This is not my first blog post.

In fact, if I ever decided to make a real tally, I think the result would be in the high hundreds.

I have had a lot of different blogs over the years, in many different blogging platforms. I've witnessed the slow death of personal blogging and the birth of aesthetic curated posting, themes going from quirky and fun to the nauseatingly pervasive white clean aesthetic we see today. I've followed blogs from teenagers and witnessed them become adults with careers - some abandoning blogging altogether, some monetizing their content and falling into the 'side hustle' trap.

In the midst of it all, I've never really felt like a true blogger. I'd post sporadically, ramble about my silly boring life, show some photos, try (and fail spectacularly) to keep up with the aesthetics as they changed, abandon blogs when the platforms would go defunct.

Definitely not up to par with the 'real' bloggers, who timed their posts perfectly, knew how to use comments and replies as weapons of engagement, made everything pretty to the eye (and sponsors).

I am not quite sure what my point is, here; maybe that the joy of blogging has always been overshadowed by the need to 'fit in' with the real bloggers, or that my blog posts, my thoughts, my words weren't worthy of being read by the public.

Maybe things will be different now, or maybe I'll discover I just am not cut out for blogging. But - for the time being - here I am, making a blog post.