jessa

When I started blogging in 2014, I didn’t know anyone who shared the same enthusiasm—staring at a blank screen, typing away until words became something alive and breathing. I was alone in it, at least within my circle of influence (or so I thought). It would have been nice to have someone with similar interests, but I never really understood how awesome it could become until I met Amira Caroline and Nitchelle Lauren in 2023—two lovely women who are a few years years younger than I am—for a writing project.

How fun it was working with them too! While we don’t necessarily think about the same things and hold the same ideas, we seem to think synchronously, making ideation process the real kind of collaboration where everyone proactively contributes valuable inputs. I started to grow affinity towards them just because I’ve seen parts of me in them—versions of me I hoped of becoming. But time and resources have their limits. And I can’t be all of those versions at once.

It was actually weird at first talking to another person I totally aligned with: we share the same eagerness about writing and sharing our stories; we bury our noses in books; and we journal. That last part—writing to the invisible audience of one (or more)—is perhaps the truest thing I can say about all three of us.

I can’t imagine how long I’ve waited to find friends like them; I waited for almost a decade to be with this kind of people, and what a joy to finally find my people! Or perhaps, the passion for writing connected us together at the right place and the right time. Because hearing from how they spent their childhood, it seemed like I was listening to my own.

As we turned from casual workmates to friends, converted through shared meals and idea exchanges, I eventually learned that they used to blog but then stopped because growing up pulled them into doing so many things, leaving their blogs buried deep in the mass of online content.

I’d like to think that I helped them return to their passion for blogging, writing to the invisible crowd, and showing up even when showing up is the least thing they want to do. But maybe I think too highly of my influence. Maybe they’d still go back to blogging eventually, even without me nudging. Because who can resist the allure of blogging, right?

Yes, blogging is well alive. You can visit Amira’s blog here and Nitchelle’s blog here.

And even when we don’t see each other anymore or talk as much as we used to because we’re now divided by seas, it’s still as if I’m listening to them speak their thoughts as I read their blogs—like being in the same room with them, thinking and feeling the things that compelled them to write.

I think that blogs give you the space to think deep and write intentionally, like you would tend a garden. You return to it. You notice what’s grown. And sometimes, you find someone tending a garden just like yours.