Four years ago today I sat in an internet cafe in Kathmandu, Nepal, and wrote my first blog post for Gracefulfitness.
Those first posts were pretty rough. The pictures were dark and small and I found myself writing in a tone that I thought was a “blog voice”; not entirely unauthentic but with an edge of cheesy enthusiasm that I thought readers wanted.
I think blog years are about the same as dog years, 7:1, so in beginning it’s fifth year I like to hope that this blog is approaching a certain ease and self-assurance that comes with the late twenties.
As I look back over four years of posts I am proud and grateful to say that hundreds of posts later Gracefulfitness still embodies what I set out to write in my Welcome post from May 31st, 2010, “a forum to share my passion for exercise, wholesome food, and all around healthy living with YOU”.
It’s been a full four years. The girl in that internet cafe was barely 29 and living out of a backpack while traveling around Asia. Since then I’ve moved to Charlottesville, bought a house, helped Tate open his chiropractic clinic, taught dance at a college for 5 semesters, traveled Europe, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico, as well as many other closer to home destination, faced cervical dysplasia, learned a lot about more about growing veggies, lost two grandparents, started eating meat (!), developed my Dance Conditioning class, started a YouTube channel, and had more laughs and cries to possibly mention.
Gracefulfitness has brought me so much joy and sense of satisfaction and accomplishment over the last four years, thank YOU for that.
Top 4 Posts by Goggle Search
- How to Eat to Prevent Cold Sores March 2012 (obviously I’m not the only one who has Goggled this one!)
- LEEP Recovery February 2012
- Homemade Yogurt Instructions March 2012
- Cervical Scar Tissue February 2012
4 of My Favorite Posts
- My Food Manifesto from October 2011
- On Facing Fear from May 2013
- How I Lost Control and Got Happy from August 2013
- Life in Half Moon from June 2012
Favorite 4 Recipes
Thanks again for reading, sharing, and commenting, the interaction with each of you is the most gratifying part of the whole experience. I would love to hear from you about how you found this blog, what posts you like, which ones you skip over, and whether or not you’ve planked today. 😉
If you’d like to stay connected across other platforms than feel free to follow me on Twitter (@gracefulfitness), instagram (gracefulfitness), Facebook, and YouTube.
Congratulations on your usual incredible”follow through” Always so proud of you! No plank today but shoulders to prove I did my quota yesterday;) I will plank again today!
Luv your blog-found you thru Kath. I was post-op for a large chest surgery and trying to make sense out of all kinds of “stuff”. Not being able to exercise for me was the most hardest post-op. Picking up an I-pad was as heavy of an item I could pick up for 5-6 weeks. I found your writing to be insight-ful and with encouragement. Your recipes were good too. I just really enjoy the conditioning pieces to your site. I will be trying the plank things-as I am moving forward. Thank-you. And …. Congrats. On your blog anniversary.
Thanks so much for writing and reading! Best wishes for a full and swift recovery!
Congrats on 4 years!