Ben Affleck. Photo: AKIF/Vantagenews / AKM-GSI

We started setting up our WordPress blogs, and oh boy, was it more difficult than I expected. As someone who has avoided online courses for the entirety of my educational career, I am already out of my element in this class. I am already struggling with the organization of all my courses, and all the information flying at me from every direction, so when sitting in front of my computer, in a zoom meeting filling with other confused students, I found myself swimming around in circles for a little while there.

WordPress is a completely new to me. I have been focusing and struggling with the aesthetics of the blog, and my clumsiness with it all has gotten me a little discouraged. As a very visual person, I find it hard to really get started on something when I do not feel as if I have a good base to work from. Similar to doing an under-painting on a canvas before getting to the details. But this is not painting. As my unfamiliarity with setting up my blog discouraged me, I found myself putting off getting to my first blog posts. This is a familiar way in which I have procrastinated in the past as a student, and I quickly found myself falling into old habits I thought were long gone.

There is something to be said about being a returning student. I am, by no means, the oldest student in this program, but over the last four years, since graduating with my undergraduate degree, I assumed I would have been more prepared for this fresh start. But I find myself staring down the barrel of a couple overdue blog post, wondering how I let myself get here already.

This first post has gotten a little more personal than I wanted, but I believe I can take something useful out of this. Over the next year or so, as I navigate though this program, I am going to come across many things that make me uncomfortable. But I am not alone in this. This might be the most supportive group of instructors and peers that I have every had, and I am excited to keep trudging through this together.