On 5 January 2013, I wrote the first post on my new blog. It was my second site, the first a small site piggybacking off my sister’s, while I figured out if I enjoyed writing. I did, and eventually, I pulled up my big girl pants and built my own site.
It was called “Kelly’s World”, and for a long time, that’s what it felt like.
It’s amusing to look back at that post and how proud I was. I boasted that I had even personalised the site, which these days, feels like the bare minimum.
It was a huge decision to start a new blog again and move to Kel me about it.
A large part of that was that mentally, I wasn’t in a good way. I felt a bit beaten down by life, and just desperate for a change. I felt like my writing had reached a place where I was just negative about so many things. I felt fixated on my physical appearance, almost like I didn’t have anything else to focus on.
Finding my new home brought a breath of fresh air. I’ve been here ever since, and my passion for writing has returned. I practise gratitude every day in my planner, and I’ve become a huge advocate for self-care. I’m in such a better headspace, and I feel like my blog is a positive place to be.
I’ve also started to build a community of bloggers that I love to follow. It’s exciting to open my phone and read what everyone else is up to, what they’re reading, or what’s on their mind. I’m also grateful for all my friends and family who made the leap to my new site with me. Every time I see a new comment on my site, it brings so much joy.
Overall, when it comes to my blogging life, I feel like I’m genuinely in a much better place.
Then suddenly, this week I received a reminder about the renewal for my old domain name.
It’s forced some hard conversations with myself.
Am I ready to rip off the band-aid and shut it down?
No.
I thought about it for a while, and the history of that blog. I wrote through my pregnancy, recapped my labour story (traumatic), and shared early letters to my son. Before that, I wrote about breakups and meeting my now-husband. I even wrote about my first triathlon.
Ultimately, I’ve decided I’m not ready to let that history go. So, I’m renewing the site for another 12 months.
As much as I’m likely to feel a lot of pain reading these stories back, it’s my story. Without those moments, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
I wouldn’t be who I am today.
So, I’ve added an item to my draft 52-in-52 list for 2027. I’ll start going through each of those posts, and for anything that I want to keep, I’ll transition it over to this one. I’ll have to figure out what that looks like; I don’t want to spam anyone with new posts, but it might also be fun to take a trip down memory lane as well.
So, to everyone who’s been on this journey with me, thank you. To everyone who’s going to keep going on this journey with me, or is new to my journey, thank you.
Thanks for helping me build a place that I love to be.
Do you keep old blogs, journals, photos or other little pieces of your history? What’s something from your past that you just can’t bear to let go of?
I finally deleted my old blog but not before I downloaded everything and added it to my Obsidian vault which is my catch all note-taking place now. I’m slowly going through them, deleting the posts that are not relevant or photo/link dependent and editing the dates of the ones i keep to match the format I use in Obsidian and tagging them. I also have various paper journals floating around too. I have one box of various momentos I’ve kept from my childhood. When we downsized I got rid of a lot of stuff including all my tennis trophies.
Actually, that’s a great point. I hadn’t considered putting it in somewhere locally for me to review and share, rather than it needing to be online. Hmm…food for thought, thanks!
Kelly this is your own personal family history. Look back at what you have written over the years, pull out what you consider has been life changing moments, decisions, lessons learnt etc. As you enjoy writing, use those moments in a book about your life’s journey. When Luca has a major birthday etc then you could present him with a copy of the book. This way he can understand what your life was like.
Lynne and any of your family members that do family history, I am sure, would be interested in recalling your life’s highlights.
At least it will be your truth rather than someone else’s down the track.
I just wish I had had more contact with my Brisbane based family to have got to know them more when we were younger instead of growing up out west away from relatives.
Keep recording your life as you see it.
That’s true, I hadn’t thought about it as a record for my greater family too. I love the book idea!
I wouldn’t let it lapse either! Renewing for a year gives you time to preserve all those memories in any way that seems best for you. Could you add a tab to your current blog and post all of them there, like an archive? If you posted them here, wouldn’t they end up inserted behind all your current posts, since the dates are earlier than what is here? So we shouldn’t get swarmed withe new posts, I don’t think, since they will appear at the back of your posts, if they appear in chronological order.
Writing your story is a great way to share value with your kids and grandkids. It’s also one of the best ways to get to know yourself overtime.
I hadn’t thought of my grandkids, but of a mind trip to think about. But you’re so right. We actually gave my dad a book this year, “Dear granddad, from you to me”. It’s for my dad to write his stories in and one day give it my son as a gift. I’m so happy he’s embraced it and writing in it a fair bit.
I just recently realized I’m paying to host an old blog too… it’s one I had migrated and it does not look nice AT ALL. But I didn’t want to lose the posts either! I need to figure out a way how to export the posts so I can delete it and stop paying!! That or start a new blog someday, and migrate them, like you’re doing! I love it! Def don’t erase the past. But yeah… that’s a lot of work, too.
When I figure out what I’m doing with mine I’ll message you and let you know, in case that helps!