Thinking Out Loud #5: My 2 Year Blogiversary!

Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.

This could not be more true on a day like today. Good morning everyone. 🙂

As I sit here and type this post (yesterday), my mind is pretty blank of all thoughts. I can’t really think about what I want to write, but all I know is that I want to publish something, and soon.

Lucky for me, that’s what Thursdays are for…

…thinking out loud!

As always, thank you to Amanda of Running With Spoons for allowing me to share my random thoughts on this day! 

Those feelings of devoid and blank thoughts that I talked about above are exactly how I felt 2 years ago when I took a leap and started this blog, A Dancer’s Live-It. That’s right, today is my 2-year Blogiversary and I cannot believe how quickly time has passed!

So much to reflect on and be thankful for. Bear with me today guys, it’s about to get a little sappy and reminiscent. 😉

I remember attending my cousin’s wedding (happy anniversary, Steph and Mike!) the day before I knew I wanted to start my blog. I had chosen the name (with my mom’s help) and decided to go live the day after. I had no idea what I was doing. The only information I “knew” was from reading the various other blogs I had been following at the time: Julie, Georgie, Dana, Lauren, Monique, Sally, and Katie.

I paid for the premium version of WordPress, bought myself my domain name, and boom. I had a blog. When I hit “Publish” on my first post, “Hello Again“, I gulped. This was it, I was now LIVE! Would my family think I’m weird? Would I actually have readers? How do I paste an image into a post again? 

At first I thought my blog would be a catalyst in helping me recover from my eating disorder, but at that time, I had only been reading mostly food blogs. So then I thought I would try to do the same with all of my oatmeal recipes. Yeah, didn’t work out so well. Turns out you actually need to invest TIME and MONEY into a food blog, something that a poor college student didn’t have the means for.

Honestly, I didn’t find my blogging “voice” until this year. Up until then I felt like I was almost “copying” the post formats and voices of others just because I knew they got a ton of traffic and followers. This year, I finally figured out what I like to post about and where I want the blog to go from now on.

So, what happened to me and the blog in those 2 years?  

Keep in mind, none of these things listed are for bragging purposes. I honestly want to remember these past two years, it went by so fast! Sorry the list is so long, but a lot happened!

1. I started my undergraduate degree as a Dance Performance Major in a new city.
2. I developed my eating disorder shortly after starting college.
3. I started to educate myself about the blogging world and how things worked. (Thanks, John!)
4. I almost had to leave school after my first semester because I was so thin. This affected my blogging quite a bit.
5. I discovered just how HUGE the blogging world is.
6. I got my two tattoos!
7. I started to post more frequently to increase traffic, and it helped a LOT.
8. I started reaching out to brands and even became a part of the siggi’s Culture Club!
9. I made a Facebook page for A Dancer’s Live-It and improved my Instagram.
10. My friends started to become interested in what I was blogging about.
11. I was featured as one of The Oatmeal Artist’s “Oatmeal Enthusiasts“.
12. I reached out to other bloggers and thanked them for their inspiring stories. We ended up having similar stories about body image, eating disorders, and the struggle of recovery.
13. I stopped running and figured out what exercise I liked best.
14. While recovering, I started to discover my immense love for baking and blogging about that. This also turned into a catalyst for helping me recover.
15. I MET SALLY from Sally’s Baking Addiction!!!!
16. I changed the look of my blog. Twice. 🙂
17. I finally switched to a self-hosted site.
18. I joined the BGB Community and met a TON of amazing and inspiring women, some of whom I’ve become very close with. <3
19. I started the Warrior Women Wednesday series, inspired by the ladies of BGB.
20. I realized that life is waaaay too short to worry about the little dumb things that happen. So always BE HAPPY AND BE WELL! 🙂

If you made it this far, bless you!

One more thing though….I am beyond grateful for every single one of YOU who take the time to read my blog. Whether you check in every day, once a week, or once a month, YOU are the backbone of this whole operation. Without all of you, this blog wouldn’t function and I would have given up a long time ago.

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.

Never give up on something that you think won’t turn out well. I still have a LONG way to go, but the blog isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and neither am I. 🙂

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Be well.  I’m so blessed.

Stay in touch!
Facebook: A Dancer’s Live-It
Instagram: adancersliveit
Youtube: Marina D
Pinterest: A Dancer’s Live-It

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