{"id":5831,"date":"2019-05-06T12:45:20","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T11:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5831"},"modified":"2019-05-06T12:46:04","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T11:46:04","slug":"thank-you-for-sticking-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5831","title":{"rendered":"Thank You For Sticking With Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Years Older<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Three years ago, on the 17th of April 2016, I launched this blog. In true me style, my first blog posts were about feminism, and how hard being a teenager is. Fifteen-year-old Tirion thought she\u2019d run the blog for a bit and probably forget about it, but three years later, I\u2019m so glad I stuck with it.<\/p>\n

I knew when I was about fourteen that I wanted to explore journalism as a career. But trying to be a journalist when you\u2019re fourteen and fifteen is hard, especially when you\u2019re too shy to even put your hand up to ask to go to the toilet. I would submit work to The Guardian and search for work experience that would satisfy my craving to write what I wanted to write. But most companies like the BBC don\u2019t let you apply for work experience until you\u2019re eighteen. Public speaking and BBC School News Report were great, but they were seasonal.<\/p>\n

I remember sitting in the back of the car and reading some magazine when I came across a piece about Tavi Gevinson, the Editor of Rookie (which has since released its final copy). She\u2019s only a few years older than I am, but she\u2019d started a blog before she was able to expand Rookie into this incredible magazine for teenagers that Teen Vogue could only dream to be. My brother told me that he\u2019d heard of her, and that she was eleven when she\u2019d started her own blog. I didn\u2019t really know what a blog was, but upon further exploration, I realised that it was what I wanted. Within a few weeks, just shy of turning sixteen, I finally launched my blog after much deliberation.<\/p>\n

My blog gave me a chance to explore my beliefs and expand upon them. These days it\u2019s common to read a post about something I\u2019ve been outraged by in the news, as opposed to complaining about not being able to wear a coat in school.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve grown up over the past three years, and I feel my blog is a reflection of that. A lot of things have happened in the past three years since I started my blog. I was following the news to an extent, but I wasn\u2019t educating myself enough on the events which occurred on our newsfeeds. I was being passive, taking in the information but never really acknowledging its impact. Until I did. I used my blog as a way of understanding my own viewpoint, and further understood that maybe I could tell the story in a way which made more sense to more people.<\/p>\n

By continuing to write blog posts over the past three years, I\u2019ve been able to improve my writing. I\u2019ve learnt my writing style, and I think a little bit of me has stopped caring what a lot of people think, too. My blog posts aren\u2019t supposed to be substitutes for newspaper articles, as there\u2019s almost always a bias I don\u2019t pretend to hide. But it doesn\u2019t mean running a blog hasn\u2019t helped to improve my writing skills in a journalistic capacity.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking about starting a blog, I would always say do it. It doesn\u2019t matter what anyone else thinks, if you feel passionately enough about something, do it. My blog has helped me a lot, in all seriousness. Because I\u2019ve practiced my written skills, I\u2019ve since been Editor of my secondary school\u2019s newspaper; started writing monthly articles for Wenvoe What\u2019s On; gained work experience (and been published) in Buzz Magazine; been published on S4C\u2019s Hacio website; gained a place at Cardiff University\u2019s school of Journalism and been published in the University\u2019s newspaper, Gair Rhydd. Most importantly to me, it\u2019s given me more confidence to speak out about issues I care about. Although I\u2019m always careful and aware of others\u2019 views, I\u2019m more open about my beliefs now and I know that they deserve to have a platform. It\u2019s a platform I made myself, but sometimes if you want something done you\u2019ve got to do it yourself.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been three years, and although the blog posts are less often (guys, University\u2019s actually a lot of work) I still love writing them. I\u2019ve received some amazing feedback over the past three years, and it\u2019s always nice because it means I\u2019ve reached someone.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t start a blog to be rich and famous, I started it for me. And boy how I\u2019ve changed since I started it. But that\u2019s okay. It\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

The past three years have been a whirlwind but it\u2019s been brilliant. I learned some new, fancy words (could you tell?) but I also learned more about me. I\u2019ve got a lot more fire in me than I thought I had when I was fifteen. I mean, it\u2019s probably always been there, I just never let it out.<\/p>\n

Thank you for reading my blog. Even if you thought what I\u2019d said was rubbish, thank you for taking the time to read a post. If you\u2019ve sent me a message about one of my posts, know how much that truly does mean to me. Thank you for setting aside a few minutes of your day to read even a few sentences of a post. Thank you for sticking with me since I was fifteen. Thank you. Thank you so much.<\/p>\n

Tirion Davies<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Years Older Three years ago, on the 17th of April 2016, I launched this blog. In true me style, my first blog posts were about feminism, and how hard being a teenager is. Fifteen-year-old Tirion thought she\u2019d run the blog for a bit and probably forget about it, but three years later, I\u2019m so glad I stuck with it. 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