I can’t believe its already the one year anniversary of starting the Short Girl Travels blog! I swear the older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. It feels like just yesterday that I was nervously hitting “publish” for the first time, and now here I am with post #45. Sure there have been some lows, from writers block to wanting to close up shop, but they’ve been outweighed by all the positive experiences. Some highlights of this first year of the blog include:

• Officially launched the site! I feel like I’ve come a long way since sharing those first Italy posts.
• Visiting Greece for the first time! This was also my first international trip without my husband.
• Attending Party for the Market – Reading Terminal‘s annual fundraiser. Such a fun night!
• Starting a coffee series, to justify my coffee addiction and constant need to try new coffee shops.
• Discovering so many places I didn’t know existed that I can’t wait to visit and share with you all!

Writing as a Perfectionist is Hard

My office is jam packed with random supplies: a shelf of empty wine bottles and a bottle cutter, a Cricut cutting machine, and even a semi-professional softbox lighting setup. Why? Because I’m the type of person who constantly comes up with new hobby ideas, and if it doesn’t go perfectly after the first attempt or two, I give up. My brain goes straight to, “What’s the point if you’re not the best?” and I lose any motivation/excitement for whatever it was I was doing.

I think I considered shutting down the site at LEAST once a month over the last year, because I wasn’t gaining traction at the pace I imagined I would. I’m not sure what I was thinking, honestly. There are millions (billions?) of websites, and so many other equally passionate travelers competing for people’s time and attention! But I’m proud of myself for pushing through the negative thoughts and getting the blog to this year anniversary milestone. Are views still slower to trickle in than I’d like? Sure. But they’re increasing every day! Progress is progress.

That being said, I still second guess myself constantly. Is this post too generic? Am I writing this because I actually think it’s interesting, or am I just chasing views and being inauthentic? Will people think this is cringy or boring and judge me for it? Being super concerned with how you’re perceived doesn’t really mesh well with publishing content for the world to see. Its a constant struggle/work in progress.

A Year of Lessons Learned

This last year has almost felt like starting your first job where you literally have no idea what you’re doing. Or I guess like learning to swim, where the person just throws you in the deep end hoping for the best. As I hit this one year anniversary, its safe to say I’ve learned a number of things about writing a blog.

Writers Block

I forgot how much of a STRUGGLE writers block can be. Sometimes I’ll hit a slump, and the words just won’t want to come out. To be honest, there was at least once or twice where the difficulty definitely came from disinterest. I knew I needed to post something, and picked something simple/nearby to write about. But if I’m bored writing it, other people will surely be bored reading it. (I know there’s been a few duds over the last year. Sorry!) But what is the solution? Sometime its just finding a distraction in the hopes it’ll break the funk: go for a walk, watch Netflix, cuddle with the cats. Unfortunately that doesn’t always work, so I’ve found its important to have a backup plan! Make sure to have a backlog of completed posts on standby for when the writers block hits. Now I haven’t quite accomplished this yet, but I’ll get there.

Running a Website is a Lot of Work

Most people (myself included when I first started out) don’t realize how much work really goes into travel writing. There’s researching/planning trips, creating a content schedule, writing posts, editing layouts, figuring out what to share to which social media platform, graphic design, etc. Not to mention all the things to think about during the actual trips! Remembering to take an excessive amount of photos/videos because I’m never 100% sure what I’ll need, writing notes to myself about things we did or ate so I don’t forget, etc. On top of all that there’s the technical aspects of the website, which I’m still learning. Analytics, cookies, privacy policies, and search engine optimization just to name a few. I enjoy doing it all, but sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming!

Don’t Take Things Personally

A huge turning point this year was coming to terms with the fact that not everyone on the internet (or even in my life for that matter) is going to be as excited about/interested in this site and my content as I am. And as hard as it is, I can’t take this personally. I don’t pay attention to every single aspect of other people’s lives, so why would I expect the same of everyone else? Its been a reminder that the whole point of starting to write again was for me, and I need to leave my people pleasing/validation seeking ways behind. That being said, I’ll move on now before I sound too much more like one of those inspirational/motivational quote posts I roll my eyes at while scrolling Instagram.

Goals for the Next Year

Now that I’ve got this first anniversary of the blog behind me, its probably time for some new goals. I almost feel like I’m making new years resolutions, because these are as much for me personally as they are for the blog.

Step Out of My Comfort Zone

The biggest thing? Pushing myself to try and do more solo – things like trips, drinks, meals. I do too much sitting around the house waiting for Jasper to get home from work, and that needs to change! I have plenty of day-trip ideas, I just need to put them on the calendar and make it happen.

Stop. Procrastinating.

Anyone else have the this problem where you can’t seem to find the motivation to work on something unless there is a time crunch? This post here is a prime example. I’d been sort of working on it for two weeks, and didn’t actually finish writing until an hour before it was scheduled to be published. All I’m doing is stressing myself out for no reason!

Ignore Negative People

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve felt self conscious when asked what I do now, thanks to the occasional scoff or rolled eyes I’ve received over the past year. It’ll be hard, but I need to ignore the people who don’t take me and my writing seriously. I’m finally taking advantage of the journalism degree I spent tens of thousands of dollars on, and I love doing it, and that’s all that should matter.

Remember that I’m Allowed to Take up Space

I definitely think I have something similar to scopophobia – the fear of being perceived. I take any photos/videos as quickly as possible so people won’t take notice of what I’m doing. From here on out I want take the extra seconds/minute to get the shot I want. I mean, there are tourists that will stop in the middle of a busy sidewalk in NYC to take pictures, completely oblivious to the people around them. As long as I don’t act like that, I’m fine.

I want to thank you all for going on this journey with me! I’m so happy to celebrate this year anniversary of the blog. I can’t wait to see what adventures the next year holds!