The Reward for the Difficult – Official Dragonflydreams.blog launch

About a year ago, I went into the back-end of my blog to add a new post and was shocked to learn that a size limit was now being enforced on my free account (something that was not there previously since I was an early adopter). If I wanted to keep adding to my blog, I would have to sign up for a paid account, which at the time was $26 per month! This blog is a passion project. I don’t make any money off it, nor do I ever plan to monetize it in the future.

As you can imagine, I was heartbroken. I love sharing about the things I’m learning. And more than that, my brain appreciates being able to put onto “paper” the things that are swirling around up there and otherwise have no place to go. This blog might never have a huge following, but it’s mine. It’s a way I can communicate and process my thoughts. To lose my voice was devastating.

But I’m not one to give up. I went about researching all my other options. Web builders, like the one I was using, were all too expensive. Then I learned about WordPress, an open source platform that enables an individual to build their own website. While there are costs involved, it’s far less than what I would have to pay if I stayed with my existing blog company. Plus, the content you create is yours and can be easily transferred in the future. Meaning, I should never be stuck again with a company holding my own content over my head. And you know, I love learning new things, so I decided that learning WordPress would be my new challenge.

Wow! What a learning curve! I do NOT have a tech brain. I watched tutorial after tutorial and read every article I could find about setting up a WordPress blog, and none of it made sense. I eventually settled on a hosting site and got my domain name without issue, but actually creating the design? Figuring out how to put onto screen the things in my head? My brain wanted to explode from the stress of trying to make sense of it all. Was I just wasting my time and money on something I would never be able to figure out?

So I took a break. Then I went back to it. Then I took another break. And another. Months and months went by, but I refused to give up. As hard as I was trying, my brain just wasn’t processing the information. At one point, I thought I had it figured out, and then realized, nope. That’s not right. I wanted to give up. A friend even gave me the contact information for someone I could hire to help me, but I really wanted to do this on my own. To prove to myself that I could.

I forced myself to try yet again and discovered that while I was on break, a new tutorial had come out. Finally, this one made sense! I couldn’t believe my luck! Once I learned the concepts and where certain features were located, I was off to design my new blog.

As difficult as starting from scratch was for me, this new blog gave me the opportunity to make changes to my site that I wouldn’t have made if I had stayed with my previous company. I worked with an incredible designer to create a logo package that “feels” like my blog. And once the logo was created, I developed my color palette and typography package. And then I worked diligently to re-create every single blog post. My new foster pup Simon has been keeping me busy, so I haven’t finished all the posts yet. But the site is ready to launch. And I couldn’t be happier.

I wanted to give up so many times. My frustration levels were incredibly high! But I forced myself to continue trying, over and over until I finally figured it out. If a professional saw my site, they would probably suggest plenty of changes. I imagine there were better ways I could have set up the blog. But I DID IT! I’m thrilled to officially launch my new blog, DragonflyDreams.blog, out into the world for the first time!

But the real reward? More than anything, I’m proud of myself for trying something that was so different from anything I’ve ever learned before. I’m immensely proud that despite how difficult it was for my brain to process, I didn’t give up, even though I felt like a complete failure for months and months as I made little progress. I stuck with it even though it was incredibly challenging. And that is the ultimate reward.

Now to be clear, I chose not to hire a consultant to teach me because I really wanted to figure this out on my own. It was a challenge I set for myself, and I wanted to see it through. But I truly believe that wise people seek out and learn from experts.

Have you ever tried something and continued to fail over and over until you got it right? I honestly believe that failure is really good for us. It teaches us to keep trying. To not give up. To believe in ourselves. To not take the easy way out but to work hard for what we want. This is where success lies.