My blog is 10 years old! Now what?

Last week I realised something – my blog is ten years old! I started it back in October 2011 with this post: What the heck am I doing here?

At the time I was training to be a hypnotherapist, but deep down I wanted to be a writer. The problem was, I had serious self-esteem and anxiety issues, as I explained in this post: My brain is a cement mixer

I so wish I had a crystal ball back then – because I have come such a long way since those first tentative posts. My blog anniversary prompted me to take an inventory of the past ten years and I was shocked to discover how much I have achieved.

I have written…

• Five non-fiction books:
  Three pocket self-help books written in-house for a publishing company.
  One pocket self-help book published under a pseudonym, which has gone on to receive 108 glowing reviews on Amazon.
  One health book Oh Sugar! published in 2015, translated into 9 languages, and recently rereleased in pocket form as Say No to Sugar.
  
• One middle grade novel:
  Shortlisted for the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2017.
  
• Eight picture books:
  Unpublished but I’ve had some ‘near misses’.
  
• And this year I was accepted onto the prestigious Golden Egg Academy’s Writing for Children & Young People 12-month course

I have also…

• Sold over 500 greetings cards.
  
• Set up a Hairy Dog T-shirt store.
  
• Created and sold a range of mugs and prints in a local shop.
  
• Trained as a Cognitive Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner.
  
• Studied energy healing, taking courses in Quantum Touch and PureBioenergy.
  
• Had various part time jobs, including researching and writing books for a publishing company, copywriting for healthcare advertising agencies, and assisting a disabled teacher in a school for children with learning difficulties.
  
• And finally, three years ago I qualified as a TRE Practitioner and Shaking Medicine teacher and I now teach classes in a local clinic (well, I did until Covid struck).

It’s amazing what you can achieve in ten years, whilst battling low self-esteem and anxiety (which, by the way, are now a thing of the past)!

So, the big question is… what next?

I’m a different person to the person I was ten years ago. My priorities are shifting. New ideas are simmering. I feel I’m on the cusp of something, but I’m not sure what!

Should I write that series of self-help books I’ve been quietly making notes on for the past few years?

Become a coach?

Or do something completely leftfield? Something I have never considered before?

One thing’s for sure – I’d like to focus on one or two things and not juggle a gazillion mini businesses!

I’ve learnt that it’s best not to FORCE things. So I’ll let my ideas continue simmering and see what bubbles to the surface next year…