Starting Somewhere

Taking the First Step | Made with Rhino + Blender + Photoshop

Firstly, welcome! I appreciate you joining me as I take the first steps in my blogging journey. This first post is an introduction to why I'm starting a blog, as well as what to expect along the way.

I think starting new projects can be quite scary, especially big ones, and especially public ones. But at the same time, there's a sense of excitement for new opportunities, which is what ultimately drives me to start in the first place. I suppose it's like the honeymoon period of the project — exciting and full of possibilities but on the other hand, temporary. Keeping the project going requires commitment and genuine passion, while looking too far ahead can be overwhelming. I’ve experienced this more times than I’d like, sometimes leading to procrastination and incomplete projects. For example, I have a lot of apprehension posting things to social media platforms like Instagram. Back when I began pottery throwing classes, I made a bunch of pieces that I wanted to share. But after some life getting in the way and not posting for some time, I felt the moment had passed and I would be judged for posting late. Looking back, I realise others don’t care about these things, and these irrational thoughts were keeping me from doing what I wanted. I constantly need to tell myself to focus on the present, take the leap, and worry about the details later. I'm sure you've heard it to death but as the saying goes, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky. The more I think about starting a blog, the more I think it would be a disservice to myself to not do anything at all. There is so much more to gain than to lose! That's my philosophy anyway.

Pottery | Made with my hands

When it comes to the actual writing, I honestly never really enjoyed writing and I don’t think I was very good at it either. So I guess you might wonder: “Why the heck would you start a blog then?”. Part of the reason for me is to improve my writing. All throughout my school and uni life, I’ve only been writing because I had to, not because I wanted to. My style and tone reflects all the academic writing I've done. It's the type of writing that's too verbose and hard to read, it feels formulaic and dry. To be honest, I was embarrassed by my own writing. When I was writing essays for uni, the whole process would be gruelling and overall not enjoyable. I really only cared about nailing the key ideas and hitting that word count. I didn't put nearly as much effort into how well my writing communicated to whoever was reading it. I never liked anyone else reading my work; the essays worked out since the ideas were there, but it wasn't something I was proud of. This blog on the other hand, is a chance for me to improve my writing, while writing something I want to for once. The road ahead of me has unavoidable hurdles but it's about starting somewhere and learning as much as I can along the way.

So… What exactly am I writing about? The short answer is, well, architecture. The longer answer is architecture from my perspective, taking from my experiences, interests and areas I want to learn more about. It's about making the opportunities for myself to deep dive into topics rather than waiting for opportunities to present themselves. I want to learn as much as I can and document it along the way. If what I write can benefit you, that would make me even happier! I want my writing to be accessible and easy to understand for everyone, whether you're new to the world of architecture or you've been studying or working in the field for many years. My goal is to communicate well to you through my writing.

Stay tuned for my upcoming posts, I’m looking forward to writing about some interesting topics. If you have any thoughts on my blog, I’d love to hear from you as well!