One Year Of Blogging! Not Today Blog 13

I learned a lot from one year of blogging. This is to many more years of writing and creating. Happy birthday, baby 🌏

Happy Birthday, But Not Today

Google recently sent me an email that my domain “nottodayblog.com” was about to be renewed. Today is the first birthday of the Not Today Blog. Happy birthday!!!

Finding things that excite you is hard. My project, the Not Today Blog, is one of these rare things.

It all started in January last year with the idea of opening a bar in Bali. I had it all planned out. The Not Today Bar. A place for those people who would answer “not today” when asked if they would want to go out tonight.

“Not today bro, I have this assignment due tomorrow.”

“No not today sorry, I am still hungover.”

“Not today, I can’t be arsed to get ready now. Next weekend!” A place not too hectic, but not boring. The compromise for the friends who are up for a good night and the friends who didn’t want to leave their sofas in the first place.

The Harvest

Opening a bar requires a vision, time and energy. I had the vision. To give this dream idea a face, I started creating a website. I loved doing something I had never done before. Soon, the Not Today Bar website was live online. It contained a blog section and an online shop. That was the easy part.

The idea was to get it out there into the universe and see if it was going to be fruitful. I continued planning the perfect bar but my lack of time and funding seemed to spoil the game.

Who you become in pursuit of your goal is more important than the goal.

Drunk off Creativity

March 2019, I flew out to Japan to run the Tokyo Marathon. I watched many videos and read blogs about Tokyo and running your first marathon. When I got back to Jakarta, I realised that all I had read on the internet did not match my experiences.

I wanted all my friends to also run a marathon and to give them advice. All the lessons I had learned in the past six months did not fit in an Instagram caption. I started writing it all down. That was the birth of the Not Today Blog.

What first was a section on the Not Today Bar homepage became a standalone website and a project that meant everything to me. In my mind, I have always been creative. For the first time in 25 years, I found an outlet for my creativity.

Why Not Today

One year and 12 blog posts later, I am here excited as ever to share my stories with you. The first birthday of your child is always exciting. All birthdays should be.

Why not today go on Facebook or LinkedIn and find out who has a birthday and send them your best wishes?

We have this WhatsApp group with old school friends. Last year, people in this group seemed to have missed my birthday. The next day someone texted in the group “Oh Danny happy belated birthday!” and everybody answered with their birthday wishes as if it was my birthday that day. I am not going to lie, I love these people with all my heart, but it hurt.

I am sure I am not the only one that enjoys reading a happy birthday message on their Facebook timeline or in their messages. Go and text someone. If it is somebody you haven’t talked to in years, so what? This might open doors you never imagined.

Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important’. Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.

Mary Kay Ash

Happy birthday to everybody who is reading this on their birthday! You are awesome.

I’ll let you guys know if the bar ever opens.

xx

D