“I’m starting a blog!” … is NOT something I thought I’d ever say.
Like every other 90’s kid, in my teenage years and early twenties, I resided in real life half of the time, and on social media the other half of the time. I craved those likes and obsessed over notifications. I waited for a crush to message me on MSN, and for friends to write on my wall. My Facebook status was often something like, Sarah is… “listening to Jason Mraz.” Remember those days?
But then, at one point, all of that kind of got to me. I guess you spend enough time and emotional investment into something like Facebook likes, and you eventually tire of it. The fact that social media seemed to take over real life, with people often being on their snapchat, instagram, you-name-it, during face-to-face hangouts, didn’t help. A series of data scandals and security breaches we’ve seen in recent years certainly made things worse.
All of this has led me to be increasingly wary of engaging on social media. And on the internet more broadly, for that matter. I’ve been making conscious efforts to minimize my dependency on social media, and instead to be present in real life. By extension, a blog isn’t something I ever really wanted, if anything for the daunting prospect of going back to regularly posting on social media, fussing over engagement levels, the whole thing that comes with the territory.
Not to say, though, that this is the only reason why I’m surprised to see myself start a blog. I’ve always liked to write in my free time, and I’ve had friends suggest that I start a blog, or find some kind of a platform to share what I write, but I’ve just never felt a strong desire for it. Nor did I have a theme or topic in mind.
And then…
This year, I took an undergraduate Intro to Fiction Writing course for fun. Partially, it was at the realization that for how much I say I like to write, I had never actually taken a writing course. But also, I took the course because I thought it would force me to keep writing, even when I felt uninspired, to meet deadlines. Why, yes, it did help me get into a routine of writing consistently. And I was reminded of just how much I really do enjoy writing.
Around the same time earlier this year, sort of by chance, I learned that I liked to write about people. And I wrote about this in my journal, as part of my end of January thoughts.This is what I wrote:
“I want to write about people, stories featuring real people. Perhaps starting with trusted friends who might be willing/interested…. Stories they want to tell. It’ll be rocky and probably a little bit messy, I don’t know exactly how challenging it’ll be to sign people up. I’d need to learn so much, journalistic skills, especially interviewing people. Transcribing best practices. Photography. Web design. But don’t wait till you’re perfect cause you frankly never will get there. Start somewhere, now. I think this is going to be exciting.”
The myth of perfect
Life got busy in the following weeks and months, and my January enthusiasm kind of waned. This fun project idea fell on the back burner. Until, one weekend in March, I came across a talk by Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York, whose work I have a tremendous amount of admiration for. In this talk, titled The Makings of a Storyteller, Brandon talks about the journey he has been on, from getting fired from a job in finance at the age of 26, to his passion for photography leading him to move to New York, to becoming the author of two #1 New York Times bestselling books.
“If I had waited for the idea of Humans of New York before doing Humans of New York, I would have never started.”
Brandon shares that Humans of New York started out as a photography project. And it was through many small innovations and incremental changes along the way, that Humans of New York became what is is today, best known for stopping random people on the street and telling their stories. “So always think you can’t wait for perfect.”
“It’s so safe to sketch your ideas in your journal, you know, your plan for your book…? We’re trying to plan away risk.”
by Brandon Stanton
“Everybody is trying to plan so they have an idea that is so perfect, that it cannot fail. And that will never come. That perfect moment will never come, so you have to start before you’re ready and trust that not only you but your work will become what it needs to be along the way.”
This was exactly what I needed to hear.
You, me, stories.
One Friday in March, I had a day off from work. I started the day bright and early, walked into a well-lit cafe, and got to work. I got myself a WordPress account and read numerous WPBeginner articles to learn how to start a website. And that was that.
I don’t know what this will evolve into. I want this to be about you, you who I grab a coffee with. You who read the stories that come out of these coffee chats, and hopefully feel inspired, or find something that resonates with you.
But, at the same time, I decided that this is all about me. I’m doing this as a me-project. Not for a course, not for a job, not for business. Simply because I enjoy writing, and because I enjoy hearing about people’s stories. Simply because I believe every one of us has a unique story to tell.
“That perfect moment will never come, so you have to start before you’re ready and trust that not only you but your work will become what it needs to be along the way.”
Brandon Stanton
I am a coffee drinker. My natural habitat is well-lit, vibrant coffee shops. And I am cursed with extreme clumsiness. This deadly combination means all of my notebooks have coffee stains on them, some worse than others.
If you and I end up at a coffee shop, please do me a favour and have extra napkins with you. And perhaps don’t wear white that day, just in case.
So I hope you enjoy these coffee stained stories. And to those of you who have gently, slowly, nudged me out of my comfort zone, by encouraging me to continue writing, by getting me a fun pen to write with or a fancy notebook to write on, or by agreeing to let me interview you without knowing what you were signing up for, thank you.
Love,
Sarah
