Third Blogversary!

Let’s talk about blogging for 3 years, what I’ve learned and take a trip down memory lane today.

Hi! Today is a milestone post. I made this very blog on the 7th of February in 2016 and published my first blog post the next day(Click here to read it!) which means I have now completed 3 years(on and off) blogging! Happy 3rd blogversary, Musings Of A Whimsical Soul and all you wonderful people who have given a young girl’s thoughts and opinions value here!

In 3 years, the kind and content of the blog posts have changed and grown, much as I have. I made this blog when I was almost 17 and now I’m almost 20.  These have been very transformative years for me as a person and I feel quite fortunate to see my thoughts and their growth through the blog. In these 3 years, I became an adult(Read my post about my thoughts on that here!), I graduated from school (Read my post about that here!), I started college (Read my first post after starting college here!  ) and now I’ll be finishing with my teenage and starting my twenties. I am so thankful that I have all these milestones recorded on this blog. I find it to be the most wonderful thing and I love rereading the posts and cringing(a little) at little 16-year-old me.

Signing up for WordPress featuring one of the cringy more “teen” domain name ideas I was considering. I’m glad I didn’t stick with it.

The first draft of my About Page as I wrote it 3 years ago.

3 years ago, I received just the most insane amount of love from this community when I joined it so much so that I ended up with 100 followers in one month! How crazy is that! Today, I’m at almost 1000 which completely blow my mind because just the fact that 1000 people care about what I have to say is HUGE and so completely wild.

I haven’t been the most regular around here because like I said, these are some of the biggest years of my life. When life got too hectic, the blog took a backseat. I wish it didn’t but I’m only human. Still, I can say I have 3 years of experience and there’s a lot I’ve learned and that might be helpful for new bloggers. I don’t want to be to sound too preachy but still, I’ve got three main tips that might be helpful to new bloggers or maybe even old ones and would love to hear some of yours. God knows I’m only an amateur here.

• Be regular with your writing and posting

That is rich coming from me, i know, but I will tell you this. Regularity, having a posting and writing schedule will not only help you stay productive but also keep your readers engaged. You can stick to what works for you, I(try to) stick with a once a week schedule. You can choose twice, thrice a week or maybe even once a month. It will bring an organisation that will be so helpful to your blog for yourself and the readers.

• Be careful to save your drafts 

This one comes from a painful,painful experience. I wrote an entire post on the Leaning Tower of Pisa for my Visting World Wonders series ( Click here for the last post of the series! and here for the first!) and then by chance, my browser refreshed,the draft hadn’t been saved and I lost all the pictures, the writing, everything. I was devastated and I am pretty sure I cried over it. (And as you might have noticed, I still haven’t got around to making that post again. This was in September 2018.) So, learn from my mistakes and always ALWAYS save your drafts.

• Read, read and read!

WordPress has many wonderful blogs with many different kinds of content in them. Find your taste, your niche and read as much as possible. This goes for all writing, reading is the best thing you can do for your writing!

In conclusion, thank you for being so amazing to me for the last 3 years. It has been a blast. If the last three years are anything to go by, I cannot wait to see where the next 3 years will take us. To the next three!

THIS POST’S QUESTION: When did you start blogging? Do you have any tips from what you’ve learnt over your time blogging?  Comment below with what you think about it,I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

The End Of An Era.

Let’s talk about graduating today.

I’d like to start off with the way most good things start: “Hello! How are you?”I know  I haven’t written in forever and I still am so desperately hard hit for time so this process of very few posts is going to continue for a tad bit longer.I’m so sorry about that!

In a few days have what we call a farewell, which is essentially a formal school-leaving graduation ceremony before all the exams and admission conundrum begins.At the farewell, everyone dresses up to the nines, takes pictures, feels nostalgic and makes several more new memories.As of mid -2017, my schooling, for all intents and purposes is drawing to a close and I have a lot of feelings about it which is what this post is going to be about.

 

Source: Tumblr

 

My schooling has made up 14 years of my life( not counting pre-school) and for a 17-year-old that is an awful lot of years.My feelings about being an adult and not a school kid anymore are a plethora of emotions of all degrees and ranges that I’m usually slightly afraid to delve deep into.I’m afraid of feeling too sad, too stuck in the past, too happy or feeling too much altogether.

My schooling has been completed in 3 different schools, all 3 I have different levels of attachment and affection towards, a whole different set of memories from and different people I’ve met and cherished.When I was a child, I considered myself to be the kind of person who finishes their schooling entirely from one place but now I feel very lucky to have experienced three different school environments and places because they’ve shaped me up as a much aware person surrounded by so so many absolutely lovely people, amazing friendships and great teachers.I’ve talked before in my previous post about turning an adult that I suddenly realised time was passing too fast and I had a hard time wrapping my head around it.About this too, I feel that way, I can’t believe I’m a senior and I’m going to college this year.I can’t believe I’m turning 18 and nor can I believe I’m going to be out of high school this year.

 

Source: Tumblr

 

Honestly, I don’t want to grow up.Of course, do, but most of me really doesn’t.To someone who’s older this must seem so absurd given how young I really am, but I just want to be a child again, a teenager again and do it all over again because it seems to be the happiest time ever and I miss it so so much already.

I am also extremely excited about the new phase of my life and cannot wait to begin with college.I’m excited to meet the new people, to soak up the new atmosphere and to just live a different kind of life.When I moved here 2 years back, I was gifted ” The Five People You Meet In Heaven” by my cousins and I read it on the flight here.One of the first quotes in that book is,“All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” This quote impacted my outlook on living in a new city greatly and even now I choose to believe that this ending is my new beginning and better things await me in my life henceforth.

 

Source: http://www.simplereminders.com

 

Here’s to every class,every notebook,every piece of lost stationary,every teacher who’s taught me so diligently,every class party,all food we’ve had during classes in utmost secrecy , to all certificates received with the biggest smiles, the music parties during lunches, the swings, the walks around the school, every stage performance, every time I’ve danced in school, all the conversations in the hallways, every time I’ve run a race,the lunches finished before the official lunch,all the excursions and day trips,all the programme practices,every piece of art I’ve made,every school building of mine,all school assemblies I’ve made faces about attending,every competition I’ve been in representing my school, every t time I’ve held a microphone, every ball I’ve kicked, every walk under the trees in school, to all medals I’ve won, every report card I’ve received, all the school bus rides and the drama that ensued inside the buses,all the older children we’ve idolised,all the younger ones I’ve helped, every person who has been a part of my schooling at any of my three schools: Thank you for making me who I am today.I’m so so thankful all that happened.I would not have it any other way.

 

Source: Tumblr

 

THIS POST’S QUESTION: What is your fondest school memory? Comment below with  what you think about it,I’d love to hear from you!