I’ve been forced to do a lot of reflecting lately on who I am, what my passions are, and what I value. Naturally, my thoughts kept drifting back to this little blog of mine. Things have changed since the start of my blog almost 4 years ago (!!!). My views on health and nutrition and fitness have changed. I also think my internal audience has changed. By that, I mean I feel like I’m writing less to the general population, spreading health knowledge (that sounds vague, I know) and more like I’m writing to people like me: those who are trying to be healthy but struggle to do so.
Who am I trying to reach with these posts? I think ideally both populations. I understand that there are so many blogs these days with similar knowledge (so many more than when I started) which is why I try to give specifics examples and infuse some personality by talking about these things through my own personal life and experiences.
I think that during my senior year of college, by blog was standing on rickety legs. Now, however, things are a little bit different. First of all, I of course have more time (9-5s rock). But in addition, I think I can say something that I haven’t been truly able to say throughout the lifetime of my blog: I’m healthy. Physically. Mentally. (Again I owe you guys a GP update. I’m not 100% but close enough for the purposes of this post.)
This blog covered everything under the sun that I tried to do to get healthy. Trials. Errors. Failures. Successes. More failures. Failures are part of life, aren’t they? My health and life posts have spanned from desperate and crazy to calm, collected, and reflective. What’s so interesting about this blog is it really shows displays my transformation and growth into an adult. I started this blog when I was 18. I was a kid. (I didn’t think I was, but I was.) While I’m not going to pretend to be old, wise, and all-knowing at 22, I type up this post from my new life in a new city with a job.
So where am I going with this? I’m trying to say that I want this blog to truly be a platform and resource to those trying to find health. Originally, I wanted to go into a field where I would help fight the obesity epidemic and improve the health of the general public. Now, teaching cycling and this blog are my window into that world. I think when I started considering myself truly healthy and stopped trying so hard to find health, I stopped posting tips and tricks because it became something that didn’t quite take so much thought or effort.
Please don’t take this as me bragging about being the healthiest person ever and having the most knowledge ever. I simply mean it as a way to say I stopped struggling, and I would love to share my trials and errors with others. I want to make health a little bit easier for other people.
*I also feel the need to say I don’t have nutritional qualifications other than a Bachelor’s in Biology and numerous college nutrition and physiology classes. I am a certified fitness professional. I want this blog to be a place where you can take what you need of the information, and feel free to leave the rest. I also want to urge those seeking more intense nutritional or fitness help to consult professionals. My blog is a resource for some tips and tricks, not a guide to complete health! I also urge you not to be sucked in to buying nutritional or fitness plans from your favorite social media personality who has no qualifications to be coaching. Given my qualifications (or lack thereof), I would never sell coaching plans to people. It may be controversial for me to say this, but I strongly disagree with those who do. For nutritional help, look to a real RD. For fitness help, look for a certified personal trainer. Take everyone else with a grain of salt.*