Hello Internet!
I know there was just a Weekly Blog put up yesterday (last night by accident because I apparently forgot the difference between AM and PM), but I wanted that subject to be completely different from the reoccurring topic on each 1st of the month. If you haven’t read the original post about my New Year’s Resolutions check it out here. I’ve also had updates on February 1st, March 1st, and April 1st which can all be found under the “Weekly Blog” tab. Basically I like to look back on each month and compare my progress with my New Year’s Resolutions. Hopefully that makes sense. If not, go back and look at my other monthly updates (or do that anyway because it will make my day). Ok enough explaining, let’s move on to the actual update.
Actually I lied. There is one more thing I want to talk about before I rehash my resolutions and talk about my progress. Today is May 1st, 2017 which may not mean a lot to you, but since I started this website, May 1st kind of became a strange holiday. Your first thought might be that May 1st is some kind of anniversary, but that is not the case. This website has been live for a little over 3 months so this is our first May 1st live. When I first launched this website, I had a whole bunch of ideas for creative writing pieces, political pieces, and just random thoughts of creative writing. A lot of these became the first blogs, creating writing pieces, and political articles. Some of these ideas were just random snippets of text or bullet points of ideas which weren’t fully fleshed out. These pieces I scheduled (which is a thing you can do on WordPress) for May 1st because it seemed like a very far away date. It just seemed like it was some day that would never come, and now its here. May 1st is here and I’ve had three months of writing and uploading to the website. That’s just a little bit of me tooting my own horn as I take a little pride in this accomplishment. I’m so glad you’re here to witness it and I hope we can continue to grow the website and the community here. So thanks for that. Ok now I’m seriously moving on to the New Year’s Resolutions!
First, as you probably know, my number one goal for 2017 was to write more. This resolution is the whole reason that I created this website and started uploading stuff to it. I have the lofty goal of being a novelist one day and this website was a way to constantly improve my writing skills as well as create a community. Last month this resolution kind of went off the rails, but this month I really tried hard to keep up a constant schedule of uploads. Including this piece I have uploaded 68 pieces and I’m looking forward to see how long it will take till we get to a total of 100 pieces and where the website will be. This month has seen a large uptick in views, likes, followers, and comments and I want to thank everyone out there for that. What started as just friends and family who know me in person has developed a little internet community. You don’t really know me, but yet you read my stuff and give me feedback. That is an amazing thing that means so much to me, so thank you so much for your support. April was a good month full of a mostly, regular schedule which I think works out a lot better for both you as the reader and me as the writer who also has a full-time job. I loved writing the political pieces, but they really didn’t reach the target audience and they didn’t really get the viewership I wanted. Its not a big deal. I just realized that people want love stories, short stories, and other creative writing rather than political discussions and history lessons. Anyway I’m looking forward to this new schedule going forward and hopefully May will be full of awesome pieces and an expansion of the community.
My second resolution that I wanted to focus on being more positive as well as being a positive force in the world. This goal wasn’t to be obnoxiously positive to the point where I can never be upset. I feel sadness, anger, loneliness, anxiety, etc. But I’m trying to look for the silver lining in things and be an optimist about situations that usually bring me down. If you read yesterday’s Weekly Blog, you know that I’ve been feeling lonely and just generally down over the past week, but I’m hoping things turn around. I’m also trying to put positive vibes or what not out into the world. There’s a lot of bad people who just want to cause misery because they think its funny or amusing. I’m trying to counteract that kind of hatred by putting out positive thoughts and writing positive things. I feel like I’m a pretty positive person and I have spread that positiveness to the people around me whether that be my friends, family, strangers on the internet, or people I pass on the street.
My third resolution that I’ve been working on is that I wanted to be more adventurous. This resolution was broken down into A) literally going on more adventures and going out to experience the outside world and B) having a more adventurous attitude when it comes to big life events. When it comes to the first part, where I live we have had a very stormy and rainy April. This wet weather and the increase in my work hours has left me without much free time to go out adventuring. I know that sounds like an excuse (and it is), but it is the truth. I’m hoping as things warm up, I’m able to go out and take in nature. We have had some absolutely gorgeous days and for the most part, I was stuck inside working while admiring the nice weather outside. In regards to the second part, I’ve been super busy when it comes to big life events. I don’t have any big new yet, but I’ve had several job interviews trying to get a government job in the public sector. Hopefully one of my interviews leads to a new job which would mean a new life in a new city and a new living arrangement. I’m super excited about the possibility of getting a new job doing what I love and everything that goes with it. If something exciting does happen, I’ll make sure I let all you guys know!
Last but not least, my fourth resolution was to be healthier in 2017. My main focus was on diet and exercise. As I have mentioned before, I have gone over two years without drinking any type of pop/soda and I cut out non-caffeinated beverages as well. I’ve also cut out a lot of additional sugar by cutting back on drinks like Gatorade and Powerade. When I’m work, the only thing I drink is water and I seem to drink a lot of it. I also drink milk, orange juice, apple juice, and other beverages when I’m at home or at a restaurant, but for the most part, I drink water whenever possible. I’m super happy with my decision to cut caffeine out of my diet and stop drinking pop. I’m determined to make it last the rest of my life. I still eat too many sugary desserts and I haven’t gotten around to buying a gym membership, but I’m really working on it little by little. I’m hoping that the summer will allow me to get out more and exercise more. I guess we’ll have to see.
So that’s it. There’s my four different resolutions and how I’m doing so far. Altogether I think I improved since March, especially when it comes to writing. I would still give myself a B+/B rating overall with my last resolution being the lowest. A gym membership would definitely help boost that grade. Maybe I’m a fair judge or maybe I’m too easy or hard on myself. I guess you can decide what you think about that. I think I did a lot better in April than in March, so that’s a pretty good goal. I also want to say that its not too late to start improving your life. Whatever your dealing with and whatever you want to improve on, its not too late to start. A lot of people wait till New Year’s Eve or some special event to turn their life around, but you can start at any time. You could start today or tomorrow. All it takes is some effort and some motivation. You can do it! I believe in you!!
Thanks for checking out this piece. Make sure you check out the other pieces on the website as well as my Facebook Page and Twitter Page. Again, thanks for your support and I hope you have a wonderful week!
-Allen_The_Writer
Allen The Writer 