Beginning Again!

My great-niece graduated from high school in 2025. I made this card for her. Her graduation brought back a lot of old memories, and also caused me to think about my life. I realized I had been sitting dormant for years. I guess you could say I was stuck in a rut! The daily routine was familiar and no pressure. But I just was not accomplishing much and really had very little interest in things. I mean, I have been around the block several times, being 72 years old. I worked a JOB (just over broke: thanks Mr. Don) for 50 years! I deserve to sit on my butt and accomplish nothing, right?

When I mailed that card, something triggered. I don't know what it was? I just felt like I needed to "do something!" I just was not sure what that was. And because I did not know, I continued down my old familiar path. I was acclimated to the laziness, the familiar everyday routine. But I was stuck. I had an itch, but I did not know where to scratch. I had no desire to get out of bed, I could not start projects because I knew I would never finish them. Another 6 months passed.

Then Thanksgiving arrived. That is renewal time for me at Wealthy Affiliate. I have been a member for 10 years! What? I have been in and out more times than I can count. And have never made a dime. I always had excuses, problems and bleeps in my life. I have told myself that I would quit - some year. However, I had previously built 3 sites, spent many hours, and I just could not "delete" all that work! Every year for the last 6 years, I would log in just in time to pay my renewal, and promise to come back after the holidays. Every year was the same. I never returned until the next renewal. In November, 2025 I decided this was it. I was going to just let my membership expire. I had spent $3,000 and nothing to show for it. It was time to cut my losses and admit defeat. I don't quit, so this was a very painful realization.

I logged in, expecting the same ole screen, sad and disappointed in myself. But wait---is THIS Wealthy Affiliate? My mind was confused. Everything looked totally different. Well, they say curiosity killed the cat! My curiosity got the best of me. I started poking around, and saw a new, revised, updated WA. As I explored, the tools blew my mind! Uh oh, NOW what am I going to do?? I was so overwhelmed, I checked to see what my drop dead date was. I technically had a few more days. So I closed WA, and went and sat in the yard, in the sun. I needed time to think.

Was this the answer to my stagnation? Could I actually do this NOW with all the new tools, classes and guidance? I did not sleep for 3 days. It was like an ember had sparked, and I did not know whether to fan the flames or stomp out the ember. Money was tight, as always. O. K. ONE MORE YEAR! I made a promise to myself. I was going to pay the $300 to keep my membership. I gave myself the holidays as to not put pressure on myself. But-- the condition was that January 1st was my start date. No excuses, no humming and hawing, cut the bull*hit! It is "DO or DIE" time! For the first time, in a long time, I had a spark starting to ignite. I could feel it. I was anxious and excited at the same time. I could not wait for January 1st, 2026!

Guess what? January 1st rolled around and I was rearing to go! My brain needed stimulation, and boy, was I about to get it. I logged in and headed for the core training. I already had a domain. I had an idea for a website a couple of years ago. I had decided to purchase the domain on WA, at that time, thinking it would motivate me. It did not right then. But over the next couple of years, I kept coming back to my idea. I had been toying with it for 2 years. NOW was the time to execute my idea.

I jumped in feet first. I made a promise to myself that I would devote approximately 2 to 3 hours per day, or 80 hours per month. No pressure. Just work at my own pace, excite my brain, learn and apply. Slowly, things started progressing. Some of the old training came back and I have been moving forward everyday. I also have decided to allow 9 to 12 months before I let anxiety and doubt start creeping in. That is my target date for my first dollar. Can I do it,? I am now 2 1/2 months in. I have completed all the core training, taken many courses from Jay, utilized training from Vitaliy and Eric, learned from Mr. Don, Scotty, Robert and many, many others.

I have my website set up, my logo, SEO, Google Search Console, my Affiliate Page, Medical Disclaimer Page and Privacy Policy. I am still working on my "About Me" page. I have researched, written and published 40 articles, I have learned external and internal linking and have executed a few. I have more to go. I have 9 more articles in draft, almost ready for publishing. Oh, and I have learned how to use ChatGPT! Using Chat, I have a list of at least 100 more articles to write. My goal is 60 articles by the end of March. I am pretty much on schedule!

With all that I have accomplished, I feel like my website is a mess. I have been trying to learn "menus" but, again, I am having trouble. No big deal. I will learn it and I will fix it. My site is 2 1/2 months old. I am getting a tiny bit of traffic. I have had 41 visitors to my website and 4 different articles in the last 28 days. The average time spent on my site is 6.2 minutes! According to Chat, I am doing something right. I am not even worrying about any of those numbers right now. They just keep popping up in my back office. I almost forgot. I have been re-learning Pinterest. I have made almost 20 pins that are ready to go when I decide to jump in that pool. My only obstacle now is trying to figure out how to straddle learning/building at WA and Pinterest. I do not want to get distracted! Very easy to do on Pinterest.

Well, there you have it! I finally have a purpose in life again. I wake up every morning, and the first thing I do is check WA! I think I am getting addicted??

I hope this article sparks some interest in the newbies. Make a plan, stick to it, and keep going! My best advice: Do not treat this like a hobby. Treat it like a JOB! But this time, YOU are the BOSS!