Bloganuary: Nothing to be scared of

woman looking scared
Photo by Moose Photos on Pexels.com

What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

Bloganuary 2024

I wouldn’t call it being scared, but becoming an entrepreneur is worrying. I’ve been to a course about it and researched about it. But the course was some years ago. I still haven’t gotten around to it. It’s a big step to take and many things to think about. You can’t claw your way to success. At least I don’t have it in me. What worries me the most is the financial prospect of it. The other is if I have enough skills to run a design business. I don’t have work experience in the field I’ve studied. I don’t even know what kind of services I want to provide. I don’t know if I can ask the right questions and if I fulfil clients’ requests. Even getting clients is a worrying thing. Networking is not my strongest suit, and neither is my portfolio. I only have schoolwork there. I don’t have any family or friends for whom I could do projects to fill it. I’m like a fish out of water compared to others. Many graphic design entrepreneurs have the same services and much more experience than I do. How can I compete with that? And they are younger too. They also show their faces, which I don’t want to do. It won’t help much if someone says I should do it because I’ve tried, but there never seems to be enough time to start.

If I got a part-time job, I could run a business on the side, but it is a different matter if I have the strength to do it after work. If I had a job, I would at least get paid. The trouble with having a job is getting up early in the morning. As an entrepreneur, you can have your own schedule and don’t need to go anywhere. You also don’t need to endure the pain of applying for jobs. If it was easy to find a client, becoming an entrepreneur would also be easier. It’s more challenging when you don’t have a great portfolio. The business owner makes it look so easy, but the truth isn’t as easy as it looks. Maybe I need more confidence in myself. I didn’t think entrepreneurship would be for me, but not finding a job has changed that thought. The other reason why I started to think about it was when I worked with clients during web design education in 2017. I could do the projects at my own pace, which felt good.

I should claw myself out of this insecurity and just do it, or I’ll regret it. I only need to get a grip on myself. I know I don’t want to be without work forever. Life must be something more than just being without anything to do. If no one else won’t give you a purpose, then you should give it to yourself.

Bloganuary: “I don’t whine” – Daphne Moon

green mailbox on brickwall
Made in Canva

What do you complain about the most?

Bloganuary 2024

Nothing in life is perfect. You can complain all day long about the small things, but some things you can’t do anything about. I try not to complain online. You can be alienated by other people if that’s all you do. When I complain, it’s about hot weather. I hate it, and I don’t miss it at all. Maybe it’s the hot weather I complain about the most. Weather is something you can’t change, but we still complain about it.

This is not a complaint, but sometimes it feels like other people alienate me on social media. No matter what I post, it’s like talking to a wall. I might get a few likes, but comments are rare or never seen. It feels like there is no point in wasting time by posting anything. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Maybe my photos aren’t good enough. It’s not uplifting to post on social media when you never know if people even see my posts. But in the end, I won’t stop posting. I do it for myself. I wonder if people who follow me don’t even read or see my posts. Maybe they only collect followers and don’t interact. They’re called a lurker. They only follow and don’t do anything else. With my luck, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I feel I’m getting alienated from getting a job, too. Maybe I’m in the wrong occupation. Maybe I could get one if I was in health care or being a cleaner. But I can’t do those jobs. I’ve been away from working far too long, so no one wants to hire me. I don’t even know if I want to work with anybody anyway. Only time will tell how things will go in the future. It’s my life, and I complain if I want to. It will make me feel a little better.

Bloganuary: Without sports life would be dull

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

Bloganuary 2024

I was always good at sports in school. My favourite was Finnish baseball (pesäpallo). It’s almost like baseball but doesn’t have a pitcher in the middle. I can’t explain it, so go and look at what it is. The other sport I liked was ice skating, but I haven’t done it in 30 years or so. I also did slalom skiing, but the same with that. The last time I did it was in 2011, but my mother got sick in 2012, and we didn’t do it anymore. I still have the gear but don’t know if I will ski again. I started to ski when I was 6 years old. We went to Lapland once a year to ski for a week. We had a cabin that my dad owned with some of his friends. When he sold his part of it, we went to a hotel. We went to Lapland for at least 30 years. It took about 13 hours to drive to the North of Finland. We won’t do it again because it’s tiring and stressful. Those were good times, though.

Now I only watch sports on television. My favourite sport is ice hockey. I’ve been to my local team’s games several times. Sometimes, they show their matches on the free channels, but I mostly listen to the games on the radio because if you want to watch ice hockey, you have to pay for them. Fortunately, it’s free to watch when Finland plays in the world championships and other international tournaments. I only follow the Finnish ice hockey league, so no NHL for me. Unless they show games with Finnish players. Watching ice hockey on site has a unique atmosphere. It feels like you’re with people with the same piece of mind. In Finland, there could be more noise in the ice rink, like in the NHL, but the fans are the only ones keeping the noise here. Without them, the rink would be quiet. But still, the atmosphere is different when you watch it at home. Watching sports on-site isn’t cheap, so all you can do is watch on television. But that’s better than no sport at all.

It is difficult to think what life would be like if there weren’t sports to watch. I also like to watch sports with excitement. I used to watch Formula One, but it has become boring. Consistently, the same teams and the same drivers win. All of my favourite drivers have retired, too. They also don’t show the races for free anymore. It has been like that for at least 10 years. My life used to surround it. I couldn’t do or go anywhere when there was a race weekend. When all of that stopped, I felt a relief. So, in a way, they did me a favour: the TV people and the people who make the rules in F1. I was free of all the restrictions that the sport had on my free time. I still plan my weekends on what sports are being shown on TV, but it doesn’t matter if I miss an event or don’t see it from the start. Watching motorsport like F1, you need to see the beginning because that’s the most exciting part. Some say motorsport is not a sport, but they don’t know how much the drivers do training during the off-season and how much strength they need to make it through the races. Not just anybody can fit into those cars. Unfortunately, with all those technical things those cars have these days, you don’t know who is the best driver.

If the question is, what is more interesting, summer or winter sport? I would say winter sports because there is more to choose from. But I also watch summer sports when Finns are competing. The Summer Olympics in Paris is this summer, so I’ll be watching some of that. Athletics mainly, but maybe something else. As long as it’s Finnish athletes. Supporting your country is the best thing about sports. Perhaps they don’t fight for the medals, but all the emotions that come with it are essential. Without sports, life would be dull. I’m glad I found the love for it. I wasn’t a big fan of sports the way I am today when I was younger. I watched some of it as a child, but that was only because my dad watched it. Now I think I know more about sports than he does. Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I don’t understand sports. A lot of females follow sports and know what it’s all about. It’s like anything in life; studying the subject lets you learn about things. It doesn’t matter what gender or sexuality you are. Sport is for everyone who likes it. You don’t need to understand it, but it helps. I’m tired of hearing some people think girls only watch sports because of the good looks of an athlete. There are those, too, but don’t fall for that stereotype nonsense. You’ll be surprised how much women know about sport. Even more than some men do.

I love watching sports; the only sport I do today is cycling. Everybody needs a hobby they like, and those are mine.