blog |bläg|
noun
a personal website or web page on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.
The “regular basis” part of the above description from the dictionary, is the part I struggle with the most. I adore writing and I equally love reading the blogs of people I respect and learn from, but the time in my schedule to write blog posts regularly, is time that often doesn’t exist or gets pushed deep at the bottom of my list of priorities for that week.
I’m an over thinker in some ways, I worry about whether what I’m writing could be perceived as helpful or just plain rambling. I’ve lost my roots and the fearlessness I had when I was younger. Back in the early 2000’s (on LiveJournal), I would blog about everything and anything, mainly my failures and weaknesses, and not worry about what the audience thought. I wasn’t blogging for the audience, I was blogging to record details I could learn from, in the future. I’ve lost that free-blogging spirit, instead sometimes worrying about not inciting trolls, gender arguments or being over sensitive. That worrying ends up in many posts in the “drafts” section, and not many actually posted.
I’ve realised this week, I’ve lost my fearlessness in other ways, actually by reading a blog post of a friend, Andrew Wilkinson. Andrew and I both have our own design studios, we both started out around a similar time and are of a similar age. Many years ago, Andrew and I would chat, and he would often encourage me to grow You Know Who and start hiring. I was cautious, nervous and decided instead that no one could do what I did, after having terrible experiences with various freelancers early on, and I’ve stayed as a one person, with reliable freelancers pulled in on various projects, up until that point. Andrew did the opposite, aggressively expanded and hired, I hugely admire his fearlessness. I’m now feeling the urge to change.
Various things have happened over the last few weeks, I was waiting on some news which would significantly change the business, whilst waiting on other news which would…significantly change the business. I won’t go into them here, they are/were both very exciting but would take You Know Who in two entirely different directions. I guess, a real crossroad in life presented itself, loud and clear.
Andrew’s blog post resonated at just the right time this week, while many things have been swilling around my mind, despite it being written in March of last year. It was a huge reminder that although tweets give you a general overview; a glimpse at someones life that day, a blog post is different, generally written from the heart, holding a treasure trove of thoughts and feelings between the lines. This is my pledge that this month, you’ll see more blogging, less worrying and perhaps a sprinkling of exciting news to boot.