Four years of the personal web

A friend pointed out earlier this week that my website is coming up on being four years old. I replied “Time flies when you are having fun!” Then, ten minutes later, I said “Ahhh four years is a long time.” It feels like yesterday when I was joining my first online website meetups, motivated by finding a place on the web where I could be my creative self without having to worry about others’ expectations.

On my website, I could be myself and explore new creative pursuits.

As I started working on my website, I found more people that were passionate about the web, too. Here was a space where we were all making because it was fun. In my exploration of the web, I have found poets whose work has motivated me to write more poems, bloggers who share slices of life from far away lands, and tinkerers who are making things because it’s fun and whose energy motivates me immensely.

What excites me most about personal websites is how you can find people through making random things that interest you. I have found many people delighted by the how behind parts of people’s websites. I am one of those people. I have read heartwarming stories, and have been able to share some of my own. I have watched people share their knowledge, and pondered how grateful I am to be able to find so much information about making things on the web.

Over the years, I have said “I love your website!” to many fellow makers. This is among my favourite expressions. Every time I see a new personal website, I see the fruits of creativity. From the minimal to the colourful, from the literary to the technical, from the personal to the professional, the landscape of websites is vast. This excites me beyond measure.

I said to my friend that four years is a long time. It is. In this context, this celebration of four years means four years where the luminuous hue of creating, and being part of a community of creators, has existed alongside me.

To everyone who gardens a personal website, thank you for all that you do! It is hard for me to say thank you to every blogger whose work I read, for there are too many. What website gardeners do is special. We create. Here’s to the writers and the poets and the artists and the coders who share their work online.