Creating, Learning, and Letting Go: Thoughts from My First Month Keeping a Blog

One month since starting this creative journal, and this might be my first article that actually feels like a journal entry.

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what impact this little experiment has had on my creativity, process, and general thought patterns.

It has made me more rigorous with my hobbies and justified spending more time on the things I love without feeling frivolous. Ironically, I’m not active on social media at all, so this has been an interesting exercise - I hope to get better at it. It’s also made me appreciate content creators so much more. It’s true that you can’t fully understand something until you try it yourself. Creating content takes skills (which I don’t have yet), and I have a newfound respect for those who do it well.

It has also allowed me to enjoy writing again. I write a lot for work, but never just for myself or in my own voice. That has been incredibly fulfilling. And it’s given me a push to get back into sketching, which I love—even if I hate how rusty I’ve gotten. Skills are built, but they also need to be maintained, and sometimes it’s hard when there are so many things I enjoy and want to try.

So, what’s next? I want to do more sketching and rebuild the habit - if not daily, then at least twice a week. I want to share recipes I love and eat often. I want to tackle a few more sewing projects. I want to make baby gifts. I want to experiment with video content (which I know nothing about, but hey, we’ll try). I want to focus more on fitness and get back to a routine of daily movement. I also want to read more - I love reading, but it comes in phases, and right now, I’m in a low-reading season.

It can feel overwhelming at times, but I try to remind myself that all of this comes from a desire to live more, experience more, be more - and that in itself is a blessing. I’ve known many people who didn’t lack ability but seemed to be born without the drive to fully engage with life, and I’ve never seen that lead to happiness. So when I feel frustrated that I’m not as good at everything as I’d like to be, I try to remind myself that this deep-rooted desire to improve is a good thing. The real challenge is appreciating the journey as much (if not more) than the result.

It’s also hard to feel complete all the time. We’re expected to find one passion, one vocation that gives us purpose, and that’s it - happy and content. But that has never worked for me. One thing will never be enough.*

* Click here to see what topics I have covered so far.

As much as I get frustrated by it, the process of learning something new, discovering a talent (or lack thereof), and pushing myself to master it to a satisfactory level (for me) is what makes me feel whole. I have a love-hate relationship with challenge, but at least it’s passionate.

Sharing what I’m doing - not just the polished, curated results - is a massive milestone for me. I grew up believing you should steer clear of anything you weren’t naturally good at because having to try more than three times was humiliating. It’s an idiotic mindset, but deeply ingrained. Some of the things I made this month and shared, I would have burned and hidden when I was younger. I’m slowly learning to embrace progress and accept that, no matter the pace, it’s moving in the right direction.

And - this is the hardest part - I hope to one day enjoy doing something even if I’m terrible at it. We’re not there yet.

Exploring creativity in different forms has been such a journey - see how I put it into practice in my first three months of crochet and crochet capsule project!