It's My Blogiversary!

While it's technically not my blogiversary for another couple of days, the idea was born about a year ago and Google Domains renewed my URL on 1/31, so I'm calling it my anniversary.

While I'm still not established enough to do any of those cool giveaway things that a lot of bloggers do, I did want to celebrate by writing a blog post about the biggest thing I learned in the last year of attempting to have a regular blogging practice:

It's easy to be fake when you write a blog.

You may think that's obvious or you may be shocked, but either way, it's true. I've found myself pretending to be someone I'm not several times. This forced faux version of myself has made it hard for me at times to write posts, which in the end make it so I don't write at all.

I've had a lot of time to think about this. After all, my full time job is in social media. I think we all like to pretend that we are happy, put-together, superheroes on social media, but in real life, we're stressed out balls of weirdness. And there's nothing wrong with that if we embrace it.

I don't know if anyone reads this blog, or if the tiny bit of traffic Weebly tells me it gets every week are spambots or Google. But what I do know, is that if I want to keep doing this, I need keep it real.

So, to celebrate the first anniversary of this blog post, I'm making a promise for year two:

I will be appropriately authentic on this blog.

I've been guilty of posting things on Instagram that I don't know that I believe, as well as sewing things that I don't love or registering for races I don't really want to do, just because I think that's what is expected of me.

I haven't told the stories of the pattern test photos where skirts are pinned on to me, garments aren't hemmed or with upside down waistbands. I haven't shared the runs where I sit down and give up because my body is beyond tired or the mornings when I wake up sick or ravenous because I didn't eat like a real athlete.

I recently heard Shonda Rhimes' 2014 Dartmouth commencement address (below) and realized that I want to be a writer, and to do that, all I have to do is write. To write, though, requires an honesty and transparency with yourself, and I simply haven't been doing that. I'm not a good runner and I'm, at best, a mediocre sewist. But what I am good at is being a nerd, loving pop culture and winning at trivia. I'm great at making messes, watching movies and buying fabric I never intend to use because I don't want to "hurt it." (And yes, that is an actual quote I've said.)

If you're reading this blog, I assume that you're okay with meeting the real me. And if not, well, I'm glad you're on the Internet and probably not someone I know in real life.