Ten years ago today, March 26, 2012, I hit “Publish” for the first blog post on this website. On this anniversary of the launch of Petals from the Basket, I want to answer a question I asked myself this week:

Knowing what you know now, what would you go back ten years and tell yourself as a new blogger?

1. Be yourself. When you try to be like “the other bloggers” (both well-known and otherwise), there is no longer a need for you to write your post. Your audience most likely will overlap those of other bloggers, but there will be a niche that you can fill in your own unique way.
2. Be consistent. Don’t overestimate your ability to show up. Never underestimate the need to do so.
3. Be intentional. Writing with no purpose isn’t worth someone’s purposely taking the time to read. Determine why you’re choosing to write and stick to your purpose.
4. Be wise. You will have unkind readers. You will have flatterers. You will have imitators and plagiarists. You will have readers who open their hearts to you and tell you that your blog posts encourage them. You will have thank-you notes and notes that tell you how lame your writing is. You will have followers, you will have what are commonly called “haters.” Learn to know the difference and not be distracted by the latter.
5. Be real. You quite likely are the only one thinking that others are putting pressure on you to be the perfect blogger. Write with intelligence, but don’t allow your “perfect everything” to serve as a disguise for your personal imperfections. There is no need to air your dirty laundry; however, be authentic in sharing that your life has stains from wrong choices, and then share the lessons you learned to help keep someone else from making those same mistakes–maybe that’s why you went through it in the first place.

This blogger is back, and she’s back with a desire to be herself, to be consistent, to be intentional, to be wise, and to be real. So hang on, sweet faith-friends, we’re in for a fun ride!

As you can see in the post written ten years ago today, I was walking through a major life change. Since that first post, I have journeyed through a seemingly endless season of change. Yet through it all—through every month, day, moment of those ten years—I can say three things:

1. “Jesus led me all the way.”
2. God’s mercies have never failed me. They are new every morning! (Lamentations 3:22-23)
3. I still have my little gray-and-white chalkboard—and it’s still a clean slate.