Ah, imagine a roaring fire, overlooking a sapphire blue lake with the reflection of a mountain boucning off it. Imagine snow, blanketing the tips of nearby mountains. A couple of good friends, a warm meal, oh a splendid time! As the day progresses to be darker, and the crickets chirp with the night owls and nightlife coming alive. Only then, do you realize how peaceful and simple life is, along with Mother Nature itself. The stars come out with no light pollution, and leaves you feeling so, so small. But to get to that outlook, to get to that view was the journey. Sitting in a chair drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate, you recount how difficult it was. You recall the steep elevation along with hundreds of thousands of steps. With each step, you remember your breath getting heavier and the rest of your body bucking under the weight of your backpacking gear. Everytime a person wanted to quit, everytime a person complained, instead of joining in, you saw the end goal, the outlook, the view. As the journey got closer and closer, you sang songs, you screamed encouragements, and you powered through.

Backpacking was one of the many skills and experiences I took away from my limited time in Boy Scouts. After remniscing on backpacking trips where we got rained on, where the sun was blistering, and the food wasn’t cooked well, it was not only character-building, but friendship forming FInishing those trips and heading back into civilization, makes one think that sometimes, we just need to slow down. We need to slow down and enjoy life the way its supposed to be lived. John Muir once said,”Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. ” Although life may seem overwhelming at times, let’s take a step back, let’s take a moment to remember why we live it. The journey may be difficult, but the end view is worth it. No matter how painful it gets, God will sustain us. If He provides for each wild animal and if He created Mother Nature itself? Who are we to complain when life get hard, He will care for us. The journey is hard, but the success and the end will be worth it.

Hi all, welcome to my new blog post. Why create a blog you may ask? This blog is a wonderful way to organize my thoughts as well as create quality content, 🙂 along with sparking conversations with people that may have similar interests and creating new friendships. Writing out my thoughts in a detailed manner can also improve my writing skills that I need for AP’s. As you can see, there are many reasons to create a blog and who cares about what other people may think about it? This is YOUR life:). Now, I think it’s time for you to get familiar with me. My name is Daniel Yao, I am currently a rising senior at Homestead High. I enjoy music(jazz, hip hop, classical), sports(swimming, basketball) and of course politics, ancient history and religous theology. That is enough for now. And again, I hope that you will enjoy the content and theological topics I will be writing about. Any questions you may have or you want to talk about, just hit me up!

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.