a blog a day: step one
[This is a sticky post that explains the "aBAD" tag and some of strange blog titles you might read.]
Announcing my new project: A Blog a Day, otherwise known as aBAD. That’s right. For the next 365 days, in hopes of becoming a better writer, I will blog about something each and every day without fail — even if it’s just a few lines describing a sight, a smell, a feeling.
It all started with the brown bag lunch series National Geographic HQ began for the summer interns. A couple of days ago, we had the chance to sit in a semi-circle around Don Belt, senior editor at the NGM. His story was crazy, humorous, and wholly encouraging.
For starters, you’d think that someone with my dream job would have graduated from NYU/USC/Mizzou/Northwestern, landed a handful of cushy internships, then proceeded to climb up the ladder after graduation. In fact, I don’t even remember where he went for college. What I do remember, however, was what a haphazard and random path his life seemed to take. For some time, Don drove ambulances, dabbled in professional soccier, and did construction work — landscaping, as he told people at parties — amongst many other random jobs. No fancy writing gigs, no big name magazines, nothing.
But he never forgot that he wanted to be a writer. He went back to school and took classes. He went on trips and stayed up scribbling down the day’s observations by the fire after everyone had fallen asleep. He got up to rise and shine at 4 a.m. everyday during his construction stint and worked on his writing — and he isn’t a morning person at all.
Like all the speakers I’ve heard since working for the Society (I love being a part of A Society), Don was inspiring and captivating. Like all the speakers, he drew out a deep sense of longing and envy in me — I want to be in his shoes. Unlike all the speakers, however, he also made me feel relief. Sometimes I feel like I have so much more to makeup for to simply be on the same playing field as my co-workers at Traveler. I have no formal training past the high school level, I haven’t taken journalism classes, I haven’t landed those coveted internships — but neither did Don Belt. And look where he is now.
It was one of those days when you walk away feeling like you can do anything in the world. Journalism has changed drastically as a professional field, but I think the lesson remains the same. Figure out what you love, then go for it. You don’t need to charter an entire path, or even be on a path all the time. All you need to do is remember where you want to be, and take a step in that direction every day. It’s similar to what my aunt Alice, the first person I thought of when I heard back from Traveler, had told me: try your best and work hard, and one day those far-reaching dreams won’t seem so distant anymore.
So here it is. Christine’s step one.
yayy