Just do It: How I finally became a Blogger

What’s it about?

The first question most people ask when you tell them that you’re planning to develop a blog usually:

“What is it about?”

Still fresh to the blogosphere, I’ve already started to field this question from persons when I share that I have a blog.

For a while, I was challenged to find an answer to the question as I attempted to identify a focus or subject to cover.

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

But after three years of planning, ruminating and procrastinating, I decided that this space would be an extension and expression of the multi-faceted person that I am.

So, why be limited to just one area of focus?

That being said, I still have to answer that question — “What is it about?”

Kevin O’Bryan is a personal-lifestyle blog.

Personal, because it allows me to open up like never before, to the whole, wide world.

Lifestyle, because it will reflect so many aspects of my own life as well as the aspirational and inspirational areas of my interests.

Accepting the challenge

It took me a while to fully grasp this concept and it took even longer for me to admit that it was an obstacle. One that I had to jump over to achieve the goal of becoming a blogger.

Along the way, I had great help getting my thoughts and actions aligned, in order to create what exists today.

The first person to come to my aid was a friend from college, Quame.

He saw my plea for help on Facebook for a graphic designer who could create a logo and volunteered his services.

Unbeknownst to me, he had established a choice agency – Q3 Studio  that specialises in photography and graphic design.

Considering that Quame resides in Ottawa, Canada, it was incredible that he was as attentive and willing to take the time to work with me to realize a vision, I was still fleshing out, way back in 2014.

Early on, he let me know, that based on my posts on social media, he would be very interested to see what I would produce as a blogger and that is the reason why he was willing to help.

I received top class service and was able to review and give feedback on the various iterations of what would eventually become my logo.

And then it sat, unused but still valuable, for over 3 years.

Forget the Excuses!

During that period, I took the time to work on my Master’s Degree, which provided a good excuse, not to pursue my vision, for two years.

But once I completed my studies at the end of 2015, I was out of excuses and as 2016 drew to a close, I knew it was time to get the ball rolling once again.

Often times, it’s not the huge hurdles or obstacles in our way that prevent us from finishing what we start. Instead, it’s just tiny pebbles in our path that we percieve to be dream killers.

One such pebble for me was the task of selecting a look and feel for the blog. So I asked a co-worker to select 10 themes, five free and five that come at a cost.

From this list I found the perfect theme, which you now experience and once I selected that, I truly had no more excuses.

The Full Picture

The next big thing was deciding which photographer I would shoot with to make this whole dream pop, just the way I envisioned.

My friend Racheal recommended a photographer she knows very well, Jik Reuben and after procrastinating for about a month or more, I finally gave him a call and set up a meeting.

He was a joy to work with!

Not only did he understand my vision, he embraced wholeheartedly the spirit of what I was aiming to achieve. He showed me samples of his impressive portfolio and outlined everything in detail.

Roll around to shoot day and with the help of my fave chica, Nakeeta, who did my makeup, I was all set and ready to be a star for two hours.

It took some music and laughs to get me relaxed and after a while, it was almost as if I was one with the camera (in my head).

Helping Hands

The whole experience taught me some valuable lessons about myself and achieving goals. The most important being this – It is ok to ask for help!

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. – African Proverb But no matter how much help you ask for and receive, it will be worth nothing, if you do nothing!

So, whenever the urge comes over me to pull back from a goal, or fear tells me it’s not possible, I have learned to put on a brave face and just do the damn thing anyway!

It’s gotten me this far.

Be inspired, Be informed, Be Glorious!

Kevin