BlogAnniversary 4.0

#FourYearsBlogging #Anniversary

It has been four years!

FOUR YEARS!!

Four years since the rainy day in June when I decided to stop putting things off, and to put out my first piece on my very own website.

It feels like it has been longer than that.

I have grown so much as a person since then. As an artist. As a writer.

My mind is in an entirely different place. My life is in an entirely different place. Yet some of it is contained in the words I have laid out on this tiny corner of the internet I have fondly grown to call mine.

Getting to celebrate doing it for another year – for the fourth time – is a gift.

One I am deeply grateful to have, and to share with you.

MEMORY LANE

There was one evening in 2019 or so, when I was taking a walk – as I often do – and I was just thinking to myself; wouldn’t it be nice to start a blog.

Back then, I had just started getting my writing published in literary magazines. I had a story and a few poems out already.

I was thinking of expanding.

That evening, I decided I would start a blog. I even had an idea of the theme, the colors, the background and the sort of things my blog would feature.

But I didn’t get to do it until two years later.

Now, I often ask myself why I procrastinated so much. On one hand, I was terrified. Who would read my words? Was I really brave enough to bare my thoughts and feelings out on a page? Could I be as consistent as I needed to be?

The answer to most of those questions was; yes, you’ll do pretty well, Busayo.

That fear is very often the thing that holds us back from achieving great things. Or even small things really. This is not to preach, there are still many things I am learning to be brave about even today. There are some things I am relearning to be brave about.

What I have learnt though is that, all of that time spent being afraid is time that you will never get back.

Also, being afraid is just a feeling. It will only limit you as much as you allow it to.

I was probably just as scared as I was on that June afternoon in 2021 when I hit publish, as I was on the evening when I thought of even having a blog. Yet I showed up, heart beating a little too fast, and I did the darn thing. I wrote. I published. I started a blog.

And we are here four years later!

LEARNINGS AND LEANINGS.

I think that one of the biggest things I have learnt from writing on this blog is how powerful just showing up is.

That simple act of sitting down at the laptop, and deciding that you’re not going to do anything else but write. You’re not going to be distracted by your phone.

You won’t pick up some other book to read.

You would just sit down, and write. That is it.

Doing that made me overcome my fear of you know, writing. When I was a much younger writer, I used to be frightened when I heard all of these older, more established writers say that they get intimidated by a blank page.

Before I heard them say that, I was literally never intimidated by a blank page. It was a clean slate to me. An opportunity. A door.

But everyone says you should be afraid of it. That it is daunting. And, I started to get afraid. I joined the bandwagon. Now, I am not sure how much of it was or is mine, and how much of it is a conditioned response.

Does being afraid make you a better writer? Does focusing on how high the stakes are make you take the work more seriously?

Maybe for some. But for me, I have learnt that I go further when I am calmer. Always.

Always.

When I feel relaxed, when I am sure I can be myself and decide what works on my own, I am better able to work.

That idea is something that I have the privilege to revisit now that this is the fourth year of blogging.

Sometimes courage looks like showing up scared. Sometimes, it looks like deciding that the fear is a crutch anyways. And you don’t really need it.

SOME UPDATES

A few things to report right now.

Still in the midst of doing NYSC. But here are a few fun things.

-          I have a story coming out in August! It is going to be in Augur magazine. I can’t wait to share this story that is a mystical blend of science, magic and mother-daughter relationships.

-          My story that was published in Epistemic Lit back in 2024 was republished in print. You can find it on amazon. It is part of an anthology featuring some really awesome work. It was such a surprise to hear that the magazine would be doing this but here we are!

-          Is anyone else as obsessed with colored pens as I am? Ha-ha.

Also, one of the reasons I chose to have my first blog post published is because my birthday is in June.

So, here’s the photoshoot I did to commemorate the occasion.

I’ve been having my pictures taken in a studio pretty much every year since I turned 21. I like some of those photoshoots more than others. But this one turned out well. And I am excited to have these pictures as little landmarks on the journey I have been on so far in life. It’s great to have them to look back on.

How have you been?

Wish us happy birthday on the blog.

Thanks for sticking around for this long, especially my OG readers who have been here since I hit publish on my first blog post!