Well firstly I need to say that when I first decided to write my blog, I knew nothing about it at all.  I didn’t even realise that ‘normal’ people could write a blog! I thought it was something that proper websites just had as a sideline.  I googled “how do you start a blog” and found out that anyone can write a blog through WordPress and it looked quite straight forward to open an account, so that is what I did.   I started my blog about six months ago and now I want to reflect on the things I have found I really love about it.  I wanted to share these things with you and perhaps you might be able to relate to what I’m talking about.

Well the initial reason for starting my blog was because I was attempting dry January.  I anticipated that completing dry January could be a bit of a challenge for me and whoever else might be doing  it, so I kind of thought it would be therapeutic to talk about it – to write about it.  I thought it would be helpful for me to write down my reasons for doing it and I also hoped that it would be a resource for others trying to achieve it too – if anyone else ever happened to come across my blog that is.

So, back then (hmm that makes it sound like something that happened a hundred years ago doesn’t it? Sorry!) I conquered dry January and decided to continue with dry February, dry March etc.  I wrote about my alcohol free journey at the start but do you know what? I also wrote about more than just that – I wrote a couple of poems and a short story and I thought “I can do this!” I never ever would have thought I would be able to.

You see I have never believed I had a creative bone in my body.  When I was at school I shied away from creative subjects and instead chose to focus on subjects like Maths, History, Chemisty and Physics. I didn’t think I was any good at creative writing – I was never told I was,  I thought I was dreadful at art so I didn’t like it and received no encouragement at school to be creative whatsoever.  Perhaps that’s because I was fairly quiet and shy throughout my childhood, I don’t know.  Anyway now I feel so differently and after starting my blog – I LOVE WRITING! Whether I genuinely am any good at it remains to be seen, but I really do enjoy it and it gives me enormous pleasure.  I am also more appreciative of things of beauty now, I love looking at art and I love trying to create beautiful photos (our new camera has helped on that front.)

So here I am! We are half way through June and I am massively enjoying writing my blog now and I’m still alcohol free! I feel a lot more confident and a lot happier at the moment and I wonder if this is also to do with writing my blog, well I’m absolutely sure this is responsible for my new found confidence.

So what else am I enjoying about blogging?  Well, for sure, I need to tell you that one of the best things about writing a blog is the other bloggers!  I have come across so many wonderful, supportive, kind bloggers since starting my blog.  I’ve been quite surprised actually at how many other bloggers there are out there.  There is a fantastic blogging community of all social media channels. I didn’t know anything whatsoever about bloggers or blogging when I started. Now I have come to realise that there truly are so many lovely people out there and (pretty much) all of the ones I have had the fortune to talk to via social media, are so so lovely.   Everyone is so supportive and it’s not like a massive competition for popularity, people seem genuinely pleased if you write something you are proud of. They will like and comment on your writing and even retweet things for you if you post onTwitter,  Of course it works both ways I like to retweet people’s posts when I see them appear on Twitter because it’s a nice thing to do and hey it only takes a second. You will find that you build up friendships if you make the effort and it is such a lovely community to be a part of. I think Twitter is so vast and I love the fact that there is a special and supportive community of bloggers on Twitter all having their own little conversations that most the world have no idea about!

Amongst the people I have interacted with, I really do think of some of them as friends, although we have never met and are probably unlikely to ever do so. I love reading other people’s blogs and when I read something that I enjoy or that I can relate to I like to make a comment, or at the very least – a like.  Sometimes I am guilty of just reading and then not getting round to commenting, partly because of the time aspect I think.  But I do try.  It’s a nice thing to do for people and I know how happy it makes me feel when I get likes or comments on the posts I have written.  It’s nice to give others that happy feeling and it’s nice for people to know that others appreciate their writing.  It does take quite a long time to write a post and there’s nothing worse that feeling like it must have been worthless.  Sorry total overuse of the word ‘nice’ there!

That brings me on to time.  Well I must say this is probably not a great thing but I’ve found myself staying up far later than I should because I’m looking on social media or on the WordPress reader or thinking about posts I could write about.  Some people will probably think this is a bit sad.  Obviously I have a life outside blogging too but I think that’s why I have the late nights etc because I’m trying to fit everything in!  Working full time and not having time during the working day to do anything on my phone or iPad means most of it is done in the evening.  Factor in having a home, family and pets and you’ll understand!

I feel like I need to carry a notebook round with me as I so often think “brilliant idea for a post…” while I’m out and about so I either need to remember my thought train or ask Siri to write me a note.  With this there needs to be a balance though. Sometimes I think something is a good idea but then I’ll start writing and think “Nah…” what seems a good idea is actually going to be really boring! Hence so far why I haven’t written a post about my everyday life, not yet anyway…

I love the fact that I might write something that could make a difference to someone else’s life.  I love the fact that in some small way I might be able to help people and I love the fact that someone somewhere is reading what I have written.  Everyone who takes the time to read even one of my posts, is special to me.  That, dear reader, is you,  so thank you ❤️