MY FIRST BLOG ANNIVERSARY!!!

Today is a very special day. It’s the very first anniversary of sophsinspirations! I can hardly believe that it has been one year already since I took my first baby steps into the blogland. I’m very happy about my decision to start this creative outlet that lets me connect to you, my lovely readers and I never could have guessed what impact this would have on my life. It’s been a great year. A Year of growth and development, a year of self discovery, a year in which I‘ve done so many awesome things which I’m incredibly grateful for. I want to specifically use this opportunity to say a major THANK YOU to all my readers and followers for making this blog worth writing. It would never have been possible without your support!

When I first started, I thought I would not last more than two or three months because I thought I would not have much to write about, people wouldnt like the idea, it wouldnt have an impact and what not. Well, I’m glad I was wrong. Sharing my thoughts and experiences is only half of what makes being here so great. The other half is finding out what others have to say. And it never ceases to amaze me how creative, original, knowledgeable, funny, and outspoken my blogger neighbors are and have been. So to you, my thanks too, for all I’ve learned from you.

Speaking of learning, there have been quite alot of lessons learnt from my one year of blogging but before I share those lessons, Id love to say; blogging started out as a desire. A desire to learn and to grow, a desire to discover and develope my self, a desire to impact and extract wisdom, and most importantly, a desire to write. Ive always liked writing but I never really knew how to, or if to start writing until I sent a message to a friend of mine one day who had, as at then, lost her mum and was going through a series of depression, and she suggested I create a space online where I could share those words not just with her but with everyone who might be going through something similar. And here we are, celebrating one year today. 

So, moving on to the lessons learned from my one year of blogging. The are in no particular order. 

Everyone Starts as a Newbie

My blog didn’t start off with a million hits or a thousand-plus visitors a day. I started off at ground zero, just like anyone else.
For the first couple of months, I was lucky to get views in the double digits each day. If you’ve blogged and celebrated over getting one comment? Yeah, been there, got the T-shirt.

Just do it. 

Before I made the decision to start blogging, I had a lot of backs and force. Prior to that, I spent most of my life worrying about the future. People would try to calm me by telling me that “life just works itself out”, however I’ve come to learn that some times, they could not be more wrong. Life doesn’t always work itself out. If you’re unhappy in your life or want a change, then JUST DO IT. Nothing will change if you aren’t the driving force behind it. Stop ruminating on how much you hate your life, and do something about it. It doesn’t matter if you get it wrong. You’re better off focusing on figuring out what you don’t like and checking those off the list rather than trying to figure out your life purpose by tomorrow.

Find your voice and use it.

For a long time I struggled with the idea that my voice was unworthy of being heard. While I still at times wonder why the heck anyone would care to listen to what I have to say, I am too grateful for the platform that I have to start my through. As corny as it may sound, I have the power to create change and I’ll be damned if I don’t use it. And guess what? You do too. There is absolutely no reason you can’t be a voice for the causes you feel passionate about.  Everything will change. Social media sites will come and go and domain names will be reimagined, but your voice will always be yours. Hone it, use it, appreciate it

Every community is important

Face-to-face communities and online communities. My blogfam/community has helped in times when real life friends were hard to come by, I always felt like I had my people around me even when we’d just moved to a new place. On one occassion, I had obtained an eye injury and broken my phone from a minor accident in the corse of moving properties and just when I had no means of reaching out to anyone and hoping someone could came through for me, the blogfam came in handy. You can read about it here. I have indeed met amazing people here on blogsville and have make quite a number of friends. I am grateful for that.

Don’t force it.

In the blogging world and beyond there will always be trends that people jump on faster than a grenade. Trends can be good and if you benefit from it then awesome but when it feels like you’re running against the current, it might be time to evaluate if it’s really that important.
Also, nine times out of ten, a post will be improved if you sleep on it and look again with fresh eyes in the morning. There are times when I feel pressured to put up a post after a long hiatus but my creative juices just doesnt seem to be responsive. I notice that each time I force it, I end up writing 6 paragraphs of rubbish..but when I let it for a while it comes flowing like a current. This can be applied to most situations, I find.

Don’t wait for inspiration.

The most common question I get from people when I meet them in real life and they learn that I do a lot of writing is this one: “How do you come up with all the ideas?”. Well, I have never been one to rely much on inspiration. If you want to be able to write and produce articles consistently week in and week out, you can’t always wait to get inspired. You just have to work and think. Come up with ideas and drafts. Some will suck, some will not.

I don’t always feel like writing a new article. But I sit down and start writing anyway. And somewhere along the way inspiration and fun pretty much always catches up with me.

Ideas and insights are fleeting.

Always keep a pen and paper close by. I don’t know how many ideas I would have never gotten to explore here if I didn’t have this habit. If you forget the pen and paper and get some idea, pull out your cell phone and type it down there instead.

Never underestimate the power of story. 

Sharing our stories helps others feel less alone and teaches us how to live even better endings. One very common feed back I get from my readers via emails and messages is 'I can really relate with your blog'. It makes me feel good to know that there are people out there who have gone through somthing I am presently going through, and have successfully made it out. And I guess its the same with every other person. Never keep your stories to yourself cause you never know who's life it may save or change. 

Never Compare 

There will always be someone bigger, better, brighter and more successful. Someone with whiter teeth and shinier hair. Do your best to tune them out and keep your eyes on your own page. Dont let someone else's progress affect you. Rather, be motivated and encouraged to be the very best of your own self. 

Ignore negative comments

Its okay to be constructively criticised. I love criticism but negative comments are usually inevitable especially when you decide to go all out with your thoughts and opinions. But guess what? Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Do not let someone else's opinion of you affect or change who you are. Stay true to your self. 

There is always more work to be done

At first it seems like you can spend an hour or two of your free time at the computer typing away and manage to run a blog without it really affecting your life in a big way. When you start to take it seriously your research can take you in several directions and you will start learning more and more on a subject.

You will become interested in a few different topics – you brush up on your grammar, work on improving your vocabulary, look at some writing tips, search the web for good pictures or gifs, you spend a few hours on social media… If you decide to do something meaningful you will want to do it well, and you will learn that there is always more work to be done. Self-improvement is a never-ending story and the more effort you put in, the more benefits you reap.

What lessons have you learnt from blogging? Please share. I'd love to know