SeleniumThe idea of running my own blog has been nagging the back of my mind since, well, kind of since the internet began (it makes me feel old to write that, I might have to take it out, we’ll see how this goes). I’ve dipped my toe in with a few different versions, I’ve been on blogger, largely talking about reading and book reviews. I’ve been on tumblr, I couldn’t quite make it work for me. I was even on Livejournal back in the day, and of course, I had a blog embedded into my original MySpace page. Nothing ever quite clicked enough to stay with it though.
I think the problem has several layers to it. First off, having a blog sitting on one of the free platforms out there feels inauthentic to me, on a personal level. I felt like I was just logging into another social media account and posting an update there, which somehow, fundamentally, feels different from actually creating something. I wasn’t feeling any ownership over anything, it wasn’t my domain, I just had an account that someone else owned. If I opened it up to ads, I had, no control over what those ads were. It wasn’t branded as mine.
This concept of total ownership is what I’m coming back to. I realized that the biggest thing holding me back from having a “real” blog was that I needed something that felt like it was 100% mine, but I’m also not a website designer, so I felt like I didn’t have the skills to do what I wanted.
Turns out, that’s dumb, because the internet exists and it’s possible to learn just about anything on the internet.
That was a lot of explanation about the first layer, but it’s probably the biggest. The second layer is simply, I couldn’t articulate one, specific thing that I wanted to post about. There are a few things that I feel “expert” enough to take ownership of, and speak confidently about (that’s why, one of my previous online iterations was a discussion about books). But, my focus hops around through a handful of interests, and, probably more importantly, I’m actually more interested in the stuff that I’m not necessarily an expert on. I’m more interested in the new perspectives I’m exploring and the new ideas I’m trying out. That realization is what gave birth to this idea. I know that I want to live with more intention, being more thoughtful about the environment, my health, the world, and people, around me. I want to explore new ways to be creative, and allow myself some failures along the way.
Basically, I’m here, just trying my best.
See what I did there? If you’ve found this, congratulations! You’re seeing this crazy idea as it develops. I can’t say where this journey is going, or even where I want it to go, but I’m glad to have you here with me.
Welcome!
