One month ago, I decided to challenge myself to blog daily for thirty days.

What follows are thirty observations based on my posts from the last thirty days, as well as this process overall.

1.  At first, it was easy and I felt that I had so much to say.

2.  Then, gradually as time went on, I felt like I was posting crap some days just to have something to post at all.

3.  The way that I write, I tend to mull over a topic for several days, research and build a story before I actually sit down to write a post.  With having to write daily this method was compromised, and thus, so was the quality of my work in the later part of this challenge.  That is why my number of posts has declined in the last few days.

4.  Some of my posts were brutally honest.

5.  Some of my posts were different than the ones I usually post.  I mean, I even posted a fashion blog.

6.  When I began this challenge, I had thought that some aspects of my life might be very different after the thirty days had passed.  They aren’t.  I am still looking for a new position, I still have very few followers on social media, my injury has still not completely gone away.

7.  There was a post where I revealed that I am now a running swimmer, or a swimming runner.

8.  And that post, where for the first time, I identified as an athlete.

9.  I discussed my dietary choices and went after a purported “healthy” food chain about their nutrition practices.

10.  I wrote about the vices and virtues of the “big salad.”

11.  And shared some recipes.

12.  And sometimes I got really sentimental about friendships and my husband.

13.  There was that time that I professed my love for a TYR swimsuit.  And now stand by what I wrote even more as I had to toss my Nike suit in the garbage after only three months of wear.  Seriously.

14.  I most enjoyed my posts about nutrition and athletic training — thinking about the issues, writing them and rereading them.

15.  I thought that I would write more “Let’s Be Honest” posts.  And maybe I will, but I am surprised that I haven’t yet.  I thought that it would become an important series during my thirty days of blogging.

16.  I don’t feel sad when I read the one that I did write.

17.  And as an update to some of the things that I wrote there, I have been admitted to take post-bac classes at the City University.

18.  Once I have access to the system, I will likely register to take one class this summer.  I will see how I do and whether I enjoy it before taking on more than that.

19.  It has been almost nine years since the last time I was a student, but I have surprising little trepidation when it comes to thinking about “going back to school.”  Maybe that’s how you know it is the right thing.

20.  The hardest part about considering this change should be the process of accepting that things have not worked out for me in my professional life as a lawyer, and that it is time to move on.  But for me, this acceptance process was gradual.  I have known it for a long time.  I am settled on this.  And I am actually really disappointed in myself for pushing for as long as I did.  The secret to success is not “trying hard.”  Because if it was, I would be a very successful woman.

21.  The one person I know that I has truly succeeded has done so because he has followed his passion.

22.  Back to the topic of health and fitness:  I shared some training plans and it has helped me get back in to an official “routine.”  I am still healing, but I think by early May I should be able to get back in to more traditional race training.  I am so ready!

23.  I love this post because it is a solid reminder that things don’t often come easy, but if you want it and put in the time and effort, great things can happen.

24.  And I admitted to my love/hate relationship with the treadmill.

25.  I spent a week working on “spring cleaning” tasks, and I wrote about it a whole lot.

26.  In a somewhat related post, I provided a useful tip about when it’s time to replace running shoes.

27.  And somewhere along the way, I began to feel like myself again — or maybe even a better version of myself.

28.  Blogging daily is difficult, especially if you want to provide high quality work.

29.  Other short forms of social media, like Twitter, are a great way to stay connected even when I don’t have time to commit to writing a full article, or when I just want to share a thought.  So this whole “daily blogging” thing is not going to be a trend (for me, anyway).

30.  You will see new posts 1-3 times per week, so stick around.  There are good things to come.