1 Year of Blogging & 6 Months on Bear Blog
Congratulations to me! 🥳 It’s been a whole year since my first public blog post went live on my main blog, and a happy six months of being here on Bear. Honestly? I never thought I would actually last this long, but here we are!
Before I started publishing publicly in October 2025, I had absolutely NO IDEA of what I was doing. And even after I started, I still wasn’t sure if I was doing it right. When looking back, that uncertainty was kind of the whole point. That is why I wanted to document the four biggest things that I have learned so far.
Just Start - Imperfectly
Coming from a completely different field, everything from WordPress and Markdown to SEO and Google Analytics was a foreign language to me. I could have spent months taking courses and getting certified before hitting publish. Instead, I just… started. Messily, through trial and error.
And honestly? That was the best decision I made. Don’t get me wrong, obviously courses can give you a foundation and knowledge for you to get started, but nothing replaces actually doing the work, making mistakes, and figuring things out as you go. Almost like learning Japanese through textbook and learning through everyday conversations. Start simple, test the waters, and repeat as you learn.
Procrastination Is a Creativity Killer
This one stung a little. I had months of filmed content and photos just sitting on my phone and SD cards doing absolutely nothing - because the editing and uploading part felt overwhelming and I kept putting it off. The irony is that planning, filming and photography are the parts I genuinely enjoy. It was the follow-through that tripped me up.
The lesson: if you’ve already done the creative work, you might as well finish the job. Which is partly why I love incorporating photo diary entries here - no algorithm pressure, just posting for fun.
You Don’t Need the Perfect Tools
I have cycled through more apps and platforms than I can count, like CapCut, InShot, Canva, Google Suite, Apple Notes, WordPress, and now Markdown. What I’ve learned is that the best tool is simply the one that fits your workflow and that you’ll actually stick with. Don’t spend months comparing features. Pick something, learn it, and move on.
Hobby First, Everything Else Later
This is probably the most important shift I made. When I started out before blogging (a.k.a. YouTube), I was already thinking about monetization and growth metrics - and measuring everything against those standards when you’re just starting out is a fast track to burnout. Once I stopped thinking of this as a business side of things and started thinking of it as a hobby, a way to document my journey and genuinely share my experiences - everything felt lighter. A post with five views or so stopped feeling like failure and started feeling like practice.
Progress isn’t always visible. Sometimes it’s just showing up, creating, and learning, even when the numbers don’t reflect it yet.
Looking Forward
I am still trying to figure things out and far from being an expert on the matter. And here I am doing it, which is all that matters. If you have been contemplating starting your own blog, there is no better time than now. The lessons will come after.
Anyways, thank you for reading this far, it genuinely means a lot and that’s all the rambling for the month.
If you’re ever curious about lifestyle here in Toronto or travel experiences, feel free to pop over to my main blog, Jen's One Fine Day - no pressure whatsoever. 😊