A Return To The Blog

A big howdy and hi to those who may not know me yet. I’m Shalee and I’m a writer living in Melbourne (most of the time). I am also an ex-blogger, ex-people pleaser, ex-student, and ex-health coach who packed up shop at the start of 2018.  I completed my Bachelor of Behavioural Studies (Psychology) in 2017 and assumed that I would be able to work as a coach and blogger full-time after I completed my studies…except this didn’t happen.

While I had a few regular readers and an Instagram account with over 5000 followers, I felt truly burned out. It took so much effort and time to create a post each week, to create new products that wouldn’t sell, to maintain my website and SEO, to send out newsletters, and to manage my own social media accounts. I poured my heart and soul into my old website and whatever little money I did earn, went straight back into the fees associated with maintaining the website. Not only was I started to resent all of the imaginary people who weren’t noticing my worth but after years of studying, I was also tired of feeling broke.

And so, I packed up shop. All of that effort went down the drain and I closed my socials, deleted my website and went on to do something that I hadn’t done for a very long time…enjoy my freedom. I should say I wasn’t completely free, my partner G still had a year to go of his degree and so money was still tight. Thankfully, I had found some regular companies who I created written content for and soon enough I had my social card filled with those who needed articles created.

Hoorah! The bills were paid and I was still able to work from home while I focused on my health. I also got to enjoy things that I hadn’t done for a very long time like catch up with friends and family members on the weekend, randomly jump on a train and see where it would take me, and enjoy the magic of doing nothing. I also weirdly felt compelled to start buying things again. G and I went through a minimalist phase and got rid of basically all of our possessions (we didn’t even have a table) but once I finished Uni it was like I suddenly had room for more things in my life.  

While my new found freedom was fun, after a while I noticed that I wasn’t feeling very fulfilled. I had a notes section in my phone of all of the topics that would pop into my mind that I could write about but that’s where they would stay. As someone who has been blogging since 2013, I realised that it might just be a part of me.

When the idea of launching another website crept into my mind I felt scared because I didn’t want to feel the overwhelm and resentment again. But I decided that in order to have an online presence I would have to be doing it for me and me alone. If I happened to make money from doing that then great but if not that’s fine too.

So I checked my old domain names and noticed they were both taken (one is now a porn website woohoo!) and so I was stuck with what to call my new site. At first, I created a site called “Magic Milk in Melbourne” but that didn’t quite fit. And so after some rumination, The Thought Chapter was born.

This time around, I hope to be more myself rather than copying other successful coaches trying to be something that I am not. I am imperfect, multi-passionate, filled to the brim with emotions, and best of all, I am me. I so look forward to sharing again with you