a new realm to explore
beginning a new journaling journey on the internet
Posting life updates and journal entries on the internet has been ingrained in my brains subconscious as something that is natural to the human psyche. It started with msn status updates and myspace profiles, and evolved into tumblr html coding and livejournal/fanfiction profiles. Those turned into blog posts on minaeshi.co.uk and the plethora of social media sites that caught my attention throughout the years. While I still enjoy conversing with moots on twitter and engaging with online communities on tiktok, or seeing what my irl friends and acquaintances are up too on instagram, I deeply missed the greatness of longform journaling and oversharing on the internet.
Over the past year I’ve been writing more than ever before, but not out of pure interest. Instead, as an obligation to achieve a masters degree in my field, I’ve been bashing out word after word of quotes and analysis and think pieces on the subject that I, in this moment in time, love to learn about. It’s been tiring. I would love to say I don’t have any regrets while studying, but I know I’ll be sharing a few of those regrets on this platform at some point. One bright side to the stresses of education was that I rediscovered my love for writing and talking about new things I’ve learnt or things I disagree with or things I find interesting. I also learnt that despite my chronic condition of deserting whatever social media accounts I have on rotation for 6 months at a time, I can talk about myself a lot.
The art of blogging was (arguably) dead, and the community with it. I wondered after the closure of bloglovin, where all the creative writers and mood readers and literature enthusiasts and fashion historians and lifestyle bloggers with listicles and life updates ended up. I personally believe the realm of oversharing on the internet will never die, we just migrate to the next practical, convenient, and fun new space on the internet where we can continue to engage with each others hobbies and thoughts. Seeing substack grow made me curious, but as a creature of habit, I stuck with my home on blogger for over 14 years. I’m always so hesitant to expand my digital footprint because the thought of having to continue using all of them overwhelms me. Despite the daunting prospect, I took that leap each time. Looking back, there was a time where I updated my msn status for the last time, or the last time I edited my html codes and posted all my thoughts in #every #tumblr #hastag #because #that’s #what #was #cool back then. Each time that happened, I made the leap onto a new platform to overshare into my newly discovered void of the internet.
So here I am. I don’t believe this to mean I will stop posting on instagram or on my blog, despite my constant abandoning of the platforms whenever life gets a bit stressful. I also don’t believe I can passionately posts frequent posts here either. It’s just not who I am, and I’ve learnt to accept that non-influencer side of me that can’t commit to a niche to gain social recognition. Instead, I will use this space to write about my little life updates, my thoughts on red carpet looks that will definitely be posted three weeks late, my wordy recommendations for books and shows I’ve consumed, my holidays, my passions. minaeshi.co.uk will still be there for more content purposes, while this space I want to make it my personal thoughts journal. I hope I can find old friends from the blogging communities I grew to love, and make new friends too. Who knows how this format of online journaling will work for me. I’m excited to figure this new one out.
jasmine x