Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash

This blog is one year old today.

I started Just J thinking it would be a good way to pass the time. It would be a place to share some of my experiences and some things I have learned (and am still learning) with the world. And, to be honest, I hoped to build a website that would make some money. I was out of work due to COVID, and this seemed like a good alternative to finding a new job.

I knew that creating an income-generating blog was nearly impossible, so I was not banking on any money early on, but I had hopes that things could progress into a bit of revenue. However, right from the start, there were problems.

The first problem was that I was not interested in compromising on my content. I did not want to be limited on what to post. Almost all profitable blogs are specific in their content. Their posts attract certain readers, and smart bloggers will only produce material of interest to those readers. I knew going in, that my blog would be varied and random. I knew that my readers would each be interested in only a limited number of my posts. I hoped that there would be enough content in each section to hold the attention of people visiting my page. This meant I would need to put out a lot of material, which leads me into the second problem.

I had high hopes of putting out multiple posts every week. I penciled out schedules and created folders for all my categories. I anticipated that by the end of my first year, I would have over a hundred posts in my archives, (This is number 25 if you are wondering!) but I ran into a couple of hurdles. You see, “Life doesn’t always see eye to eye with a person’s plans”. (Ines Vieira) I got busy; I got distracted; I got lazy. Putting out numerous quality posts every week was a lot more work than I appreciated. I realized that I could probably keep up with my intended schedule, but I did not want to. There was a time when I started to resent having to write. Working on my blog became a chore instead of a passion. So one day I decided to ease up on the number of posts I was creating, and I started to enjoy writing again. But I still had restrictions on my content that were causing me to delay posting.

My initial idea for organizing my page, was to have daily categories; MMM Mondays for recipes and nutrition, Tidy Tuesdays for cleaning and organizing, etc. At first this worked well, but I soon realized that I was rushed into finishing posts and was frustrated on missing deadlines when a topic took more time than I had. At times, I sat staring at my laptop trying to think about what I could post to fall into the correct category for the upcoming day. I was forcing myself to write what would fit, not what was interesting to me. Once again, blogging was becoming a chore; my posts became more infrequent.

And then I was called back to work. Do not get me wrong, I was (and am) thrilled to be back at work. But I was busy. I got sick with Shingles. Thankfully, it was a mild case, but I was so tired. And all of a sudden it was the end of summer and we were trying to enjoy those remaining sunny days. We bought a condo to rent to the Girl, and we spent days and days painting and preparing it for her to move into. And I was just so darn busy. The blog suffered for it. I had less and less content, and fewer new readers. I was unable to get Google Ads to advertise on my page, and the Amazon Associates Program decided that I no longer qualified. Just J was moving backwards, and I felt guilty for not keeping it up. With my one-year anniversary looming, I felt defeated and embarrassed. And I did not know how to encourage myself to get back at it and produce an interesting and profitable website. I was beating myself up and I knew that I would never be happy trying to create my original idea. Once I understood this, my agenda changed…

I have realized that I do not want to write for a big audience. I do not want to have ads on my page or promote items to buy. I want to write for me. I want to write about experiences to remind myself and my family of what we have done. I want to write for my friends to have a record of who I am and who we are. I want to record recipes and household tips and garden hacks so the people I am close to, or anyone else who chooses to read, can get some benefits. I like that the Girl will go on Just J to find a family recipe and that T tells me he loves how I recount our vacations. It brings me joy to see a member of a Facebook group comment on a fish keeping tip. I treasure when a friend says a post made them smile. This is what I want! This is why I love to write. So I am feeling revitalized! Because I have given myself permission. Permission to write what I want, and when I want. Permission to go days, weeks, or months between posts. Permission to be random, and weird, and have fun again.

I no longer have daily categories. The sections are still there, but they have been renamed. And the names are weird, because I can do what I want, and I want them to be weird. And I may change them, and I may change a lot of things, because it does not matter. This blog is about me and how I feel. It is about T, and the Girl and the Boy and what we do. It is a memoir of sorts. It is about sharing ideas and tips. It is random and arbitrary.

So I want to keep posting. T and I have plans for our retirement. We intend to sell off everything we own and travel the world for a year or two before maybe settling into our newly purchased condo. I want to use this page to document our adventure. And I still have so much I want to share about my life today. l will share it eventually. Maybe not soon, maybe not fast, maybe not in order, but eventually, and I am okay with that and I hope you are too.

Welcome to year two.

Welcome to a new version.

Welcome into my life.

I hope you choose to stay.

This blog is one year old today.