Why I’m starting to blog

For a while now I have wanted to start a blog. I love reading other blogs and have always felt that I would love the world of blogging. I’ve tossed the idea around for a few years, discussed it with friends, coworkers, and my husband–always receiving positive feedback and words of encouragement. But something always stopped me from going forward with a blog. Now I am able to reflect back on it and realize that what stopped me was most likely some combination of doubt, perfectionism and just plain fear. Fear of what it would be like, fear of the unknown, and fear of what seems to be taking such a great risk. Lately, blogging has been on my mind even more than it used to be, as I’ve really been looking for a venue to write and reflect my thoughts. I’ve tried journaling, but the experience was not as rewarding for me personally as others have shared it to be.

Despite my interest and enthusiasm to start blogging, many questions began running through my mind…How do I design a blog? How do I take those perfect pictures that all bloggers seem to have on Instagram? What if it doesn’t look good? What if no one reads it? All questions not easily answered and definitely fueled by my fear of failure and of the unknown. So as is my nature, I’ve spent a lot of time brainstorming, writing, researching, and absorbing as much information as I can to learn how to create the perfect blog. And honestly the wealth of information out there on is overwhelming! But if you know me, you know I don’t do anything haphazardly. Everything I do is typically researched, planned, and anticipated. Yet part way through my research, I realized I could keep researching and reading for a long time. When would I actually know enough to put it into practice? I realized then, that I don’t have to be perfect, I just have to start. This mentality applies to so many different things in life because how often do we really expect ourselves to be perfect right off the bat…probably not many. We don’t enter relationships or new jobs expecting to be perfect. Or even if we do, we soon realize that this mentality does not serve us. We will inevitably make mistakes and hopefully, be humble enough to learn from them.  Why then do we hold ourselves to unrealistic standards in life? These standards don’t serve us and probably even keep us from taking on new challenges in our lives.

So join me as I explore this new world of blogging. I’m sure it won’t be perfect, I’m sure I’ll make mistakes along the way as I try to navigate this new world, but maybe, just maybe I will find a passion for something new and worthwhile. This messy, beautiful, imperfect life is so much more worth living when you get to explore a passion you have.