My blog is now a year old and what a milestone it is! I remember celebrating 100 days of blogging but that hardly compares to coming full circle like this.

Why Blogging Has Been So Significant

Now, summertime is on the way again and I’m reflecting on where I’ve been and where I’m going. This time last year, I graduated from college. I always talked with one of my good friends about creating a blog but didn’t know where to start. After graduating, I figured why not begin and just went for it. I’m so grateful that I did.

Since then I’ve learned how much I truly love journalism and writing articles that can be fun and insightful all because I started blogging regularly. There’s still much to learn as my blog still needs to grow and reach even more people. What to expect: I’ll keep churning out lifestyle posts as well as my writing-driven prompts and advice to create a meaningful writing practice. Additionally, I must keep branching out to get my beloved articles on platforms like Bitch Media and XOnecole and the big baddies like Essence and Oprah Magazine. Getting there requires so much faith and perseverance.

Identifying What It Takes To Keep Writing

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned and one that I’m still trying to grasp is the need to stop being so stubborn. Only my parents would probably understand how stubborn I can actually be because I hardly realized it myself. But, I can be and it’s high time for me to stop being stubborn especially when it comes to certain areas of my life like pursuing my aspirations of being an author, an entrepreneur, and what it takes to get there.

Being a writer is about self-expression and proclaiming your utter worthiness of reaching your most brilliant dream. You’ll meet rejection but it can’t stop you. I’ve had to work through this very stage in my writing. I am a naturally sensitive person and when things don’t seem to work out, I can’t help getting discouraged. But, I know what it’s like to stop writing for months, even years, because I let doubt stop me. This is no longer acceptable and the only thing that got me so excited to write again was remembering my ‘why’ and simply reading and writing more. That’s initially where my stubbornness came in, where I held on so tightly to writing in one way and panicking when it wasn’t working out.

Will forever be one of my favorite quotes!

My “Why Do I Write?” Statements: 

Writing is my way to connect with people and empower us all to be imaginative and creative beings. My “why” is telling stories that make girls like myself love to write and become enamored by literature—like I was in the sixth grade. I want girls of color to see their strength, their spirits, their humor reflected holistically in the books they read. Having to decide what I want to do and be in the future, I know my contribution is my ability to write and make environmental issues and values accessible to a diverse community through sci-fi! Here’s how I remember my ‘why’:

1. I am an Afrofuturist and I want to write magnificent futures for people that look like me.
2. I can’t wait to see my name printed on novels lining bookshelves in the sci-fi section.
3. My name looks great in bylines of articles on online and print magazines!

These are affirmations and wishes that I’m declaring into the universe! To fulfill this, I’m letting go of stubbornness and hesitation. I think you should do the same: realize your ‘why’ and what it takes to stick to it.

I want to leave you with a few points to discovering your ‘why’:

1. Look back on why you started going studying or working on a project, reflect on what made you excited.
2. Ask yourself: if you could achieve your dream with no sense of fear, what would you do?
3. Then, how do you keep yourself focused and working on making this happen?

When you take the time to reflect, you’ll come up with ideas and notions in your mind that you must let go of. Like me, you may even find a character trait you didn’t realize you had.

Like, share and subscribe! Drop a comment below about what your ‘why’ or whether you connected to this post!

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Best,

Kai