How do I start a blog?

I’ve always loved to write. In my early twenties, writing was a coping mechanism for me. It allowed me to sit, reflect and make sense of what was going on in my life. And while my life didn’t seem too bad in the grand scheme of things, there was a lot that occupied my mind. It was the pressure-cooker of medical school and then of working as a junior doctor, the daily interaction with sickness, death, dying and sometimes hope, the constant soul-searching, the confusion and uncertainty that accompanies your turbulent twenties.

I was just trying to figure out who I was amongst it all. And if I didn’t write, I became an anxious, insecure mess.

Somewhere along the way though, I stopped writing. As I got older I started to ruminate less about things. If something bad happened, I thought about it briefly, sometimes bitched about it to an unsuspecting friend or colleague, accepted it and then let it go. I no longer needed to write, so I didn’t. There was a shift in my mindset and I can’t attribute that to one thing. Was it the mindfulness and meditation that I practiced most days but was really bad at because I never seemed to achieve the level of zen that women sitting cross-legged in yoga pants seem to achieve on TV? Or was it just time and experience? The living and the learning that I could experience as an adult no longer stuck in the bubble of university.

Now that I’m about to enter my thirties, I wanted to start a blog. My internet presence mainly consists of posting photos of what I’ve proudly cooked, as well as scrolling aimlessly through instagram looking at cute cat photos, reels about DIY hacks, and before and after photos of celebrities who have had plastic surgery (and that’s a lot of them!). I wanted to make better use of my time.

There is a lot that I’ve thought about since my early twenties but never written about because I didn’t feel the need to, so I can’t go back and read about how I felt during that time. It might seem silly but I love going back to my old diary and reading about random things like how I felt when I had a good day, my experience of catching the bus for the first time, how it felt to fall in love, and even sad experiences. Time goes by so quickly, and writing about stuff helps me appreciate the little things in a day that we might take for granted: a smile from a stranger, a joke your friend told you that made you laugh, waking up in the morning next to your spouse and realising how lucky you are, or the joy in watching a new little leaf unfurl from your monstera plant.

I wanted to document my thoughts in a blog so that I can go back and read about how I felt at a point in time. A time capsule if you will. But then of course as with all things social media, I had some thoughts about how that would be perceived. Firstly, who would want to read my blog in the first place? What if my friends and family read it and don’t agree with something I’ve written about? What if my patients or my employers read my blog and how will that affect me?

Then after watching a few You-Tube videos about this very subject, I realised that at the end of the day, nobody really cares. Everyone is busy trying to figure out their own lives, and so am I.

So here I am, starting a blog.