Or, "How It All Began."
I started a blog once before. It was sophomore year in college, and I'd recently become a regular reader of several (mostly running-related) blogs. I guess you could say that they inspired me to try my hand at blogging. I've always enjoyed writing, so it seemed like fun. I ended up deleting it because I felt like I had nothing to write about, and no one was reading it anyway.
When I started telling people about my grand post-graduation European adventure in the months before I left, one of the questions that I was asked most frequently was: "Are you going to blog about your trip?" I'd thought about it, but decided that I didn't want to feel obligated to post regularly; I figured it would distract me and keep me from being fully present in my travels.
But the more I thought about it, the more I warmed to the idea. It would probably be good to give myself a project; some structure for my trip full of on-a-whim decisions. Besides, hadn't I always wanted to write a blog? I now not only had something to write about, I also had an audience, ready and waiting. People wanted to read about my travels.
The clincher, though, came when (yet another) someone asked whether I would be starting a blog. I said, probably not; I didn't want to have to worry about keeping up with my posts while traveling around. They said, yeah, you're probably right, but what a cool souvenir that would be if you did!
Couldn't argue with that one.
And once I started actually doing it--blogging--I was incredibly glad that I decided to give it a shot. Not only did it allow my friends and family to keep up with what I was up to (and where I was), it also gave me structure, something I ended up appreciating far more than I thought I would. Turns out my trip kind of needed the obligation, the assignment. It was something that I absolutely got pleasure out of doing while I was traveling, but it was also something that I had to make myself do, which made me feel that much more accomplished when I finished a post. It also had me itching to go out and work on material for the next one, by exploring a new place and getting up to all sorts of exciting shenanigans.
It also helped me not to take things too seriously while traveling. My mishaps were all just funny stories in the end, and being able to look at them through that lens kept me from dwelling on them and making myself miserable. I was able to move on from them that much more quickly, on to the next adventure. It's all just stories in the end.
Even after I got back home, this blog kept on giving by allowing me to be very reflective on what I got out of the solo-backpacking-around-Europe experience, who I am as a person, and who I am becoming.
This thing turned out to be one heck of a souvenir.
And here I am: still blogging. My adventures these days may not be on the same grand scale as my big European trip, but I'm happy to write about them nonetheless. Hopefully you're happy reading about them!
And here I am: still blogging. My adventures these days may not be on the same grand scale as my big European trip, but I'm happy to write about them nonetheless. Hopefully you're happy reading about them!
