Happy New Year!
2019 is officially here! In the spirit of the new year, I’ve decided to do something a little different and devote this post to reflecting on 2018 and to setting an intention for the blog for 2019.
I’m not a big fan of making new year’s resolutions because we tend not to stick to them, but I am a huge fan of being purposeful and intentional 365 days of the year. When I started Sweet & Sorrel, I intended for it to be a space for me to collect recipes and photos of all the food I enjoying making in my spare time. I had no idea what the blog would look like, or how to even start one. But I knew I wanted to learn. After lots of Googling and a many mistakes, I finally started my very first blog, but then encountered more hurdles as I tried to teach myself food photography. I started out using my iPhone to take pictures, and I did not use any software to edit my first few photos. I say all that to say that this blog has come a long way in six short months! Now that I’ve invested some time into it, I realize that the purpose of the blog has evolved. Now Sweet & Sorrel serves as my creative outlet, it’s a space for me to challenge myself and share a piece of myself with whoever decides to venture into my little corner of the web.
The biggest lesson I learned in 2018 came from my dad. Last year, he planted some soft white yam in our backyard and today, in the early morning hours of the first day of the new year, he ventured out to dig up the yam. He brought out all his tools– a rake, a pitch fork, a machete, and a trowel– and went to work. He didn’t tell anyone what he was up to, but before long, there were three huge pieces of yam on our back porch. When my dad set out to dig up the yams, he didn’t know what he was going to get because what he was digging for was buried beneath the earth. But he had faith and trusted that the care he’d given to the soil for the past 12 months would yield something special. And it did.
Lesson: You reap what you sow!
Similarly, I want this blog to yield something special this year. For me, that doesn’t look like more followers or more views, because that’s just not what drives me to make new recipes each week. Instead, I want this blog to continue to challenge me to be a better photographer, food stylist, writer/blogger, and all around human being. Many years from now, I hope to look back at the posts on this blog and see how much I’ve grown from each recipe.
In order to properly reap, I’ll need the right tools– in my case that might mean taking some food photography classes, maybe buying a higher-end camera and photo editing software, and venturing out to find lots of recipe books and great food destinations for inspiration. But it’ll also mean investing more time into the blog (and into social media… a thought that I seriously dread). I may not be able to see what’s growing underneath the surface, but like my dad, I’ll believe that my effort will yield something special. If nothing else, this year will bring new challenges and new growth, and I’m excited to see how the food I make (and eat!) for the blog will reflect that.
Here’s to a new year and a new commitment to challenging myself to take a risk and do something that I want to do, simply because it make me happy. This blog may have started on a whim, but now I’d like to see what can happen when I devote some more time and energy to it.
I hope you all tag along for the journey. Happy New Year!
~xoxo, Dani
