When I finally decided to start a website/blogs, I began by doing the obvious thing...I googled.
The sheer number of other blogs and websites I found dedicated to giving others advice on how to start and maintain blogs was overwhelming; the implied need to meet a certain number of social media views completely intimidating. All the advice - get a domain name, find a niche, find a host platform, link to Instagram and Facebook, monetize, be original...bah...I had to stop googling.
It was just too much pressure. So much so, in fact, that I put off starting a website for years.
I just found it too odd that, in the process of trying to create a website/blog about simplifying, I was stressing myself out completely.
And that just wouldn't do.
Because for me - because of the nature of my medical condition - simplifying means de-stressing.
While getting rid of stuff, de-cluttering, eating less processed food, and reducing waste all have the added benefit of being kinder to the planet (which I am now - as a side effect - beginning to more intentionally strive towards and appreciate), for me, simplifying has always been more about reducing input and stress to my easily overloaded brain than saving the world.
And so, in order to get this website up and running, I did something that my illness has taught me I now must do...I asked for help.
In the process, I met a wonderful couple in a nearby town who are willing to help tech-challenged and social media-phobic people like myself set up lovely websites. They answered all my questions and put up with my most annoying wee quirks and demands, all without making me feel even the slightest bit dopey (Thanks to the both of you!).
And I learned...not only to be not so afraid of my computer, but also how to use it effectively to do something I've been wanting to do for years.
Way back when all my issues began, I had trouble asking for help.
I struggled for years to regain my former level of functioning, to recapture that "before" feeling of having boundless energy, of being independent and self-confident. I don't really know when I began to let all of those self-imposed expectations go, nor can I pinpoint the exact moment when I began to realize that asking for help didn't indicate weakness.
Looking back, I'm sorry now that I put doing this off for years. It's fun. It's therapeutic. It's a bucket list item on it's way to being crossed off.
Maybe it just took the right timing, the right people...the right help.
And I'm now glad that, somewhere along the way, I found the courage to ask for it.