I've done this before: a new year rolls around and suddenly I'm back to the blog. This time it's different.

I like coffee. This will be a theme.

Blogs these days have changed completely. If you've been around for longer than 30 years or so, you may remember when blogs were web journals where people shared their personal thoughts and life events. Enter MySpace (RIP), Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat (still don't know how to use that one), and a host of other social media platforms where sharing your personal thoughts and life events are commonplace. But there's one problem with all of those: you see what the platform wants you to see. What we take in is controlled by an algorithm that no one can crack. Before long, your voice fades into a sea of a countless number of others.

Then blogs became a place for the "mom blogger", "boss babe" or "tech guru" where information was shared in an effort to get pins, likes or followers. We no longer shared anything about our lives, but more about what we wanted our readers to care about or remember...like affiliate links that we just know will make us money so we can quit our day jobs and spend our time being full-time influencers and living glamorous lives.

Me...coming up with "blog content" DIYing a faux marble countertop. It was actually really cool, but I didn't really want to write about it.

Don't get me wrong, I fell into all those traps. When I started blogging a gazillion years ago, it was cathartic and I shared more about my thoughts and ideas on life than I did about "Tips and Tricks to Make You More Productive." Then I started writing blog posts that I hoped people would pin so my ideas could go "viral". My voice was nowhere to be found in any of those posts. Blogging became more of a task that I did for free than anything enjoyable.

My blog endeavor in 2019 was the last straw. I got a Wordpress site (that I never fully learned how to use) and went self-hosted. It cost me a little money upfront, but I thought, "Hey...maybe this will make me rich and I'll earn it all back." I didn't. My motivation waned because I wasn't really interested in writing the next "How To". Then 2020 rolled around and so did the cost to renew all of my subscriptions. After $180 price tag to keep my domain, I thought, "What am I doing?"

The truth is, I want to blog because I love to write. I also like looking back on these things and seeing how much I've grown and experienced. While having people connect with something I say is a bonus, I'm no longer chasing down followers or trying to be the next viral sensation. Nope...I'm just here with my words and ideas getting them all out there into the black hole we call the internet. I'm doing this for fun now.

I married this guy. My 20-year-old blogger self would be high-fiving me right now.

As you can see, I'm keeping it simple now...a stripped-down layout with no frills...just words and pictures. So stick around if you want to hear about this 35-year-old living life to the fullest possible. Maybe we have something in common? Or maybe we're as different as night and day? Either way, you can be absolutely certain I won't be blogging about cloth diapering...because besides not having any children, I would also never do that (no judgment).