Hello friends, welcome to my mental health Monday post for this week. I’d have to say, it’s more motivation vs. mental health but still a departure from shopping. Had I really thought this through 8 years ago when I started this blog, I’d have chosen a different name. But that’s a whole other story. Interestingly enough though, it has a lot to do with today’s topic: Do It Dirty.
Do It Dirty
Have you heard that phrase before? I promise there is nothing vulgar about my post and I am not implying anything distasteful. Do it dirty means JUST DO IT. Stop waiting for everything to be perfect, just start already.
I’ve mentioned this before, if you want to achieve a goal, you need to start. Sure there’s a time and place for planning and strategizing but at some point you need to just start, just do it.
How I Started Blogging
I could probably write an entire post on this at another time, but I had been talking with a friend about starting a blog together for quite some time. If you know me then you know I like to see action and not excuses. This should have been a red flag to me when the friend wasn’t moving quite as quickly as I was but I was afraid to go this alone. I prefer to bounce ideas off of someone and collaborate. Plus? We had a genius idea: we both loved shopping but were different sizes. Novel idea, right? It could have been amazing.
After talking and talking but getting nowhere, I decided to do it. You might say I decided to do it dirty. I set up the blog and chose a name, randomly. We were both blonde so why not call is This Blonde’s Shopping Bag? We could talk about what was in her bad and what was in mine. Seemed simple enough and I hate overthinking so I spent the money and got us set up. I had just purchased my laptop (still using it today) and had a DSLR camera.
Long story short, I learned as I went. I cried – honestly, I cried out of frustration. I couldn’t understand code, linking, none of it. I spun my wheels alone. I made so many mistakes. I had no idea who to ask for help. There was a big influencer in my area whom I had met at an event before I started the blog. So, I asked her for help and she said no. Nope. Just no. I offered to pay her for her time but she said it was not a good use of her time. That was that. I do understand, I really do. If you ask you need to be prepared for an answer and it may not be the one you want.
I hate to fail so I refused to give up. When my partner fell off the face of the earth and stopped responding to me, I decided to go it alone. My early blog posts were awful and the photos made me cringe. Many are no longer available because when my storage reached its limit, I removed files. Did I realize what I was doing? No, no I did not. See? I did it dirty.
What This All Means
In retrospect I would most certainly have done things differently. But I didn’t and I have no regrets. Things turned out the way they were supposed to – I have learned so very much and I am so eternally grateful for each lesson. I still have no idea what I’m doing most of the time. I never ask myself why my posts haven’t gone viral or why I am not more successful here. I have friends who started at the same time as I did and their story has had a much different outcome. But you know what? That is okay with me. I get out of this what I put into it and I am forced to grow in areas that don’t come naturally to me. I am exactly where I need to be and I don’t question it.
So, what this all means for you, is that if there is something you want to do – just start. Do it dirty. Make modifications along the way but don’t wait for the perfect time. Now is the perfect time. You’ll never be younger than you are today. Don’t compare yourself to someone else – they are not your competition. When you see someone achieving what you hope to, just know that they are living proof that it can be done. Life is too short to live with regret for the things we didn’t do. So do it dirty, but do it.
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- Do It Dirty
- Happy Independence Day!
- June Closet Additions
- How to Have a Happy Birthday – Book Review
- June Joys – Friday Favorites
