Phewww… or wooo? I can't really decide which word better encapsulates the chills and thrills going through my body as I reflect on this past year and celebrate officially hitting two years as The Confused Millennial. This blog… man, I had no idea what I was getting into when I launched it. It's been one of the greatest gifts in my life. It's challenged and pushed me, as well as loved and supported me.
So before we jump into the lessons I've learned this past year, plus some changes that will be coming your way, I want to say a massive THANK YOU! Thank you for reading, following, subscribing, sharing, commenting, liking, and supporting me on this journey! The last two years wouldn't be the same without you! I'm so grateful to have each and everyone of you in my life. So here's to many more years growing together! And a handwritten thank you to show you just how serious I am ?:
Looking Back
For my first blogiversary I wrote all about 10 lessons' from my first year blogging. Going back through that post, I can say, I still 100% agree with everything in it. While re-visiting it, a really inspiring sentence jumped out at me: “by month two, TCM had reached over 17,000 people! Today, TCM has reached over 100,000 people!” As I read that, I knew I had to look up how many people TCM has reached to date, and am thrilled to say, that today TCM has reached more than 200,000 people!
It's so rewarding to pause, and look at that.
Especially since this past year, felt more like a “rat race” at points. I struggled with burnout, loss of inspiration, and even at one point thought of quitting. Typically, I'm not one to get caught up in the numbers and comparison game, but this past year I noticed myself caring in a “am I where I should be?” way. I felt like my first year I had hit things out of the park, and that this year I needed to beat myself (yeah, my comparison trap is 99% of the time with myself).
Lesson 1: When we are in the middle of something, it's hard to see just how far we've actually come.
[clickToTweet tweet=”When we are in the middle of something, it's hard to see just how far we've actually come. #Blogiversary” quote=”When we are in the middle of something, it's hard to see just how far we've actually come.”]
So to see that I more than doubled my reach this year feels… beautiful. And intimidating, because now I have something to live up to… 98% of the time I'm solid; I know who I am, what my plans are, what my mission is – with this blog and in life. I feel secure in those things and my ability to manifest and attract the right opportunities for myself at the right time. But about halfway through last year, I felt like a total mess. I found myself censoring and holding a lot back, both on the blog and with relationships I had developed from the blog.
Lesson 2: Stop hiding and censoring
Which leads me to…
Ch-ch-changessss
Stepping into this next year, I'm going to be making some changes. Changes that will allow me to better serve you, open up energy and space to elevate and embrace more of who I am and who each of you are. I'm beyond excited about this evolution of The Confused Millennial as it really moves me towards more of my life mission (and this blogs mission) to embrace more of who we all are while navigating this whole #adulting thing. Things may feel a little different around here (in a good way), and I trust that you all will grow with me!
Lesson 3: It's time to really live this blogs mission of embracing more of who we all are while navigating this whole #adulting thing.
So what are the changes?
Blog Comments:
My first year, I responded to every. single. blog comment. *phew* that got exhausting. My second year, I started responding to fewer and fewer, and at one point stopped all together. Why? Because of that whole “holding myself back” thing I just mentioned.
Here's the thing: I write and publish a lot of content on this site that comes from my life journey of learning to embrace myself and discover who I am through this whole #adulting thing. Meaning that a lot of the content I produce is meant to teach you how to discover parts of your self during this #adulting journey and learn how to embrace it.
This past year something became clearer to me in the blog comments… I noticed a lot of people putting themselves down; leaving a comment from a scarcity mindset, or unwilling to let go of their victim mindset (because who are we if we finally give up the tragic story we've been telling for so long?). Which I totally get it, I've been there before which I think gives me an ability to see it so clearly when someone is keeping themselves down in that way — even if they don't realize it yet.
So here's what you can expect from me in terms of responding to blog comments moving forward: #realtalk.
I'm going to challenge you if you're putting yourself down, feeding a victim's tale, and preventing yourself from growth in the comments. I do it all with love. You can take my push for growth, or leave it. But I need to stop censoring myself because I'm afraid you'll think I'm judging you or attacking you. When I see injustices, whether it's how people treat others OR how they treat themselves, it gears me up inside. I'm passionate about raising the vibration and I don't want anyone to mis-interpret my passion as a tone of judgment or criticism. I really want you to hear me when I say that anytime I challenge any of your comments it's from a place of love. It's from a place of compassion. It's from a place of knowing you're worth SO much more than you're willing to see in yourself in that moment. I want to elevate your view of yourself.
