ways of promoting myself for my future professional self, in a creative way. I had no idea what I wanted to do or how to go about it but decided that I would start up a website and start writing a blog. I created the website and realised that it is soooo much harder than I would have thought and once it was done, I left it sitting there for 2 months not really sure what to do.
I wanted to get myself used to putting myself out there in the Wild Wonderful Web World, which was petrifying. But I was determined that this is what I wanted to do. I am not a writer; it is not my thing at all. I have a very dear friend that spends their time each week reading my posts to make sure they actually make sense and to help with my fear of what my grammar and punctuation looks like. So, I deeply thank her for this and the confidence she has given me in how and what I write about.
My first post was published on the 1st of March 2020 and it was about the secrets of being happy! I was so excited and so nervous also; this was it and now I was out there. Little did we also know that the world was about to go into the deep end of a pandemic and everything that was normal to us was soon to change. Over the past year, I have written about general well-being, parenting, coping with COVID and lots more, different mental health concerns, self-love, food, relationships, friendships and other topics that I felt were important to discuss. People from all over the world have read some of my posts and it is amazing.
If I were to tell you all the things that I have learned through this, I would be here all day, so I will only touch on some of the things I think are important. I did not realise when I started how much of myself I would be putting out there and sharing with the world, which I found hard to start with. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am happy to talk. But when it comes to me, I do not share a lot. However, writing my posts has helped me to get out of my box and learn more about myself.
I have had weeks where my ideas are flowing about different topics I want to write about and sometimes when I go to write them nothing comes. I have had weeks when I feel I will not manage to write anything, but something always comes along. I have had points where I have hated writing about the same thing over and over again, even if not directly linked. COVID has taken up a lot of space in my posts and in everyone’s life at the moment, so it is hard to avoid it. On the positive side, COVID has also given me the space to write to keep my posts going and also made me think of how to approach things differently with support.
I have one hundred followers on my Instagram and Facebook accounts, which makes me so happy and I still get excited when someone I do not know follows me and reads what I have written. I do not check every week how many people have visited my website or read my posts. Right now, I am doing it for fun and finding my groove. I am not using it to promote my service or make money through links. At some point down the road, this may be the case. But for now, my objective is to find what works for me, write to share, and hopefully help others.
Even though I have struggled to write sometimes, it always comes when it is right and has given me a routine and purpose for every week. I need to do this and post this, as that is what I set out to do. I am still working on figuring out what is the best area for me to write about. So for now I will keep it general and talk about different topics that come to mind, which I think might be relevant for people to see or read.
The most important thing I have gained from last year is confidence in myself in so many ways; talking about what I know and sharing it in black and white has helped me pursue my dreams even more, as helping people in whatever way that I can is what I want in life.
Writing can take up more time than you think it might and maintaining different social media accounts has its challenges in terms of what to share and not share. When you do counselling, coaching, teaching, or whatever, you can see the effects you have on a person. When it comes to a blog and social media, it is hard to know what people are really getting from what you are putting out there.
But then someone shared with me a post they had seen about how we do not always know how we impact others when we have not even interacted with them, and this is so true. I also want you to value this in you. We can impact people in so many ways and it really is a ripple effect.
I want to continue to grow and learn outside of my blog and through my blog by sharing and helping anyone that may read my posts to either understand struggles they may be having or ways to cope with them. Identify different ways to look at ourselves and our own well-being and to know no one is ever alone with whatever is going on for them.
I hope so far you have enjoyed my posts and continue to read them. If you can think of topics that may be of interest to you, for me to write about, please let me know and I will see what I can do.
