When I started my first blog in 2010, I really had no idea what I was doing. At that point I signed up for Blogger because the Windows Live blog I had been using wouldn’t allow me to add custom HTML and JavaScript widgets to the sidebar. Blogger would. I knew next to nothing about coding or design – I did know, though, that you could copy and paste some text and get something cool out of it! My focus was on photography (and I’ll admit right now that I wasn’t very good!), and I considered my blog a fun way to share some of my life with people – mostly my real-life friends. But after a while I started to dig deeper into the world of code and graphics, and at the same time realized I was in no position to start a photography business. So I entered the world of graphic design and web development.

At first I worked for free with some very gracious friends who were so encouraging at a time when I was scrambling to learn just the basics, but after a while I started to get the hang of this path I was on: I started charging for my work and began to take a little more time to think as an artist, as opposed to just figuring out how in the world to add a signature to every single blog post. I started blogging a bit more intentionally, yet began to wonder how to even go about gaining readers, how to write “correct” blog posts, and how to do everything “the right way.” There can be so much pressure on us all to conform to a standard, to write blog posts in a certain way, to touch people’s hearts with every single word in every single post. There can be pressure to reach a certain audience, to talk in a certain way, to interact with other bloggers in a particular manner. I’ve struggled to not succumb to that pressure, and to find my own unique voice in my design and in my online connections with people. And frankly, only recently have I begun to feel like I’m finally arriving at that place where I know who I need to be in my work, how I need to function online and with my clients.

What has helped me so much in my quest to find my voice is, first of all, seeing the work of others (Pinterest, you have my everlasting gratitude), thinking outside the box, and not being afraid to try new things or stay true to what I feel is the right path for me. It is scary to branch out. It’s scary to venture outside my comfort zone and do things differently. But I feel that doing so has helped me to grow as an artist and as a person. The other big thing is learning to share myself on this blog as well as on other social media sites. Let me tell you, it feels so weird to blog about myself, to occasionally share photos of myself, and to update people on what I’m doing. It feels selfish, in a way. (Any other bloggers feel the same?) But I think I’m realizing that it isn’t. I want to work with people who I would be friends with in real life, and how are they going to get to know me if I never put myself out there? It’s a conversation that I have to initiate. Yeah, it feels weird to initiate it, but that’s just how social media works right now.

Well, that was a long post. I hadn’t meant for it to get so long, but I’ve been thinking recently of how thankful I am for the past few years – how much I’ve learned, as well as getting so excited to learn more in the future. No one will ever “arrive” at the perfect place, but I think looking back and seeing how far we’ve come is such a great thing to do. So I hope this is an encouragement! Developing your trade will take a long time, lots of effort, and too many mistakes to count. But if you really love it, it’ll be worth it. No matter what.