1st Blogiversarry

Today marks one year since I started So Type A, while sitting in my old room at my parents house waiting to come home to Pittsburgh.  Coincidentally, I'm at my parents house again tonight.  Normally I would celebrate this occasion with cake and champagne, because really, I'll celebrate just about ANY occasion with cake and champagne (birthdays, job offers, Mad Men, days that end in -day...) BUT I am running a marathon tomorrow, and have limited sugar and sworn off alcohol for the past week, so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to properly celebrate.  And then I will have 2 BIG THINGS to celebrate, which means twice as much cake and champagne probably.

I started blogging more than a year ago for work, and liked it so much, that I started thinking I could do a personal blog.  But it wasn't until I was talking to someone at a work event and he said, "Do you have a personal blog?  I would totally read your blog if you did."  that I actually took the thought seriously.

So now it's been a year.  A lot happens in a year!  And I'm really glad that blogging was part of it.  I love this blog.  I love writing for it,  I love that I'm responsible for it's existence.  It's taught me a lot.

First of all, the blogging community (which I'm much more involved with as a reader) is so great.  It's filled with some of the funniest, most creative and talented people I "know" and by know, I mean, I read their blog so I have some insight into how their inner-mind works.  I've met very few of them in real life.  Last year, I would have highly doubted that I'd be taking fashion advice from a 14 year old, or stealing recipes from a Mom living on a ranch, or laughing so hard my cheeks hurt at drawings done in MS paint.

Yet that's what's happened this year.  What's keeping me motivated to keep this blog alive?  For starters, blogging makes you learn a lot about yourself.  Suddenly you're trying to explain yourself in a way that makes sense, and that doesn't make you seem as crazy as you're pretty sure the inner workings of your mind is.

So what have I learned?  I've become closer to my family and friends.  Especially those I don't live close to.  I've learned to be honest and forthcoming.  And I've learned that exposing pieces of yourself don't  weaken you, it makes you compassionate, it makes you relatable.  I've learned that yes, we all feel this way.  We all get lonely, and feel insecure, and question our life choices.  I've learned that all states are temporary, and I've learned that when I write something and hit the post button, it's time to let it go.

I blog for a lot of reasons; to remember, to process, but mostly to connect.  Thank you, so much, for reading.