Moving On

Dear Loyal Readers,

About five months ago, my great friend, Sebastian, who does web design came to me with the idea of me leaving Blogger, and creating my own website. He explained that there were so many more opportunities out there by creating my own domain name, and starting my own website.

I laughed at him. I blew him off and made it clear that I blogged for ME and I was comfortable with Blogger. I had the mentality that, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it..."

A month later, he came to me again with the same idea. You see, Sebastian is a persistent one. He made it clear AGAIN that he wanted nothing from me...Just a chance to help me because he saw something in my writing.

I thought about it for a few minutes, laughed, and then blew him off again.

It was not until the third time he mentioned the idea, along with the consistent encouragement from my family and a few close friends over the past couple months, that I really began to think about the positive side of having not just a blog, but an actual website. 

I found that I had to put my confidence issues aside, while I thought about it long and hard, and talked it through with quite a few people. 

It was through this process of gathering facts and other people's opinions, that I found my opinion slowly (and I mean slowly) beginning to change. 

I started thinking that if I had my own website, I could possibly...

• Reach more people.
• Network with more people.
• Have a better platform to advocate for both diseases.
• Provide a safe haven for people who are experiencing similar issues to communicate with me and each other.
• Provide a more informational site.
• Take my blog and turn it into a website that is very important and personal to me.
• Have a site where the opportunities (including expansion) would be endless.
• Have more control over the technological, creative, and expressive aspects.
• Get to a point where I could possibly give back and advertise for places who have been integral in helping me regain a quality of life.

These reasons, along with my Mom and sisters reminding me over and over again that my blog was in desperate need of a makeover, prompted me to be the one to pursue a conversation with Sebastian this time around.

I was honest with him. I told him I hate change. I explained that the responsibilities that would come with having my own website freaked me out. I told him I was scared that no one would follow me to the new site if I moved. I realized that my insecurities were emerging big time. I told him many times that I did not think my writing warranted my own site.

I also warned him that I am perfectionist and he would probably hate working with me. 

BUT...I told him, if he was ready, then I was ready to TRY IT. Try it, because I did see the positives of creating my own website.  

From there, we got to work. It's funny because it did not take long until I got into the whole process. It was pretty freeing to have so much creative control

If only you could have been a fly on the wall for our multiple phone meetings and our few face to face meetings. Looking back, they were pretty comical. I could not make decisions to save my life. Sebastian would do his best to not bash his head against the wall. 

I have to say that his patience was beyond admirable~Especially when it was ready to launch a month ago, and then I called him stressed to the max and told him I wanted to scrap the whole background and start over. Fun times, let me tell you. 

Despite how crazy I could get, Sebastian always remained calm and collected. He always heard me out and honored my opinions and decisions. I cannot express how thankful I am for him and his expertise throughout this process.

Anyways, long story short, after hours and hours of work, I am finally at a place where I am ready to unveil the site. By no means is it finished. Sebastian and I still have quite a few kinks we need to work out. I also know that the site will always be a work in progress. But I do have to say that it has been pretty awesome to experience the process of starting with nothing, and creating something that has since turned into a labor of love. 

I hope you like it and find it user friendly enough while we continue to improve the site. 

From here on out, I will post my new entries on the new site.  This Blogger site (katiejaskolski.blogspot.com) will stay up for now, and I will post the links to my new posts on this site during this transition period.

So without further adieu, I am moving on to this site:

www.lifeasazebra.com

Thank you for reading, for the support, for making this fun, and for bearing with me while I get used to "Life as a Zebra." I look forward to you reading along as I continue to maneuver my way through this crazy thing called life.

~Katie XO