On this day four years ago, I wrote and shared my first blog post. I didn’t yet know what direction my blog would take, or if I would even be consistent with it (spoiler alert: I wasn’t). But I knew I had things I wanted to say to the world, and so I began my blogging journey.

I’ve grown a lot since that time. A lot has happened to me in the intervening years, both the good and the bad. 

I haven’t finished my book yet, though I’ve been published in other spaces. I got a concussion, but I’m learning about myself and learning to work with myself in better ways.

The very person who inspired me to start a blog in the first place as part of my writing platform is no longer in my life, and that still hurts a little every day. But I’m learning to live with it, and each passing moment gets better.

Reflecting on that first post, though, is fascinating. It’s a beautiful homage to Harry Potter on his 35^th birthday, discussing how he inspired me to first read and now write in this middle-grade sphere.

Imagine that: Harry Potter (the character) is 39 today. He was born on July 31, 1980.

Happy birthday, Harry!

And thanks for making the rest of the world feel old.

I had just finished completing my Camp NaNoWriMo goal of 30k words, and tonight I finished writing my 2019 Camp goal of 20k words. Fewer words, but the situations were different. At that time four years ago, I wasn’t juggling a nascent freelance editing business, as I am now. I wasn’t traveling to as many conferences to learn and grow (I’ve had two this month, plus a work-visit to a friend’s house), nor did I have several projects to work on. I had a clear focus on one goal, not disparate focus among several.

But those changes are all good things. I’m growing and expanding both my personal and professional world, and that feels wonderful. I’ve learned that I can’t rely on one situation and one person forever, for those people in charge of them have their own ever-shifting lives, too. 

Things change, and that’s okay.

That’s been a hard lesson to learn, let me tell you.

The worst thing imaginable has already happened with my blog, which has been me falling off the blogging-horse and totally stopping. I did that for two whole years. I kept trying to “catch up with myself,” write and post-date blog posts to fill in the ever-widening gap, but that was a faulty idea from the start. I just needed to start moving forward again and not look back.

I finally learned that, and restarted this blog last year. I wrote and post-dated a few important posts, and still have more I’d like to write, but that is extra time. That’s not main blogging time, and that has to happen week after week. It’s part of my job now.

Even a few months ago, I missed two months where life got busy, but what did I do? I learned from my past and moved on. I acknowledged that I had a break and started posting from where I was now and not from where I left off. That could have easily turned into another two-year break, but I learned and applied the lessons I had learned. Go me.

That’s what life is all about, right? Learning as we go and hoping to not repeat the same mistakes as the past. That’s what I did here and am continuing to embody as I move forward.

What lessons have you learned along the path of life? What changes have you made? What books or characters have inspired you along the way? Share in the comments below!