Every time I wrote about my blog’s anniversary, I always say something along the lines of “I can’t believe I’ve reached this milestone.” Well, it’s true. Sixteen years is a loooot of time. I didn’t start celebrating my blog anniversary until my fifth year of blogging, and back then, I was super proud to have reached five years. Now, it’s much closer to 20 years than to that young, five-year-old blog I was so so ridiculously happy to celebrate for the first time.

Sweet sixteen! 🎉 It’s a coming-of-age milestone in some countries, and somehow, it feels fitting for my blog, too! It’s been sixteen very sweet years of blogging: almost always distracted, but still consistent. Sixteen years ago, my frustrated self just wanted an outlet after livejournal became unusable. But at that time, I felt like having a tiny private space of my own was more ideal—more me. I did go ahead and create a dreamwidth account, but I think blogging on my own space was what really made things take off.

When I was brainstorming what to write (I usually like to do those enumerated lists), I realized that I just wanted to revisit my thoughts and feelings from sixteen years ago. I remember when I turned sixteen myself, I was almost done with senior high school and preparing for university. I was in those final few months of high school, getting ready for college entrance exams, and feeling a little jittery because I was about to leave the school I’d spent four years in. At the same time, I was kind of shocked that I was getting older and that I had only four years of academia left ahead of me.

Turns out, that wasn’t quite true. Two years after graduation, I went back to uni, picked an additional degree, and a year later, started preparing for board exams. It was around that time that I thought about blogging. I saw so many people doing it, too. It was all the rage. Old-school influencers started out as blogger before became who they are today (to those who are still around now). Me, on the other hand? I’ve kept things much about the same. Well, not exactly the same same, because if you’re not new here, you’ll know that this blog has gone through different incarnations as I tried to cater to my ever-changing mind and interests.

So, what changed? A lot, from year one to year sixteen.

I think I’ve become more at ease with blogging. I used to be very hesitant to write because I saw myself as a poor writer. My grammar was just bad (not that is better today, thank you quilbot), I was very rigid, and I heavily restrained myself from expressing my thoughts (or, more accurately, I just wasn’t very good at expressing myself). I wanted to sound nice like a pro. But now, I’m not entertaining those thoughts anymore. I still choose what to share, of course, but I no longer hold myself back from expressing my sincere thoughts. That’s why I wrote earlier about writing against the trend, and why tl:dr doesn’t work for a yapper like myself.

In a way, my writing has evolved (if I say so myself). At first, all I wanted was to improve my English, but along the way, I also improved the way I express myself. I’m definitely a different blogger from the year-one Mitchii to the year-sixteen blogger I am now.

The way I’ve treated this blog has also helped to remain consistent. It evolved from a place where I could learn to write in my second language, to a space where I could keep up with my reads, explore my niches and passions, and eventually just document whatever comes to mind (aka my life). It’s a sweet escape from real life. And despite being so adamant about keeping things vague, there’s something freeing about sharing. Writing has always felt so nice, too. I know lots of people don’t enjoy writing (and reading) long posts, but I do. I really, really do! I just love seeing myself type away my thoughts, no holds barred. This is probably why this blog has withstood the test of time.

What keeps me coming back to blogging after all these years is something so simple and sweet: I just want to write my thoughts!

It’s incredible how the simplest things can be the biggest motivation for me. I don’t cultivate anything beyond that desire to write down my thoughts. No monetization, no popularity, no other goals. Just my own pleasure.

And through it all, my blog has always had my back. It’s been my sweetest little corner of the internet, my own space for online escapades, and a place I keep coming back to, year after year.