Musings of an Arthritic Artist: A New Milestone

Welcome to Musings of an Arthritic Artist! Today is going to be a special post. Today marks the day my fiftieth post goes up. I can't believe it's already been this long. 

For this post, I'm going to reminiscing on day one. It's hard to believe that it's already been 5 months since I officially started this blog. 

Let's get into the post!

King, Alexandria. Musings of an Arthritic Artist. 2021.

I can't believe it's already been so long. I feel as if I just started this project, but it's already been 5 months. I'm honestly surprised I haven't run out of blog ideas yet. 

Like I mentioned in the introduction, I'm going to predominantly be remembering the day this all started--the day my first post went up. March 2, 2021.

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I never expected my first post to get as many views as it did within the 24 hours since I had put it up (if you haven't read it, check it out here: What No One Tells You About Arthritis: Introducing Me (opens in new window)). When I initially began writing my blog, I thought I was trying too hard. 

My mother suggested I start a blog. I was excited to. I have been wanting my own blog for nine years now. I've been wanting my own blog since I was nine for one reason: my sister had one, therefore I wanted one. 

I had never given much thought to what it would be about. I'm interested in so many things that I didn't know how to connect them all into one project. Another reason why I didn't give the idea of a blog much thought was because I didn't know if my parents would let me, seeing as I'm still in school, and I don't have much social media. 

However, it wasn't just that. I never felt as if my voice really mattered that much. I knew it did, but the internet is so broad that I thought my blog would just get overshadowed and overlooked.

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When I finally got around to starting my blog, I thought I was putting too much work into it. I had all these ideas. I found a schedule, and began to schedule posts months in advance (in fact I began writing this post 14 and a half hours after my first post went up; feel free to call me crazy, however I am immensely appreciative). 

I thought I was going overboard--I wasn't going to get that many people anyway. I began writing drafts for blog posts a month before I decided to publish one. 

I was working on the personalization and home page setup for almost a week, trying to get it right. I wanted to make it as aesthetically and artistically pleasing as possible, while keeping it true to my personality.

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I didn't expect to get as many views as I did when my first post went up. Even though I had asked my dad and sister to share it on their Facebook feeds so I could get even one view, I was only expecting a max of 9 views in the first 24 hours. 

Five hours after I put up the post, I had 18 views on my blog. I was ecstatic. That was double the amount of views I was expecting to get. It exceeded my expectations.

Then, the number slowly grew over the next eight hours. In 24 hours, I got a total of 41 views on my first post. Within 13, I had gotten almost 5x the amount of views I had expected to get. 

I had gotten 14 views at 11AM--five hours after I published the post. At 1 o'clock, I got 17 views on the blog itself (which could've been the home page or my About Me or My Favorite Things pages). Within 24 hours, I had 54 views on the blog itself.

I don't want to make it seem as if I'm basing my entire blog and happiness on numbers, because I'm not the kind of teenager who bases my self-worth on views or followers. For me it isn't about the views or likes on my sister's (and father's) Facebook feed. It's about the people behind those views and likes. 

It means people were interested enough to click on the link to my post. It means some people liked the content, message, or quality of the post I wrote. Knowing that I got 38 views that weren't from my parents, sister, and myself makes me happy. 

Even now, it's the most viewed post on my blog, but that is one number I don't feel comfortable sharing. 

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I never realized how much of a confidence booster this blog would be. I wouldn't say I have a very low self-esteem, but it's definitely lower than a lot of peoples', mostly due to my perfectionism and fluctuating mental health because of autoimmune disease flares. 

I remember telling my mom and sister that it was crazy because I had barely done anything that day (I had finessed the post the night before), and yet I felt accomplished. I felt productive when I wasn't expecting to. 

By my standards, I was lazy that day. I spent pretty much the entire day on my computer. I watched TV and read eight chapters in the book I was reading (War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi; which I reviewed here: Speculative Fiction Set in Africa: War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi (opens in new window))--which seems like a lot, but I still had 42 left (I wasn't even halfway through).

I watched a hockey game (Battle of Pennsylvania; the Pittsburgh Penguins won 5-2 😁), I played Animal Crossing: New Horizons for half an hour, and began writing this post an hour and half before my bedtime. 

I spent most of that day being a spectator. I didn't draw, I barely wrote, I didn't take any photos, and I barely read.

I think that the main reason why I felt so accomplished was because I knew that even though I was only speaking to a small group, that was the only group that mattered at the time. Maybe some people weren't very interested and decided my blog wasn't for them, and that's okay. 

But I like to think that even though the only people who were reading my post were most likely people who know my dad or sister, I was still (hopefully) enlightening others, no matter how minuscule the group was. I definitely wasn't expecting a comment on my first post. That was a pleasant surprise.

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My family always tells me I sell myself short--that I should give myself more credit. Maybe I should. When I started my blog, I knew that I had to have a post that introduced me.

After all, I couldn't just call this blog Musings of an Arthritic Artist and not explain anything. When I wrote the post, I was satisfied, but also nervous. I've never had a blog before (I've barely even had social media), so I didn't know what it would be like. 

Besides that, I didn't think my story was that interesting, so I didn't expect many views. I know that most people don't know kids can get arthritis, but at the same time, I still wasn't all that confident about it. 

Maybe it's because my life is exactly that--my life. It's a life I've known essentially since I was born. It isn't surprising to me, because I live it. Every day. I don't know a life without arthritis. As it is, I barely know a life without pain. 

My sister made me see a different perspective. It was the evening of the day my first post went up. I was talking to her and asking if it was too informative. I was worried it sounded like a lecture, but my sister (being my sister), helped me see it differently.

Sometimes, I forget that not everyone sees my life the way I do, seeing as they don't know me, they don't know about juvenile arthritis, or they don't know my story. It's so easy to think (even briefly) that everyone sees life the way you do, but it isn't true.

I've grown up around people who know me and juvenile arthritis because I'm homeschooled. I essentially don't have any friends besides my sister (though no one could ever replace her). 

I've only been involved in three instances where someone is ignorant about invisible disabilities (which I discussed in this post: My Experience Being Invisibly Disabled (opens in new window)), so I forget that a lot of people just don't know about juvenile arthritis until I read articles, cruise Pinterest, or watch YouTube videos.

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I'd like to thank everyone who has ever visited my blog. I'd like to thank the few email subscribers I have. I'm incredibly grateful for all of you. 

After all, what's a blog without readers? Thank you to my readers in Portugal, the Philippines, and India. Thank you to every other reader from every other country on my map. 

It's been incredibly enjoyable to see how many countries I have documented where people have read my blog. I love sharing the locations with my family. 

It's been a wonderful journey seeing my Blogger map fill up with countries I've never been able to remember the locations of. Maybe I'll start remembering where they are now since I have a picture in my head. 

I am immensely grateful to the people who shared my post on their Facebook feeds that first day: my sister (thank you, Sammie--you are the best sister I could ever ask for🎶💙), my father (I love you, daddy [read as #1 father] 🏆🚁), and my Uncle Martin who lives in England (I enjoy being related to you, blood or not🏉[that's a rugby football, by the way]). 

Last, but most definitely not least, I wish to thank my mother. I love you, mom.👗🐘 This has turned out to be a more brilliant idea than I initially thought it would be. The ideas you have had have been amazing and incredibly beneficial, along with the idea for the blog's name. I wouldn't have started this if it wasn't for you.

That's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed it! 

Until next time,

Lexi K🖌