TaurusxFoodie Year 1 Bloggerversary
On October 19th, 2019, I took a leap. While looking to celebrate this leap, this time period is also associated with bouts of sadness for me for the past 4 years. Another life event surrounded by this time period is my dear Nephew’s birthday. This year he would have been 21 on October 16th. I often think about ways in which I can honor his memory. It’s like as soon as his vessel departed the Earth, I took on this mission to weave his essence, his spirit into the outlets that I am passionate about. I think about his dedication to his craft of basketball and his zest for life during the last months I shared with him in this lifeline and I allow it to carry me to infinite possibilities.
As I pressed the submit button to pay for the domains and settled on the email account, I knew I was walking into uncharted territory. I decided to make Taurusxfoodie more than just an instagram feed. The fact that I had decided to make a monetary commitment to Taurusxfoodie to show me that it’s real (Rick Ross voice!) was unreal. I didn’t know what I was doing but I felt like this was the natural progression of things. See, I had always wanted to be a blogger. I had started way back with blogs here and there (Tumblr days) but they never evolved into much. So this is a pretty big deal for me to have reached a year of semi-consistent musings and what better way to commemorate this 1st year of blogging with some things that I have learned. In theory, this only made sense for me to do this but what I would add to this list plagued me for weeks. What do I include, how do I elaborate but then I decided to K.I.S.S it. (Do ya’ll know that acronym, Keep it Simple Stupid. )
Small
Wins
Hmm, what did I learn during this first full year of blogging?
Appreciate the small wins ~ This one was rough. When I look back on the year of blogging, heck even on the amount of years that I have had Tarusuxfoodie, I get so bogged down on the content and engagement pieces. I then have to remind myself of my small wins; the fact that I even started sharing food photos and my story; the fact that I started the blog; the fact that I even commit myself to write blog posts. There is power in that folks!
Consistency is key. ~ My mentor in my head, the great Myleik Teele : fellow Taurus and founder of the CurlBox, harps on this one often. When I first started sharing food content on Taurusxfoodie via IG, I was on it. Eventually, I saw that other people were on it too. It lead me to question what in the world did I even have to contribute to this space. Eventually, I was diagnosed with analysis paralysis which is defined as analyzing a situation to a point that you are a paralyzed and no action is taken. I psyched myself out to the point that when I went out with friends or even on my own, I no longer made a big deal about sharing and collecting photos about the yummy treats that I encountered. Eventually, I sat down with self and said, “Self, how can you continue to want to pursue this passion project when you practice no consistency?” I like to look at consistency as muscle that you can’t see but it only gets stronger when practiced. Every week, I revisit this conversation and must make the decision to drive the consistency boat (thank you Meg the Stallion).
Just keep writing ~ Some days, I’m like what do I even write about? Are people reading this? Do they even like this? Right now, I don’t know the answers these questions - I guess I should see what the analytics say - but in the mean time Im going to keep writing. Thats how one gets better? But now Im wondering should I be sending my posts for someone to proofread? Do I see if one of my friends can be my editor?
Im excited for what this next year has in store with me. When I am led astray, I will remind myself of these lessons and push on, ya dig!
Bonus Lesson: Remember your why? What’s your mission? For me, its to share some good ish with y’all, encourage and inspire people to explore the world and culture through food while sharing stories and memories that are associated with the act of eating.
