Starting a blog is scary

 

Okay, I need to let you know that THIS scares the living crap out of me.  Since I consider “crap” a swear jar word, and I’ve probably said it fewer than 10 times in my life, you need to know that THIS is serious.  I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m feeling super panicked as I write this, but here I am.  I’m doing something I’ve never done before because this is the year I’ve decided to be BRAVE.  This is the year I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and LIVE.

Last year, I turned 49.  You’d think that turning 49 would be no big deal.  People do it all the time.  But what people don’t tell you is that when you’re one year away from turning 50, you suddenly realize that you haven’t done 50 years’ worth of stuff.  Turning 50 is just one big reminder that your life is half-way over, and you don’t have much to show for it. 

After reflecting on this for a couple of weeks, I knew I needed to do something about it.  So, in an effort to salvage what remained of my last year before turning 50, I decided that I would do 50 things before I turned 50.  

Over the weeks that followed, I compiled a list of all the things I had never tried, never liked, never read, never visited, and never done.  I thought making the list would be easy, but actually, it was hard.  For one thing, I didn’t want it to be a bucket list and feel like everything had to be amazing.  Secondly, I found myself being really self-critical of my list and wondering if the things I wanted to do were meaningful enough.  At the end of the day, I decided that it didn’t really matter because it was my list and it could be anything I wanted it to be.  

Around this same time, I saw the movie, Julie & Julia.  In the movie, the main character Julie, decides to recreate the recipes from Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she does this by starting a blog.  In 365 days, Julie recreates 524 recipes.  After the movie ended, I decided I would start a blog to help me accomplish my 50 things.  After all, one of the things on my list was to start a blog.  I figured if I made my 50 things public and wrote about everything, then I’d have no other choice but to actually complete my list.    

Unfortunately, right around my 49th birthday, COVID-19 hit and the world shut down.  It didn’t take me long to realize that many of the things on my list (like travel) might not actually happen.  However,  I decided to go ahead with my plan and try to do as many things as I could–in spite of COVID. So, I went through my list and picked out the things I could do during a pandemic.  As the weeks and months followed, I began to try and do a few things here and there, but honestly, my heart just wasn’t in it. 

As you may have guessed from the date of this first blog entry, things never quite took off as I’d planned.  I had good intentions, but I suddenly found myself unable to get excited about my list anymore.  I know it sounds like I’m using the pandemic as an excuse, but I think it’s a pretty good one.  

Now a year later, I’m 50 and I still have my list (see 2020-2021 version here).  But this time, I’m a year older, wiser, and braver, too.  I guess turning 50 will do that to you.  So, here I am throwing caution to the wind and starting my blog when I have no idea what I’m doing. 

As you will soon discover, I’m not a funny person and I have no great fashion sense but I’m genuine and real.  I’m also your new best friend, and together, we are going to make 2021-2022 our best year ever. Download my free template and start your list of 50 Things.  Maybe you want to make a list of 30 Things Before You Turn 30 or 60 Things Before You Turn 60.  I made the template editable so you can make it to work for you.  What matters is that, together, we are going to actually accomplish some great things this year!  We are going to be brave and get out of our comfort zone.  If I can start a blog, surely you can tackle some things on your list, too!

After you’ve made your list, check out the rest of my site and try out a recipe or shop for some of my favorites.  Come back often and let me know how things are going for you.  Whatever you do, make your list and let’s be BRAVE!