My Experience being Bold – 2nd Year Blog Anniversary

When I launched my blog in January 2018, I had no idea where I will be two years later. Unlike with a lot of other things that I do, I did not have a perfect plan for my blog. It took me a while to be bold and take the step, so I decided to plan to start and actually get started instead of planning everything out.

I'm so excited to celebrate the second anniversary of my blog with you all. Thank you for reading, sharing my posts, sharing your experiences with me and allowing me to share my deepest thoughts with you.

In this blog post, I will answer some of the questions I get about starting and having a blog.

My responses to the top questions about my Blog

When and how did I know I wanted to have a blog?
In summer 2011, I had a strong desire to build a platform for women like me to share and learn from one another. I sat on my dream for over seven years and did nothing. The primary reason why I didn't get started was that I was too scared to take the bold step. However, I believe that the years that passed prepared me even more for launching my blog.

How did I get started?
Over the Christmas holidays in 2017, I knew the time had come and I could no longer make excuses for not having my blog. The first step for me was to create my site and start writing blog posts. The tasks that I needed completed sounded very easy. However, my quest for perfection almost discouraged me from launching my website. I decided to start working on and to launch my website with my first five blog posts. Over the first weeks of January, I worked on my site and my initial blog posts. Simultaneously I started taking writing classes to learn some writing skills and did expensive research on creating a website. I shared my site with the world on January 23, 2018.

Why did I start blogging?
In one of my first blog posts titled "What I want from my blog", I shared my motivation for starting my blog. In summary, I wanted to share my learnings with others, share resources that have helped me in my life, empower women in all phases of their lives, learn from other women's experiences and build a community of women who support each other on their journey.
Looking back on the past two years, I have been able to do more than I expected with my blog. I am more than grateful for the opportunity to grow and give back to my community.

What am I proud of?
Celebrating my accomplishments is something that I am being more intentional about. Over the past two years, I have achieved the following:

• Written over 100 blog posts
  
• Published a post every week since January 23, 2018
• Was bold and shared my story, thoughts and experiences
• Heard women's stories and experiences
• Touched lives and gave back to people

What have I learned on my journey?
As with every journey we embark on, there are many lessons to be learned. Some of the lessons I have learned that I did not anticipate were:

• Tell your story: there is power in telling your story and sharing your experiences with people around you
  
• Start deep conversations: there is a lot of value in talking about topics that matter
  
• Write from the heart: it is hard to put yourself out there, but it is worth it
• Be consistent: you need to be consistent and keep doing the work
• Know your motivation: Do it because you are passionate and not for the numbers
• Fight self-doubt: the best way to grow your confidence is to "just do it"
  
• Don't overthink it: just write and share!!
• Accept insights and feedback: be open and take advice
  
• Have a plan: to do anything sustainably, you need a plan
  
• Keep improving: to be the best you need to keep learning and getting better
  

What have been my highlights?
In addition to learning lessons and gaining experience, I have also had some personal highlights:

• Hearing from my readers.
  
• Starting conversations that matter and discussing our fears
  
• Knowing that people that I do not know read my blog
  
• Having a way to introduce myself with my deepest thoughts to the world
  
• Learning new skills and expanding my perspective
  
• Landing a role at work that connects to my passion
  

How do I ensure I am growing my blog?
Growth and improvement are on my mind continuously. I want my blog to continue to grow over the next years. Some of the ways I ensure I maintain a growth mindset are:

• Always looking at areas I can improve on such as content or my writing style
• Getting inspiration from other people that I read or listen to
• Listening to feedback from my readers on my posts and conversations we have
• Exploring new ideas and doing new things like starting a YouTube channel
• Reminding myself to take risks and be bold

What do I want to do in the future with my blog?
To all my faithful readers, thanks a lot for supporting me on my journey. I'm committed to growing my platform over the next months and years

• Being bold and sharing the stories I am scared to write about
  
• Growing my blog and increasing my pool of readers
• Bring more real-life topics
• Crowdsource topics and advice to share
• Explore guest posts and blogging for other platforms

Final Thoughts
I am sharing my story to encourage you to take a leap and do that thing that you have been telling yourself you can't do. If I could face my fears and do something I was scared of, you absolutely can too.

Call to Action
What is that thing you have been putting off and delaying? Now is the perfect time to pick it back up and do it.