1,004 words about TheRoadLessRun turning 2 and other things

August 30, 2014 was the magical day that I started blogging! My blog is now 2 years old! It isn’t the most popular website on the internet, but at least my mom visits it…..

Since I started blogging a lot of things have happened.

Shortly after I created my blog I started graduate school. I am still in graduate school so that hasn’t changed, but I am a lot closer to finishing my program and a lot more confident that I will eventually earn my degree. I can’t exactly pinpoint the day that I will be hanging the diploma on the wall but I can actually imagine myself doing that now, which is amazing.

I still run and I still race, but my mindset with running and racing has changed drastically in the last 2 years. I am a lot less consumed with running even though it remains a huge part of my life. I have learned that there is more to life than running. I have found a healthy balance and I have been able to develop other interests and goals outside of running.

I’ve always had ideas about what I wanted to do with my life but over the past 2 years I have been able to take those ideas and develop them into a concrete set of long term goals. Blogging has helped me see which areas of my life were positive and which areas of my life needed improvement. Even though I haven’t put every detail of every single day on my blog I can read an old post and immediately think back to the day I wrote it, read between the lines, and assess what was going well and what needed to change. And, I’ve made a lot of changes.

Since I started blogging I’ve left a career that I’ve had since I graduated from college to chase my dreams and focus on graduate school. I still do not have my dream job but I bet I will by the time my blog turns 20, probably a lot sooner though! It takes time to get from where I was 2 years ago to where I want to be. It is the little things I do everyday that keep me motivated and striving to reach my goals even in the worst of times.

In the last 2 years a combination of things have driven me to become a self-proclaimed feminist, but not in the traditional feminist way. I am the kind of feminist who has chosen to make changes in my life and the lives of the women around me, rather than the kind of feminist who hates all men because not all men are evil and many men are willing to help women find success. I prefer to acknowledge the problems that I am faced with as a woman and ignite change. I have often felt bad about who I am because I am a woman and I’ve often felt inferior because I am a woman, but not anymore. I am not afraid to be a strong and independent woman. I have chosen to defend myself, to be confident, and to no longer settle for less than I deserve, and I have made it a personal goal to inspire other women to do the same. Two years ago I wouldn’t have considered myself a feminist, I was too afraid to be a feminist.

In 2014 I said I would never run a marathon. In 2015 I ran a marathon and now I plan to run at least 2 more marathons. I’ve learned to never say never because you really don’t know what kinds of opportunities you will miss if you don’t allow yourself to step out of your comfort zone. That last sentence has very little do with marathoning, but it fit well here. 

I’ve written several poems since I started blogging. Maybe I am a poet and I don’t know it……. maybe I am not as funny as I think I am…..

Blogging has helped me become extremely self-aware.

Blogging has taught me to be proud of my accomplishments even if they seem trivial. In 2014 I didn’t own my accomplishments but now I let them surround me and motivate me. We all need to be proud of who we are and what we have accomplished. If I could share one piece of advice with the internet today it would be this: Do not hide the things you’ve accomplished in a closet or in a box. If you’ve earned a degree or certificate hang it up, if you’ve won a medal or trophy display it. Let these things remind you of who you are and what you have done, and let them motivate you to do more amazing things in the future. Why do something if you aren’t going to allow yourself to celebrate the accomplishment that you’ve earned??

In 2015 I kept a gratitude journal and each day I was able to find at least one thing that I was grateful for. Doing that for a complete year helped me become more positive and optimistic. Life, as bad as it may seem sometimes, is a gift. There is good surrounding us everywhere, we just have to choose to look for it.

During the past 2 years I have also shared my love of cats and coffee with the world wide web. I’ve changed my twitter handle, I started running in Altra running shoes, I’ve sold Sparkly Soul headbands at race expos, I caught a foul ball, I’ve watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls at least 6 times, I started doing laundry more regularly, I went to California for the summer, I started making sequin art, I got over my fear of public speaking, I learned a lot of slang words, and as of last week I planted pumpkin seeds in my back yard, which are now pumpkin sprouts!

As I enter year 3 of blogging I plan drink lots of coffee, post even more cat photos, and post photos of my pumpkins (if they actually grow). Oh, and I’ll keep running too!