100 Blog Posts.

I noticed late last week that my 100th blog post was coming up soon. At first I didn’t think anything of it. I mean, REALLY committed bloggers post practically every week day, so 100 might not be a significant number. I, on the other hand, having been dabbling on this blog for quite a while. When I started in high school, social media and online networking was already established, but since then, I really think we’ve seen a rapid shift in its influence and integration, well, everywhere. At the time I think I was just a kid who loved to write and was looking for something creative. So I started a blog, and posted a couple of abstract pieces and my high school graduation speech. In college, I tried to use it as a way to connect my life between Oregon and Kansas, but my life as a college student didn’t really leave room for a commitment like that. And honestly, with the amount of papers and articles I wrote in college, I don’t think I really had the heart for it.

This technically isn’t my 100th overall post. I first started out over on BlogSpot as my platform, but in 2012 – a few years into my degree – I actually had some “communications know-how,” and decided that WordPress was a better option for me and to not transfer any of my old posts over to the new platform.

Somewhat ironically, it has been just over a year since I changed my outlook on blogging and re-committed to it consistently. I share in my “About Me” page that I was struggling with the fact that I felt like there was nothing extraordinary about my life story, I had a lot of different interests and that I didn’t feel like I had the expertise to be throwing around my thoughts on any particular topic. I described myself as a writer without a beat. But still, I continued to have the overwhelming feeling that I just wanted to write.

Finally someone asked me:

“Does writing make you happy?”
– Yes –
“Then just do it for yourself and don’t worry about the rest of it.”

Obviously, the conversation was more involved than that, but that part really stuck with me.

A year later and on my 100th blog post, I am so thankful for that somewhat random conversation. Writing and sharing with others like this has given me a new confidence and allows me to exercise my creativity in a way that my career doesn’t . It has turned into a great way to journal and share about my new adventure on the East Coast. Knowing that other people consistently read it, besides just my Mom and Grandma, and hearing that its something that makes them smile or think, is both humbling and encouraging. I’ve started to build a network and have even made a new friend here in D.C. because of it.

I know its both goofy and boring sometimes, and that some people really don’t get why I would spend so much of my free time on it. And I’m okay with that because for me it is fulfilling and a genuine piece of who I am.

That said, thanks for reading friends.

Cheers!

-Amanda

Looking back at some of my favorite posts…

My first post on this platform: November 2012 – “So New, So Fresh”
December 2012 – “12/12/12: 12 Reasons for Dad”
February 2013 – “A Spoo Kind of Love”
February 2013 – “On This Side of When I Grow Up”
March 2013 – “Unzipping the Blue and Gold Jacket”
March 2013 – “God Gave Me Two”
June 2013 – “Home is Behind, The World Ahead…”
August 2013 – “In The Eye of the Beholder…”
November 2014 – “It’s In My Genes”
December 2014 – “In 2014, I Lived”
January 2015 – “Hail, Hail, Hail, Alma Mater”
February 2015 – “Why Not?”
February 2015 – “A Love Letter to Manhattan, Kansas”
April 2015 – “Livin’ on Love for 25 Years”
May 2015 – “I Called Him Uncle Jamie”
August 2015 – “Loves + Hates”
September 2015 – “Travel Journal – Guatemala”
September 2015 – “The Spider I Was Finally Afraid Of”
Friday Jam Session Series