Avoiding Atrophy's 100th Blog Post

Today is the day, folks. My 100th blog post. Other bloggers in this world who started much later than me passed their 100th post ages ago without even realizing it. These are the kind of fabulous people who post every single day, write in some kind of day-planner to keep their blogging life in order, and make breakfast smoothies, probably with spinach. I don't do any of these things, so almost three years into this thing, I'm just now getting into my 100th post. Deal with it.

Getting into triple digits is monumental to me. It means that there were at least one-hundred times in the last two and a half years where I sat down with a focused intention to communicate my thoughts through writing. Of course, some posts were a bit more focused and intentional than others.

When I started Avoiding Atrophy, I was in that weird, post-collegiate transitional period, a time which has been the catalyst for certainly thousands of other blogs. I felt wayward and strange, totally unsure of what the next year was going to look like. Here is an excerpt from my first post where I laid out the foundation of why I wanted to write during this time in my life:

Everyone knows this is an interesting transition. I'm not the first to write about it and I won't be the last. Many of the people I know are in this exact same boat, and let me tell you, it is weird. This is the first time where we truly could sink or swim. We could choose to pursue this new life with a boldness and determination that we always dreamed we would or we could sit, lie, wait, and let our muscles atrophy until we don't even resemble human. 

For me, I choose the former. That's just me though. And this blog is to hold me accountable to that. 

Over the course of time, I've been able to elaborate on why I began blogging, but I'm not sure I've allowed myself to explain what this whole thing has truly meant to me. I started out writing Avoiding Atrophy thinking that I might make some people laugh (my mom, at least) and that maybe I'd be able to use it as a distraction from constantly refreshing monster.com. I had absolutely no idea the implications blogging would have in my life, and if you've been with me from the beginning, you probably didn't either. I mean, my first post was titled "A Defense for Cowboys & Aliens." That doesn't really scream successful lifestyle blogger, honestly.

An early photo of myself that I posted on my blog. Wook at duh wittle baybeeee!

Looking back, though, on where I was when I started and where I am now, Avoiding Atrophy has been exactly what I hoped it would be -- a way to keep myself accountable, a way to remind myself and others like me that life can be beautiful even when it's the worst. But believe it or not, it's become even more than that. This blog and the people who support it have given me courage like I never would  have had otherwise. At least, I call it courage. You might call it insanity.

The encouragement I've experienced here has propelled me to change the entire trajectory of my professional life. I left my job and decided to call myself a writer. Some days I even make money doing this. It's all kind of unbelievable.

And none of that would have been possible without you. Yes, YOU! Reader-you. I've got to be honest, as much as I was doing this for my own edification, it would have been tough to write one-hundred blog posts with no comments. Somewhere along the way, people started reading, commenting, and sharing. And sharing is caring, guys. No, but really, it is. It's how we feel understood. It's certainly one of the best ways I have felt understood over the last few years.

This blog is a different thing than it was when it started, and I like to think I'm a different thing too. If I could go back in time and tell Early Blogger Christy what her life would be like over the next couple of years, I think she would be like, "Get it, girl!"

Oh, Early Blogger Christy! There is so much you don't know!

Here's what I would tell her:

-You're still married to your husband, and he is still keeping it tight.

-You eventually find a job...more like five jobs...and you hate almost all of them. Stop crying.

-You move to New York City. Brooklyn, specifically. You get a cat and call him Frasier, for he truly is a pretentious jerk, but you love him anyway.

-Avoiding Atrophy undergoes a bit of a transformation when you write a couple of posts about things you would do-over at your wedding. A bunch of people share it on Pinterest. Oh, you don't know what Pinterest is yet? Oh, honey...

-You struggle with all of this because, well, you're not a wedding blogger. In fact, the only thing you really know about weddings is what NOT to do at them. You worry that you are getting page views for all of the wrong reasons and that when people find out that you mostly just write about cats and your feelings, they will expose you for the fraud you are. 

-This doesn't happen. It's a miracle. Out of this influx of traffic, a handful of fantastic people stick around. They sympathize with your inability to put your hair in a sock bun. And, girl, get this -- they leave comments.

-In the midst of all of this, you make a big decision to totally reroute your career path. And guess what you decide to do instead? Girl, just GUESS. 

-You decide to write. It's the thing that has always made you the happiest, and you've decided to make a life of it. This came about for a whole host of reasons -- one of those reasons being your love of blogging, so girl, seriously, keep it up. 

Long story short, blogging = life-changer. So once again, thank you, guys. Thanks to the new readers and the ones who have been with me from the beginning. Thanks to the countless bloggers who have provided me with a ton of wonderful bloggy advice, and thanks to all of the writers who inspire me on a daily basis. And finally, thanks to the people in my life -- those I can see and touch and smell as well as those I can Skype with-- who have been so encouraging of this endeavor. You just have no idea what you mean to me.

Before I go, I'll leave you with ten of my favorite posts from the last one-hundred (wow, 100!). Feel free to read them or feel free to do literally anything else. Either way, I'm just happy you were here today helping me avoid atrophy.

10 Things I Like About Myself // Laments of a Former Film Student // A Cure for the Sunday Wigglies™ // Smart Girls Have More Fun // Progressively Married at Twenty-Two // If I Had It To Do All Over: Wedding Planning // How to Create a Better Writing Space // New York City: The Fickle Lover // The 10 Best Search Terms That Lead To My Blog // Feelings Friday: Bravery

Here's to 100 more!