Anniversary Post - It's Been a Wholesome 12 Months Blogging! Blogging For The Love Of It

Today marks one year anniversary of this blog, Wellness Maya. Exactly, this day a year ago I published my first blog post. I finally gathered enough courage and got the opportunity to start sharing my research and experience around wellness lifestyle in relation to health, food, fitness, beauty and recipe in the public space. To commemorate today, I will be giving a summary of the humble beginnings of Wellness Maya, why I began blogging and how Wellness Maya was birthed.

Why I Started Blogging?

I have grown to be an avid researcher and reader, with huge interest in writing. Having suffered from health issues and a well-balanced lifestyle, i have always had it in my thoughts to have an online platform where i enlighten people on what to know about wellness lifestyle and living it, even though I'm still a work in progress of living a wellness lifestyle. I have always love to help and I feel this is my little way of helping and giving back to the society.

My ever gallant senior, Abdulmalik Akinyemi of Akinyemi's Journal, in the university once gave me a corner on his blog where i talk about food therapy for different health conditions in my 200L, 2017 precisely. I couldn't keep us with it due to some logistic reasons beyond my control.

Last year during the lockdown, after staying at home for about a month and the whole pandemic seems like it won't end anytime soon, the idea to start some of my after school plans came but i couldn't pinpoint what exactly to start. I had an heartfelt discussion with one of my loved ones and he said maybe the right time to start that blog dream is here. I gave it a thorough thought and started making necessary findings around it. The initial steps of learning which platform is best to host my blog was so daunting because I had no money for my own website at the time, even till now! Thank goodness Saeed, of The Ademirables put me through and i settled for blogger.

I also had to come up with a blog name that resided with me. After brainstorming with so many people and checking if the name i choose doesn't clash with someone else's which was what happens a lot of times, Wellness with Maya pop up. Maya has always been a name i loved from Hindi movies but i have never thought it will be attached to something this important in my life. Along the line, i changed it to Wellness Maya so that it can be easily remembered and make it look more of a brand. 

My First Few Posts

With great difficulty of internet instability in my area of residence and support of my loved ones, I published my first 3 blog post. Each of the 3 were about the 3 subtopics (health, food therapy and fitness), it talks about the basic knowledge you need to about the 3 subtopics. 

Overtime, I included beauty and recipes to the subtopics. Even though, I have been more focused on fitness because that's one thing i love most about wellness lifestyle.

Once the blog was set up, it was time to share it with others beginning with my friends and family, it was a very hard moment for me with intense anxiety because I fear my work not been appreciated and strongly criticize. Even till this moment, my parents don't know I really blog.

Whenever I post I avoid checking the social media engagements and blog view so has to reduce my anxiety and seeking of social gratification, Alhamdulillah (glory be to Allah) it has been better over the past 1 year.

Although, I want to share more of my wellness journey but I feel naked and vulnerable. I know it can help some persons out there, but there is also that worry about “sharing too much". So, i will put that at bay till am more comfortable to share it..

When comments began to roll in, mostly from close friends and colleagues. Most of them were kind words of encouragement, support and love. I felt cool and freed from my fears. Of course it’s not always about positive feedback, but such warmth and support really helps to keep my motivation going.

Today I understand that writing is not meant to be done in secret, it’s meant to connect. Can you imagine what would’ve happened if all the great writers in history decided not to share their writings with the public? If Maya Angelou never shared her stories of rape, if Virginia Woolf never discussed her unhappy marriage, if Jack Kerouac was too scared to be himself?

Lessons Learnt Over A Year

I’ve learned so many lessons after starting Wellness Maya. The first and most important is to push any and all doubts out of your mind. I doubted my own ability to start and I had people who doubted me. But you truly never know if you don’t do it. It’s cliche, but so true. I knew who in my life supported my ideas and believed in me enough to push me to go after my dreams, and am forever indebted to them.

Second, I had to work really hard to stop comparing myself with others. In the beginning, growth was slow and I'm till not half towards my first year goal. It was also hard to see other bloggers in my position growing 10x as fast. There were constant lessons that everyone’s growth is different and that hard work is necessary. Instead of focusing on what other were doing, I started focusing on me. I created better content, even though I have not been more consistent and never lost the site of who I was. I want to always be true to who I am and to write about topics that I 100% believe in.

I love and open to making new connections with fellow bloggers who are just as passionate as I am. To be part of a community that builds each other up with words of support and encouragement will be so inspirational.

To My Scintillating Team Members

The idea to have a team can from a friend, so as to ease the work load, get more ideas and work more with people at achieve a bigger goal.

Around July, 2020 i built a 4 man team, which later grow to 5 with one man behind the scenes, all from my close circle and online sourcing.

Even with the busy schedule of my team members, their input has really helped me grow significantly, especially when I am too busy to come up with blog post and all.

I'm forever grateful to;

1. Masturah Balogun
2. Khawlah Gabadeen
3. Habibah Adeniji
4. Nafisah Haaroon
5. Halimah Abdulazeez

Your inputs can't be underestimated, Thanks a bunch.

My Stats At A Year

Total blog posts published – 35

Overall blog views – 1586

Overall blog comments - 54

Overall blog followers - 0

Blog event - 1

Blog challenge - 1

Facebook – 227 followers

Instagram – 474 followers

Pinterest – 14 followers

Goals to Reach by the End of My Second Year Blogging

1. Redesign my blog
2. Buy my domain and host
3. Improve my graphics
4. Double my following on all social media and improve engagement
5. Increase monthly page views to 500 per month
6. Work on earning significantly
7. Recruit more volunteers to my team

Thank you

I wish to write more explicitly, but i don't want to bore you or take too much of your time.

So to any of you reading this – thank you! Thanks for taking the time to read my posts, to follow me on social media. Thanks for liking, commenting, sharing and rebroadcasting my posts.

Thanks for every time you’ve taken time out of your busy and stressful days to interact with me. You have no idea how much it means to me.

I have not been very active over the past 3 months due to my educational career workload, in case you don't know, I'm in my final year in the university. So, be patient with me till am done toward the end of the year, 2021.

I have come a long way and i still have a long way to go, God willing I will get to the height of my blogging goal. I might fail in the end, but at least I know I’ll have given it a bloody good shot and if I’ve helped even one of you along the way then its been worth it.

So, let’s see what adventures await us all in year two!