Why I’m Bringing Back My Blog

It may surprise you to know I’ve been planning this re-launch for almost a year. I was telling my best friend that the re-launch was going to be late, again, and she asked why I suddenly had this renewed interest in my blog. I won’t lie and say that made me feel awesome. What I wanted her to say was more along the lines of, “I’m so excited your blog is coming back!” and maybe something about impatiently waiting or what have you. Either way, she makes two good points.

One: this didn’t “suddenly” happen, it’s been simmering for over a year. Some women from my small group encouraged me to start again and I threw together some half-hearted posts but left the good ones in my drafts.

Which brings me to point two: Why? The answer is simple. I’m bringing my blog back because there are so many things I need to say.

Blogging is part of my identity. I’ve been a blogger for 14 years now. Yes, that number is right. While this blog only goes back to 2009, I first started blogging in high school when the earliest blogging platforms were taking shape (anyone else remember OpenDiary or when you had to be invited to use LiveJournal?). Despite the extended breaks, I’ve been blogging for almost half my life.

When you have a hobby that you’ve been doing as long as I’ve been blogging it’s only natural that your relationship with it will change as your life does. This blog went through every transition with me for a long time. At some point it was just too much – there were too many things happening in my life that were unsettled and uncertain. That’s something I’ll talk about in a future post for sure, but the kindest thing I could do at that point was give myself permission to walk away.

But I’m a writer and this is my outlet. It’s also a place where connections happen. I’ve made and strengthened some incredible friendships through sharing my heart on this blog and I’m so thankful for them. I’d hate to miss out on more because I lost sight of what I loved about blogging in the first place. I loved being able to vomit out my heart into a post and hear from people that they understood or felt the same way. I loved how real and raw those serious posts could be and I’m ready to get back to that.

Which is not to say that I’m giving up the DIY posts, beauty, or book reviews. Those are just as much a part of me as my weightier posts (old favorites here here and here). My most popular post ever written was a DIY post for bath bombs. But the weightier posts are the reason I’m coming back. I’ve had too many conversations over the past year and a half that have made me realize not only do I have a lot to say, but there are people in my life who really need to hear those things. God has given me a voice and I need to use it. So now I have my purpose, and it’s time. Past time.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of a better day to re-launch my blog than my birthday.

Here’s to a new year, and I’m believing it’ll be the best yet!

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