Nikki's New Things

I've been hemming and hawing on this one for a while. A little over a year ago, when I started this blog, I really needed some sort of drive to get me out of the house and exploring an area that I'd lived in for 6 years and really didn't know that well. By creating a concrete, measurable goal, I had instantly motivated myself to explore more.

It was pretty remarkable how quickly my perspective changed. Whenever I made plans I thought about what I hadn't done or seen before. I planned trips to explore new places or find new things in the old. I tried new restaurants. I made new friends. I changed my perspective. I think about the way I approach things now - the way I get excited about doing something new or different - and I love it. I couldn't imagine my life being any other way right now.

In the past year, I've written about 75 posts. Even if you take out the ones where I talk about my life or a holiday, it's still well above 52 - the number of weeks in a year - and the blog is only in April right now. It's become really clear to me that some weeks I do a whole lot of new things and other weeks I'm struggling on Sunday to think of a new thing to squeeze in. I love writing but I want to write about the interesting things I do, not just write a review on a place I didn't care for in order to meet a self imposed quota.

So - the bottom line is, I'm not getting rid of the blog, but I am getting rid of the "one thing a week" rule. I've also decided to enforce this on all posts going forward. It may seem like the easy way out but I think it will make the blog more exciting. I'm only going to write about the things that were really exciting - that made me think, got my heart racing, or just left me so satisfied that the memory has remained crystal clear months after the fact - which means the posts on here will be more interesting as well.

A Year of New Things, Part II

I'm sure you're all wondering why I would do a second post on the same topic. Honestly, it wasn't something I'd planned. I spent weeks writing and re-writing the last one and I think the end result summed up perfectly what my year had been like. That's the thing about looking backward - it's so much easier to sum up your experiences when you're looking at them a year, a month, or even a week after. I know what I learned, but this is still the beginning of my story.

As some of you may have noticed, aside from the other "A Year of New Things" post, I hadn't written much since early September when I had been putting something up every few days. Well, my life got turned around in a really exciting way. One of the resolutions I hadn't put up here was to get a new job, and I finally had. In less than a week I will be starting a whole new challenge and learning completely new things as I work on my real career. Between preparing for that and yet another trip, I've definitely had a stroke of writer's block.

But - this post is about being forward looking. Now that I've touched down on U.S. soil, I've been able to think about what all of this means to me. When I was in a state of job search limbo I didn't want to commit to anything long term since I hadn't limited my search to the Bay Area. The possibility of moving was another thing that had spurred this blog - I needed to do everything I wanted to do in this area in case I was leaving. Well, now that I'm staying, it's interesting to look forward about what that means. I can finally get the De Young membership that I wanted, or look for a real art studio. I will be around to see Mission Cliffs expand their gym. Some day I will go to Fleur de Lys. 

Those are all things that I hope to do in the next year, while still keeping up with this blog. However, I know this transition will take some time to get used to. As I adjust to a changing schedule and focus on new challenges, I think writer's block may start being a little more common for me. It's hard to look back when there is so much looking forward to do. I'm not leaving this blog by the wayside, but if you don't see a post from me for a little while just know that I'm still here adjusting, thinking, and planning new things to do. Hopefully it won't be long before I get my words back - I put enough of them in this post at least.