I’m Giving This Blog Three Years

I made a decision.

I’m giving this blog three years.

Three years of writing. Three years of creating. Three years of experimenting, changing things, designing things, sharing things, and figuring out what I want this little corner of the internet to become.

I’m not promising myself that I’m going to post every single day.

I’m not creating some impossible schedule that turns something I love into another obligation.

I’m simply committing to being here.

I’m going to dedicate myself to this blog as much as I feel like it and as much as I want to.

And maybe that sounds like a strange commitment, but to me, it feels like freedom.

I Need Somewhere to Put My Thoughts

Part of the reason this blog matters to me right now is because I haven’t had a counselor.

I’ve been trying to get in with one for what feels like forever—somewhere around two and a half to three years—and I’m frustrated.

Really frustrated.

There are times when you just want someone to talk to. You want somewhere to take all the thoughts running through your head and sort through them.

I still want a counselor, and I don’t think a blog replaces professional counseling.

But while I’m waiting, I realized something:

I have always had writing.

Writing gives me somewhere to put things.

It gives me a way to take a thought that’s bouncing around in my head and turn it into something I can actually see.

Sometimes I might write something meaningful.

Sometimes I might write something ridiculous.

Sometimes I might research something for hours because I suddenly decided I absolutely need to understand it.

And sometimes I’m probably just going to tell you what country songs I’m listening to.

That’s the beauty of having a personal blog.

It doesn’t always have to fit neatly into a category.

I Love Creating Things

I love writing.

I love creating.

I love designing.

I love learning something interesting and then turning around and saying, “Okay, you have to hear about this.”

I’ve realized that sharing is actually a big part of who I am.

When I find something good, I want somebody else to know about it.

A good idea.

A song.

A book.

Something I learned.

Something that made my life easier.

Something beautiful.

Something completely random that sent me down a three-hour research rabbit hole.

I like sharing the good stuff.

And it doesn’t always have to be with my inner circle.

Sometimes I want to share it with everybody.

That’s what I want this blog to be.

So Why Three Years?

Because I want to give this a real chance.

It’s easy to get excited about something new.

The harder part is sticking around after the newness wears off.

I don’t want to look at this blog three months from now and decide it “didn’t work” because it didn’t become something huge overnight.

I want to see what happens when I give creativity some time.

Real time.

Three years gives me room to grow.

It gives my writing room to change.

It gives me permission to experiment.

Maybe I’ll look back at my first posts someday and cringe.

Actually, that’s probably going to happen. 😂

But I hope I’ll also be able to look back and see a record of who I was, what I was learning, what I loved, what I questioned, and how much I changed along the way.

And Here’s Something I Want You to Think About…

What’s a secret you can’t tell anyone?

Really think about it.

Because I’ve been thinking about secrets lately.

A secret that can never be spoken, written, laughed about, confessed, or shared with another human being sounds like a pretty lonely secret.

Maybe some things really do need to stay private.

But I also think there’s something powerful about having places where we can be a little more honest about being human.

Not reckless.

Not exposing every private detail of our lives.

Just real.

Maybe that’s another thing I want this blog to become.

A place where I don’t have to pretend I’ve figured everything out before I’m allowed to write about it.

Because I definitely haven’t figured everything out.

I’m learning as I go.

And you’re welcome to come along.

Three Years. Let’s See What Happens.

So that’s my commitment.

I’m giving this blog three years.

I’m going to write when I have something to say.

I’m going to create when I feel inspired.

I’m going to share the things I think are worth sharing.

And I’m going to allow this blog to grow alongside me instead of deciding ahead of time exactly what it has to become.

Maybe three years from now there will be thousands of people reading this.

Maybe there will be a small group of people who have been here almost from the beginning.

Maybe I’ll discover an entirely different reason for writing it.

I don’t know yet.

That’s kind of the point.

This is the beginning.

Let’s see where it goes.

— Kayla Hofer

P.S. If you’re reading this sometime in the future, I hope I kept my promise.