A post a day

Last year, sometime in April, I decided to blog every day for a month. I was a bit hesitant at first because I wasn't sure if I actually had thirty days worth of things to talk about to begin with. I was also afraid of sounding redundant - nobody wants to read the blog of a person who complains about the same thing every single day. Furthermore, I was also a bit weary of the commitment that blogging on such a regular basis requires: Will I have enough time given my heavy course load? Do I have the motivation necessary to blog even when I don't feel like it? Would I actually be able to come up with something new every day? What if I felt to sick to blog vs. would feeling a little bit unwell act as an excuse for not blogging? These were the types of questions that swam through my head.

Anybody that knows me well knows that I like to plan ahead. I like to be organized and well prepared; I'm the student who gets assignments done weeks in advance; I study twice as long as probably is necessary just so I'm sure that I know the information inside out. That's not to say that I don't know how to relax and have fun, because I do. I mean, I can easily binge watch eight or more hours of Grey's Anatomy in one sitting despite the load of dishes waiting in the sink to be done and the mountain of laundry spilling out of the hamper. But I take my commitments seriously and try to do the absolute best that I can. On the one hand this is good because my efforts result in positive things, like scholarships, being on the honor roll, graduating from university at the top of my class, feeling confident in my nursing skills and generally feeling on top of things which reduces a lot of potential stress. On the other hand, sometimes I feel like I have to give something my all even if I don't really have to. For instance, I will still aim for 85% on a final exam even if I know I could pass the course if I got 50% on that exam. This, in turn, can cause a lot of stress which is the exact opposite of what I want to happen when I am organized and hard working.

So how does this relate to me blogging for a month? I want to be proud of this blog, something that any blogger wants to be. That means being proud of the content I post. As a result, I try to write thoughtful things. By thoughtful, I guess I mean thought provoking, useful/informative, or stress relieving. I don't mean telling the world that I had a cherry turnover for breakfast or that I dropped my cell phone in the toilet while I was skipping class (and yes, I have read blog posts, Instagram messages and Facebook posts about this kind of stuff - it's not my style). By blogging every day I also become a little bit less of afraid the commitment itself. What if my posts are rubbish? What if I fail to write every day? How will I feel if I actually get really sick and miss a day of blogging - how would that make me feel? I like to be organized, prepared and well-spoken but these are things that a commitment like blogging everyday can challenge. The idea of that used to frighten me. But the u;ultimate goal is to find a balance between writing a really amazing post and being prepared and organized all the time vs. spontaneity, the ability to relax and being able to take life as it comes.

Back to last year. Last year I blogged for a month. It turned out to be much easier and way more pleasant than I expected. It actually became a natural thing to do once I got in the habit of it. And more importantly, it became fun. I didn't always have to write really really long posts. Depending on the day, how I felt and my course work, a single paragraph or two would suffice and I would still be proud of that day's post. I didn't ave to be super prepared or organized to write a little blurb every day either. It was just something fun and it really helped me relax. I, of course, was happy to take a break from blogging so often once the month had ended. At that time I was slowly starting to feel more sick and I did have a pretty heavy course load. But that didn't mean I didn't enjoy the blogging every day thing. I loved how simple it was and, in many ways, how spontaneous it was and how it reflected how I felt on a given day rather than over the period of days it took my to create a longer post. It kind of counter balanced the hard work, eventuality, preparation, etc., that I have towards work or school. I liked it! It gave me that balance that I talked about int he previous paragraph.

So I want to repeat that experience. My goal is to blog every day for the month of April. I began yesterday but didn't post about it. I mean, it was April Fool's day after all. So yesterday was a 'update on medical things' kind of post. But today I am prepared to say that I will be blogging everyday for the next month (even if that means I am not prepared everyday to write - I will just do it!).