Well, I’ll be!! Who would’ve thought it? Me, celebrating my one-year Blogiversary!

This time last year I was lying on my bed in Hoi An, Vietnam, with my cursor hovering over the publish button and my finger nervously dancing over the mouse button, like a little girl on her first day of school.

Should I do it? No, It’s not ready, I’m not ready! Oh there, you’ve pushed it. It’s happened. You hit the button! Now look what you’ve done…haha

I’d bought my website domain name and hosting site in September of 2017, and had spent the next 10 months creating my website and writing articles but never having the courage to publish either.

You’re Never Ready

When was ever going to be a good time, when was I ever going to feel ready or be ready? It was a now or never type moment. It’s a leap of faith, and better to take the leap and learn to fly than never try.

Looking back and reflecting on the past year of having a published blog and almost 2 years of starting the whole process, I’m so amazed and so damn proud of how far I’ve come. Making that decision to begin and start my “day one”

The amount of coding, HTML, widget, SEO and behind the scenes technology that I’ve learnt. The struggles, tears and times I’ve wanted to throw my laptop because I didn’t know how to do something and couldn’t work it out.

The hours pouring over YouTube videos and doing google searches has been non-stop.

But it’s all part of the process. All part of the learning curve of creating and running your own website. And heck I’ve got the skills to create websites for other people now, and have done so.

Proud As Punch

I can proudly say I’ve done ALL the technical creation myself. Yeah I’ve watched YouTube videos and yeah I’ve paid for a few courses but at no time has ANYONE touched my WordPress site. It’s all been me! ME!! I did it. I climbed that mountain. Day by day, step by step.

I decided I could do, I wanted to do and I persisted and will continue to persist. The learning and the growth never stops

 Even when it was hard. I kept going. Even when no one was reading my posts, or engaging with me or my content. Even when I wasn’t actively posting content, I was always working behind the scenes, silently hustling.

Find Your People

I’ve certainly had help and support along the way, I found a fabulous mentor in Glo and such an amazing support squad from both boot camps and conferences. They’re my people, they get me, they understand my passions and they support what I’m trying to achieve.

Not to mention my family and the friends who encouraged me from day one. To not only give it go, but proofread my blogs, gave me words of advice and unwavering support to follow my dream

Silently Hustling

When I wasn’t consistently posting, it didn’t mean I was inactive. I was upskilling behind the scenes.

Taking photography courses, learning more website code and functionality, silently improving myself and my site. I want to be more consistent and provide more quality.

I’ve been to travel conferences and blogging boot camps, so I can learn everything there is to know. To hone my skills, so all of my content is better for you. Because that’s why I started this. For you!

I’m not here seeking validation for how many countries I’ve been to, how often I travel or any of that other stuff.

I love to travel, I think that much is clear.

But I also love to help people. It was the most satisfying part of my previous career. Coaching, guiding and upskilling my staff and seeing them grow and progress. And that is why I started this journey. 

It’s All About You

There is so much to share with you. I want to help you. To show you it’s okay to travel solo and to show you how. I want you to learn from me, not make the mistakes I’ve made, but most importantly to get out there and enjoy our wonderful world.

Somewhere along the way I’ve learned a bunch of new skills and found a new career path for myself too. 

So the hustle continues in the hope I can bring you more information that will help you see and do more around the world and feel comfortable to do so.

Progress Over Perfection

It’ll always be a work in progress, but I’m so happy with where it’s at after one year. A lot of people would have given up because it is hard work, it is real work. It’s time-consuming, but I’m passionate about it and I love a challenge.

As I’ve been re-working some functionality on my site this past week, it’s all come to me so easily and I had to stop and remember how hard it was just one year ago.

We all start at the beginning.

There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs. You have to climb that mountain!

Now I’m not saying for a second I’m at the peak, but I look back at where I was, compared to now and I’m as proud as punch

Here’s to Year Two

Time to take this little blog to the next level.

I’ve so many goals, plans and ideas. I’m creating new habits daily and pushing myself further and further outside my comfort zone.

If you’re thinking about starting something new, following a dream or turning a hobby into something bigger, just do it! I mean Nike has nailed that slogan, for real.

Stop saying “one day” and start your day one!

Thanks for all your support for the last 12 months. It means more than you can imagine.

Read my first post from 1 year ago

If there is ever anything you want me to write about, cover, places you’d like to see me travel to etc please send me a comment and let me know

Disclaimer: All photos are stock images from Canva except the photo I have captioned

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