1 Year With 140 Characters Or More

140 Characters or More is 1 year old today!This might be the longest relationship I’ve ever had, and the best commitment I've ever made. 

It has always been a struggle to tell people that I write and have a blog. They’ll ask what I write about and I say my life. And then it’s automatically assumed that I’m one of those “bloggers” from Instagram, and that’s the image that I try to avoid.

I write about my life, yes. But I write about little things that happen to me and I turn them into something bigger that people can relate to or something that people can learn from. This blog is based off of my real life experiences. 

A quick look back at this year on the blog-

1. I've posted 29 times (30 including this one).
2. I've had over 5,000 visitors to my site on just one specific day.
3. I've started sharing my new posts on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ communities.
4. I've started an Instagram for all things blog related. Give it a follow!
5. I’ve had three different jobs.
6. I’ve lived in three different places.
7. I moved home.
8. I've edited my writing to spare other peoples feelings.
9. And then I vowed to never do that again.
10. I didn’t write for 2 whole months.
11. I graduated college.
12. I’ve gone through two break ups.
13. I’ve traveled multiple times and visited places I’ve never been.
14. I've purchased two international plane tickets with my own, hard-earned money.
15. I turned another year older!
16. Twitter changed its character count from 140 to 280 characters. But I didn’t change my blog name.
17. The layout of my blog changed more than once.
18. I've had writers block on more than one occasion. 
19. I started adding photos to my posts.
20. I've stepped out of my comfort zone.
21. I lost friends, I made new friends, I connected with old friends.
22. I found something I love and have a real passion for, after hating it for so many years.
23. I became an adult- paying bills, working full time, etc.
24. I got my first credit card! haha
25. I've realized that I don't have to reside in New York, Chicago, or LA to live an exciting life. Cleveland really does rock.
26. I've contemplated giving up.
27. I’ve struggled and I’ve succeeded.

A lot happened throughout the year. Some things I didn’t write about, but if you read between the lines you can see that they were reflected in my writing.

 I thought about giving up. I often find myself wondering “Why do I do this? Who actually reads these? Who even cares”.

And then I run into people at the most random places and they say things like “I didn’t know you could write! I love your blog” or “I love reading your writing because it feels like I’m hanging out with you”.

And I quickly remember that I write for other people- to make people laugh, to make them feel like they aren’t alone, for entertainment when they are bored in class or at work, to tell them my story so that maybe they won’t make the same mistake that I did, or to help them through a tough time.

I write for other people but I also write for myself. Even if no one reads my posts and if no one cares about what I have to say, I write because I want to. Writing is my way of creating and this blog is a way to keep my creations. 

Thank you for following, there is so much more to come. 

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