I start by brainstorming and buying 15 different website names. (This is not the most cost effective way to start a blog fyi.) Then I spend several months trying to narrow down topics, figuring out a theme for the page, and getting stuck on the actual publishing part. What do Bluehost and WordPress and Google Domains actually do? Why can’t I just write a post? What is optimization? Why did I buy a $108 optimization package when a) I don’t know what optimization is and b) I don’t even have a website yet?
It turns out that you start a blog just like you do anything else in life. You google “how do I start a blog,” then follow the very specific step-by-step instructions, or you watch a proper YouTube video. YouTube is how I learned how to change the oxygen sensor in my car, how I learned to mix concrete, how I learned to budget, and how I learned to properly and efficiently birth a baby. That last part is not true, but had YouTube been prevalent 18 years ago, I am quite certain it would have saved me from my 24 hour birthing episode which left me saying, “Yeah, yeah, that baby is pretty cute. Now can you please take him away and bring me a Coke, the caffeinated kind, and quite a bit of food.”
After several months of buying domain names that I will never use, and after days of staring at a Bluehost/Wordpress site (I still don’t know the difference), and clicking back and forth on buttons and headings with malaise, I finally did google “how do I start a website” and alas, I now am typing my first post after 20 minutes, just as instructed.
Starting a blog is really just the same as anything else, one foot in front of the other, and remember that perfection does not exist. Action is more valuable than perfection. You have to start with the first step no matter what, even if you may risk twisting your ankle.
Finally, I took that step forward, which for me was to settle on one of the 15 domain names, mama-malist. Mama-malist sums up the most defining parts of my life, so how can I go wrong?
Fierce Love. To me mama embodies the strongest, most loving, most tenacious people I know, who know that giving up is not an option. Mamas to littles, mamas to teens, mamas to pets, the mamas of the world. Mama to me means Fierce Love.
Minimalism. Minimal to me also means meaningful. I like to embody that with possessions, work, relationships, anything…keep it simple, but meaningful. Efficiency at the heart of everything, because life goes by in seconds.
Imperfection. Perfection does not exist, period.
Aversion to Bullshit. No time to waste on pleasantries, let’s get straight to the point or take it all the way to the meaning of life.
I love the juxtaposition of mama with minimalist. This is me: a fierce, tenacious, loving, efficient, keeping-everyone’s-shit-together mama. What will this blog be about? Everything…all my random, ever-changing interests and obsessions and opinions, my fierce mama love, and my aversion to bullshit.