Today marks the one year anniversary of The Natural Hair Advocate! Woot woot! And it’s been an amazing 12 months!

A BIG thanks goes out to all of you for following, reading, and commenting on my posts over the past year- I really appreciate your support and engagement! Through this blog, I have met some really amazing people; learned a lot of new things, not only about hair, but also about myself; I’ve ventured far outside of my comfort zone; challenged myself in many ways; and, most importantly, I have revisited two of my passions: natural hair and writing.

Having said all that, the truth is, I really did not think that I would get here…

 

At first I was afraid, I was petrified!

Up until January of last year, if someone would have said to me that today I would be a “blogger”, I would’ve laughed in their face.  Sure, as a litigator, I was constantly writing for my job at the time; I have written numerous papers for various reasons throughout my years of schooling; I’ve had a couple of opportunities to have my opinion published in the past; I’ve even written for a blog as member of volunteer organization; and, believe it or not, before blogging became a “thing”, I had even started one for my Watson fellowship (the key word is “started”, because I only posted about 9 times)! Nevertheless, I did not think I could launch a blog that people would actually want to read; I also didn’t believe that I had the drive to maintain one.  I mean, I like to share my thoughts (just ask my husband or my siblings, lol), but I didn’t think that I could be consistent (or persistent) enough to keep a blog going.

 

The paralysis of analysis

Back in 2014, during what was a not-so-great-but-oh-so-necessary season in my life, I decided to go back to a writing project about natural hair that I had abandoned for a few years because I was too busy pursuing my legal career.  It was then that I remembered how much joy I found in championing natural hair, research, and writing.  Observing my rekindled excitement, the people around me-namely, my husband, siblings, and close friends- started encouraging me to start a blog.  For some reason, they thought I could do it. I, on the other hand, was not so convinced:

Me, start a blog? Nah! Why would anyone care about what I have to say?

Okay, if I start one, who’s going to read it? There are so many natural hair bloggers already!

Hmm…maybe I should start one; but I’m probably gonna write like 2 posts, and then get tired of it. So, really, what’s the point?

I went back and forth for a good 6 months before I finally decided to take the leap.  The first few months was me questioning whether I should, and also doubting my ability to, blog; and then when I did resign myself to do it, the next few months was me spending (wasting?) a lot of time researching how to start a blog/what makes a blog successful/how bloggers get followers/why blogs are popular/what time and what day you should blog/what separates good blogs from bad blogs/the history of blogging- you name it, I read it! But it was ALL a distraction from actually doing it!

A few days before I launched this blog, I had a long phone conversation with a good friend and fellow blogger, Simone Samuels (check out her blogs, if you haven’t already: Simone Samuels, Life After Oxtail), and she told me that I needed to overcome “the paralysis of analysis”– that I needed to stop stalling, under the guise of getting prepared, and just do it!  And, so, I did it!

 

Do it afraid!

When I published my first post, I was nervous and scared as heck, but I did it! And today, a year later, I’m still doing it! So, my encouragement to all of you is to do it afraid– whatever IT is for you!  If you’ve been toying with the idea of starting a business, heading across the world on a missions trip, going back to school, or even starting a blog, please do not let fear hold you back! It’s better to do it afraid than to never attempt to do it, at all!

 

Coming stronger in Year Two

After a year of blogging, I realize now that a lot, if not most, of things that I was concerned about before I started have not even been issues! Mind you, there are other things that I’ve identified as issues that I will be working on improving.  This year, I plan to post more and to cover a broader scope of topics.  I’m also working on some exciting natural hair projects to be announced soon, so please do keep visiting for more information.  And, as always, please don’t hesitate to give me any feedback or suggestions you have about my posts or topics in the comments section!

Thanks for a great year, everyone! This is only the beginning!