My Peanut Butter's Tachy Turns 1 Year Old!

Today my baby blog turns one year old! 

One year ago today I wrote this post to start off this blog. 

I'd been reading healthy living and food blogs for about 6 months, had recently become vegan, and realized I missed taking lots of pictures like I did in college and putting some thoughts to paper. I'd been through a hard first year and a half of medical school, I felt I'd changed a lot, but I didn't have much of a record. 

I was also just starting to get excited about my new vegan diet, cooking and baking, exercise, and writing again. 

I also kept very busy and went weeks at a time without talking to my family. I decided they might like some outside assurance that I was alive. This was true. Hi family. 

I wrote an End-of-2011 post that included several of the most significant events of the year, so for the blog birthday, I'm taking a more blog-centered look at things:

Things I've Learned (or Didn't Learn) This Year from Blogging

1. I Learned how much I like it. When I first started, I didn't tell anyone because I thought I might not like it. If it wasn't fun or felt too weird, I would've just deleted it and never mentioned it again. Clearly a year later I've gotten over the obvious weirdness of publishing my life and I love posting. 

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And I avoid this problem by fascinating you all with my food. Day after day. After day. You readers are a special breed to keep going. Or you're related to me. 

2. I Didn't Learn to take pictures. At least consistently. I've certainly improved, and I like them enough for my purposes, but professional-looking photos have not really become a priority. It's supposed to be fun, so don't ever think, "Geez I'll never take good pictures so I shouldn't blog." 

This is one I took a couple weeks ago in Portland. Shining example of awesomeness obviously.

And this is clearly better, but I have plenty left to learn. 

3. I Learned to balance. Blogging takes a lot of time. Sometimes I had to push it to the back while other things went on in my life. In November and December I wrote a total of 11 times, because first I had a life-consuming OB/Gyn rotation, and then I went on a whirlwind Christmas vacation trip. 

I was never afraid to stop blogging to live life, and that's kept this fun. If it became stressful, it wouldn't work for me. 

4. I Didn't Learn how to stop embarrassing those close to me. And I have the pictures to prove it. 

5. I Learned that imperfections are important - they make us who we are. I love following other healthy living blogs and the posts that stick with me best are the ones where people struggle just like me and make it out the other side. It's encouraging, and it's hard to write about. I've written posts about feeling crushed by what I don't know, and how sometimes things were just rough (#firstworldproblems). The point is that I learned that it's worth it to be a little vulnerable and expose my problems sometimes because I can learn from the experience, and I can also remind myself that I have awesome problems - I get to struggle through medical school, how to balance all the great food I can afford with the exercises my body can handle, and I have the stress of planning a wedding to someone I love. 

I have no idea what this blog will bring in the next year, but it's been a great first one.

If you blog, how long has it been? Did your perspective on blogging change throughout your experience?