A year on…

Dearest reader,

Today is exactly a year since I launched this blog.

12 months of showing up to write and publish.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for commenting.

Thank you for sharing the posts.

Thank you for simply being here.

Thank you for subscribing to the blog.

Thank you for tapping/clicking the like icon.

You probably fall into one or all of these categories - and I’m so grateful to have you.

To be honest, there were times when I didn't know what to write. But I told myself I wanted to show up once a month. And that’s just what I’ve done for the past year.

Surprisingly, there hasn’t been a month that I felt like I did not want to write. It was just an issue of not knowing what to share or not having enough time to put something together.

Thankfully, I found my way around them and here we are today.

I will need a better strategy next year though.

Today isn’t all about me or my blog. It’s about you too - for being a part of this journey.

So to celebrate our one year anniversary, I’m sharing a list of all the posts I’ve published over the past 12 months.

I’ll also share the progress of the blog so far in numbers, changes that have occurred and what I did differently compared to when I started out as a writer on Medium.

Then, I'll wrap up with a sneak peek into next year.

Published blogs in the past year (November 2022 - October 2023)

1. To a New Space and a New Journey

2. Stand up Straight with Your Shoulders Back

3. All 365 Days of the Year Can’t Go Bad

4. A New Set of 365 Days to Get Things Done

5. Nothing to Lose

6. Do You Always Think Worst-Case Scenarios?

7. Quarter 1 Dump for Books

8. At 23…

9. Unplanned Reality Escape

10. Proof of Vision Boarding (+ How to Create a Vision Board You Love)

11. Missed Opportunities

12. When You Find That Person

Our numbers…

From the launch day on Monday, 31st October 2022 to the time of finalising this blog - Saturday, 28th October 2023, we've had a total of...

612 site sessions across 12 countries

242 unique visitors

46 contacts (41 blog subscribers and 5 site members)

12 total blog articles (with what you're currently reading counting as 13)

1 editor! A very good friend offered to edit the blogs before I scheduled.

Upcoming changes

I decided to publish the blogs on Thursdays because I love Thursdays and I receive and send some emails on Thursdays.

But I’d like to change the day you receive the posts to weekends - Saturday or Sunday. Because who really gets time to open emails on a weekday? Maybe it depends but that's what I'm thinking.

I’ll run a poll before next year or early next year to determine which you’d prefer. The majority would carry the vote.

I typically clear my mailboxes on Saturdays and Sundays so I think it makes sense to let you have it over the weekend. But I'll let you decide. You can let me know in the comments if you’re with me on this :)

What I did differently now vs when I started writing on Medium

It was two things:

Having a SMART goal and a plan.

When I was writing on Medium, I did tell myself I wanted to publish once a month. But I did not say when.

Once a month is vague.

It could be anytime.

And because I had courses, work and other things to focus on, I wasn’t making time for it. And by the time I realised, we were almost nearing the end of the month and I had nothing.

I hardly ever write and publish on the same day. So that never really worked for me.

With this blog, I also had a goal to publish once a month. But it was more Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-bound: the 2nd Thursday of every month at 7 pm GMT.

A SMART goal.

I started doing that consistently but along the way, I had other engagements taking my time completely so I wasn’t able to do the 2nd Thursday of every month as I had hoped. This wasn’t something I could control. My hands were tied - still are.

But here’s the thing…

Because I had it in mind to publish the second Thursday of every month at 7 pm GMT, I knew I had a deadline to meet. And even when I exceeded it, I had about 2-3 weeks to get something done before the month ended.

The other thing I did differently this time was to have a plan in place and a backup in case my initial plan failed.

I’ve come to realise that if you say you want to do something and you don’t really put measures in place to do it, time will pass and you’ll never really do it.

It’s one thing to say you want to do something and it’s another thing to actually get it done when the time comes and there's no action plan.

Writing Initiatives for 2024

This site will continue to be my somewhat personal blog. However, I’m hoping to start 2 other writing projects on different platforms in 2024. I'll share the details when the time is due.

I somehow need to validate the ideas first even though I know there's demand for both - or at least one.

For one of the projects, I intend to treat it as an actual content project. It's part of the reason why I need to research and validate these ideas.

What’s next?

I’ll be going on a writing break in November.

My plan was to resume in December with an end of year post.

But I think I’ll pass on that this year.

I’d like to keep this year’s reflection personal - or should I say to myself.

However I’ll send you my love and well wishes via email to bring you the season’s greetings. (Here’s your cue to subscribe to the blog if you haven’t done that yet).

Then I’ll return in January with a blog post or maybe just an email again. God knows I need this break.

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That’s all from my end!

Thank you so much for one year🥂

Cheers to flourishing and fulfilling years of reading, writing, publishing, and reading (this reading is for you)!

If you have any topics you’d like me to write about next year (mainly for the personal development category), please comment below or fill out the contact form and share your ideas. I’ll have it in mind when planning for next year.

Thank you so much for being here!

YOU have a piece of my heart <3

Love,

D.