The Confused Millennial Audio Experience:
Ahhh I'm excited for this!!! Truthfully, I almost cancelled going forward with this! I got to a point in January and February this year where, while I was making major strides forward on so many things, I started to rationalize I shouldn't invest my time into this project… and then I realized it was just another way I was censoring myself and holding back. Hiding behind a keyboard is easy for me. Sharing my literal voice (which I've been picked on for throughout my life) is a big step forward.
Even more than that, in full transparency, authenticity, and vulnerability, I let fear take over for a few days there where I wanted to cancel it because I thought it'd suck and it'd fail. Once you've built something successful (like this blog) I think it's easy to get caught up in what you think people “expect from you” in terms of quality – and I didn't want to disappoint. So the first few episodes have a few quality kinks (says the perfectionist in me) butttt they are SO juicy and on point that I didn't wan to re-record them because I don't think I would've shared the message as effectively I did. This is a big leap forward in removing the censorship, going deeper with you all and forging more of a community.
What to expect from the audio experience:
Well, since I don't want to burn myself out, I'm keeping the structure overall pretty loosey-goosey. What you can expect is a lot of your questions answered! A lot of details about the real story behind the blog posts you see, plus some discussion around the topics that didn't make it in the post itself. Eventually – and at the right time – I will bring in guests, but I only want to bring in high quality guests, so I'm not putting pressure on myself by saying that each week will be a new guest/expert ??.
The audio experience is officially liveeee! Click here for ALL the details!
Blog Content:
While overall things will stay the same around here… don't be surprised if I'm not as “regular” with my posting schedule or there are more posts focused on “stories” rather than actionable advice. This is for a few reasons… First, these last two years I've focused on YOU all. I'm definitely in every single piece of content that's been published (yes, even the guest posts which I work my editing magic on…and it's always a joy to me when you quote the lines I added in them in the comments, it shows me how truly connected you all are to my voice!!). Going forward though, I want to make it clearer just how much I'm in them so the content may be a little more “me” focused to get that across.
What to expect from this new style:
More of an internal journey of growth for yourself! Instead of me spelling out the lessons for you, it'll be about more introspection to connect with the things you're meant to connect to. And if things are causing you discomfort, it'll give you more freedom to explore that.
Services:
I loveeee blog consulting/coaching! Seriously, it's one of my favorite parts of my business! But I realize not everyone is a blogger, or if you are a blogger you may not be ready to invest in a partner yet… Queue the ideas I've been toying with lately about launching some new services…
Life Advice Consulting:
Learn more about life coaching with me here!
The idea for this was born from a series of events recently. My entire life I've always been great at giving advice, it's why I wanted to be a therapist (only therapists don't give advice, no wonder I hated that career!). During my healing session with Shaman Durek, he told me part of my life path is literally to get paid for giving people advice (no wonder the blog has been so successful! haha).
After he told me that, I realized how many people had told me over the years they just want to pay me to be their life consultant. So when everyone keeps telling you to do something, you do it!
Tarot Readings:
Ahh I'm excited for this – but also not guaranteeing it'll happen haha! I've been reading tarot cards on and off since I was in elementary school and absolutely loved it. Over the last month or so I've been doing weekly readings for friends via FaceTime and I realize I really do still love it. The reasons I'm not positive I'm going to offer it as a service are:
a) I don't know if you guys would be into it? and..
b) Since it's been so long since I've regularly read cards, I still need the book to refresh my memory about a cards theme before I go into the deeper interpretation and explanation – so I don't have every card memorized butttt my readings are always accurate and people love them. If I do offer it as a service, it'll be the cheapest way to work with me since I'm still shaking off the cobwebs of my mind.
Thank you again!
Phew, okay that was a lot! I would love to hear your thoughts on the upcoming changes and potential new services! Drop me a comment below! And once again, thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me! I'm thrilled for the coming year and finding new ways to serve you!
READ MY REFLECTIONS FROM MY OTHER BLOGIVERSARY'S
10 Lessons From My First Year Blogging
An Evolution: 3 Lessons Learned From 2 Years of Blogging
Reflections & Lessons From 3 Years Of Blogging
GIVEAWAY(S)
As a major thank you for sticking with me, I wanted to do something special for you so I have a couple of giveaways coming up this month! Stay tuned to my Instagram and make sure you're on my email list so you don't miss 'em!
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