At the end of February 2022 I decided to finally start a blog.
I’d been thinking about doing something like this since high school over a decade ago. But with my IT teacher thinking I was a lost cause and my English teacher not really convinced by my writing abilities (especially creatively), I didn’t think I really stood much of a chance in creating my own website navigating the techy stuff or writing anything remotely entertaining or inspiring. Yet here we are. You’re reading this, something I’ve written (whether it’s entertaining or not I’ll leave that up to you), on a platform that required much techy wizardy to get up and running.
Never mind about what people said and their opinions. What mattered in deciding to really go for this was what I wanted, whether I believed in myself enough to do this, and my WHYs.
So these are six reasons WHY I’m starting this little blog.
1) To write!
I love writing. I journal, I write creatively, and I have a folder on my external hard drive full of bits and pieces of typed writing (affectionately called my slush folder). These writings come in all formats and genres that aren’t quite robust enough to constitute a whole book or anything, but would fit the blog post format perfectly.
Writing requires commitment. By committing myself to writing and publishing one blog post a week for actual people to read and comment on, it’ll hopefully improve my craft.
On a related side note, I’m so committed to the writing craft, in fact, that in 2019 I made a bold decision to call myself a Writer. I told people that that’s what I was from now on, whether anyone thought I was good at it or not. I have multiple secret projects on the go that may or may not see the light of day or anyone else’s eyeballs but mine. Nothing has been published yet. But I’m a Writer.
Writing is one aspect of what I want to do with my life for the rest of my days, whether I’m good at it or not. This blog website is a home for my writings.
2) My cats (and other animals)
Caring for animals while educating people and sharing stories about animals is part of my mission here while I’m alive on the planet (in addition to being a Writer).
I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was younger (as well as a capital ‘a’ Artist and a Writer), but being a little scared of dogs may not have made that the best career move. That aside, anyone who knows me knows that I take every opportunity to talk about my cats. There’s a great meme I found with two jars sitting side by side, one labelled ‘Swear Jar’ with only a few coins in it, and one next to it labelled ‘Talking about my cat when I wasn’t asked jar’ that’s filled to overflowing with coins. Never has there been a truer meme spoken.
Here I’m allowed to tell anyone who will listen (or read) as much as I like about my cats (and other animals) when I wasn’t asked.
Sophie the Birman cross and her late sister Pippi the Tortie.
What this platform also allows me to do is raise awareness about the situations facing animals around the world and those who care for them – the vet people including nurses, surgeons, techs, as well as all carers, shelter and sanctuary runners, and anyone who makes their life mission serving animals in some way.
It’s time for us to rethink our relationship with animals and nature/the environment. What I’m seeing at the moment in many situations is an unhealthy and basically broken relationship with other sentient non-human beings and with our beautiful home planet. If we don’t take steps to address and improve this relationship, then I doubt humans will be here for much longer. That being said, I can see so many people interested and invested in healing and improving this relationship, which I love to see; it warms my heart and enthuses my soul.
Even though I’m not sure what difference I can actually make with this little blog, I have to hope that it’ll be at least in some small way beneficial to the animals and those who care about them.
3) To find my people
I’m an introverted homebody – an INFJ, a highly sensitive person (HSP), an empath, and a gentle caring soul who has wanted to live as a hermit in the woods for most of my life (especially my adult life). All my life I’ve felt different.
A lot of people at this point may say, “Oh yes, but everyone is different, no one is normal” etc. etc. To which I say, “Yes, but there’s different, and then there’s different.” Like, really different. I wondered whether I was actually from another realm or planet or world when I was younger. I remember wanting to go back there where I may have been considered normal.
Since I haven’t verified whether I have indeed come from another realm (or a parallel universe), it looks like I’m stuck here and this world is stuck with me.
That being said, surely I’m not the only one. Surely there must be other gentle introverted HSP empath homebodies who feel the same. I’d like to find these people so that we don’t feel so isolated and odd. I’d like to find other quiet and curious people like me. If that sounds like you reading this, then let’s band together and support each other in the world that we’re in.
This blog may help me find my people.
4) To teach (and give advice no one asked for) on my topics of interest
I’ve said in my story that I’m an information junkie. While some people just enjoy learning for learning’s sake, I enjoy learning and then sharing that information with others once I’ve processed it.
With my wide variety of topics of interest – which you’ll find out about soon enough as more blog posts on various topics fill this space – there’s so much I want to share with you within my chosen niche of lifestyle for animal-loving nature-appreciating homebodies.
5) To create my ideal business
Any job that I can do from home with a cat on my lap is the ideal job for me. And starting this blog I literally have a cat (Sophie, who you can read about here) sitting on my lap as I’m writing out my posts and creating what I hope is valuable content for you.
In the future I hope to create useful e-books and online courses to benefit quiet and curious people, as well as create a lovely online community of like-minded quiet folk.
My ideal business is one that allows me to live out my dream life and provide for my animals. This business would also help me benefit other animals wherever is needed in the world so they may live their best lives, while also supporting you create your ideal life, live out your purpose and fulfil your unique mission here as a homebody.
That leads me to my final reason.
6) For you (reading this)
And last but definitely not least, I’m starting this blog for you. For you to find a space that you feel comfortable in to read and learn how to thrive as a quiet homebody in a loud and sometimes overwhelming world.
It’s often not easy to be in a world that we don’t seem made for, and it feels near impossible to actually thrive in it. But this is what this little blog is about, to support quiet homebodies in being their wonderful selves and to make navigating this world maybe a little bit easier. We’re all in this world together as quiet folk, and it’s important that we support each other however each of us can.
This is my contribution to the quiet movement.
So peruse this website at your leisure, check out what I’m all about if you’re interested and have a look at any topics that might interest you. And of course if you have any suggestions or topics that you’d like to know more about be sure to let me know by emailing me at [email protected].
Again, I’m so glad you’re here!
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Much love,
