If you were to ask me when and why I started blogging, my answer would be a few months ago, and I blog to share the stories and thoughts I have.
I began actively writing on my blog around mid-2023. However, when I say mid-2023, the initial months of the year were spent on designing and contemplating how I wanted my blog to look. There wasn't any real writing happening during that time. I was trying to create a visual identity for my blog.
As a creative individual, I often find myself inclined to beautify things before diving into what I truly intend or desire to do (achieving would be a better word, but for now, let's stick to my 'to-do' list). Whenever I put my hands and brain to do something, my 'to-do' list first scribes to visual aspects of things. But I don't enjoy that process. I get sad at the skills I have when I stick to the visual medium. It was then my parents said that I have a natural way of presenting stories. A unique style when I tell stories differently.
Interestingly, my true nature and talent lie in telling stories, and that too in the written language. Language is also a visual medium, and this topic is for another blog post sometime later.
Every time I decide to start a blog to share my stories, I leave it in 2 to 3 days because I feel that visually it has to be better. Beautification isn't the issue, but rather a solution. It was later in my life that I came to understand I embraced minimalism. I never even thought that minimalism is something that I loved and enjoyed. I was always stuck in making things too good and filled with a lot of colors, and this was a distraction. I could never reach my pinnacle.
The primary focus should have always been on answering the one question: 'Why do I want to blog?'
Was it to showcase my prowess in creating websites? (Buzz off, I'm no web developer, though I love to code, albeit minimally.)
Was it to exhibit my artwork? Absolutely not. I created very vague artwork that only I understood. There was no point in displaying it. And moreover, it was not my style or natural ability to paint or draw. I have tried several YouTube tutorials, but the process was not my cup of tea. It drove anxiety in me rather than a sense of relaxation.
Finally, the Eureka moment happened. I concluded: I blog to blog, essentially to write.
Now the next question pondered: what to write? Haha, what not to write is the answer. I can write anything under the sky and maybe above it too. Articles, stories, thoughts, poetry, and everything else that I understood and am trying to understand can be expressed through writing. Sometimes they can be long or sometimes short (like microblogs or haiku).
Once I reached this conclusion, I decided to concentrate solely on writing and nothing else. Blogs have been around for quite some time not only on the internet but in my mind too. My earliest memory of blogging dates back to when I created a blog using Blogger, back when Google+ was a thing.
You might be thinking I mentioned above that I started blogging recently, and now I claim that I had started to blog way back.
Well, both statements are true. My first blog site was created on Blogger a long time ago, and I don't remember its login credentials. However, I never actually wrote anything on it. I would visit random websites, copy content, and paste it onto my blog. Interestingly, it was boring, and I did it for only 2 or 3 days.
Later, when at college, I experimented with many blogging platforms. But the problem was, I didn't know what to write on these blogs. Thus, years passed by, and I scribbled bits and pieces behind my notebook, which I lost over the years.
Then, after graduating and starting my career as an engineer, I felt lost. I had an urge to write and share my stories with the world, which led me to blogging. However, the lack of practice in this art form had made it a lost skill within me. I struggled to write because I was afraid of making mistakes. Mostly, I procrastinated, despite knowing that writing was my ultimate goal.
I attempted some research and stumbled upon the term 'art block'. I still believe that art block is real, and the only way, according to me, to overcome it is by creating more art. Even if you feel that the art is subpar, just keep at it: every time.
I began writing short notes on Google Keep. I penned down quotes, psychology topics, poems, or interesting words I encountered in books or online, along with their meanings.
I wrote and wrote, and I never stopped thereafter.