Generosity of Spirit
One Year Later
Generosity of Spirit is the openness and willingness to share our ‘gifts’ , our ‘spirit’ (both emotional and material) freely with others
So… I missed my one-year anniversary … it was last month! As of now- my blog is 13 months old.
Happy Birthday Generosity of Spirit!!!
I am so proud of my blog. I am proud that I started it and more importantly, that I didn’t stop… even during tough and sad times I was determined to carry on and keep posting.
I have loved posting my thoughts, recipes and discoveries – growing into a more confident vegan but dare I say it? … Maybe an even more confident woman.
At first, I just needed something that was mine- I wanted an outlet and a safe place to learn. I wanted to write too. I have always loved to write. I have journals over nearly every inch of my house – most unfinished but all have been started. I wanted to write more regularly, to practice and the more I write – the more confident I become.
As I step into the second year of my blog, I feel more ready than ever to keep exploring, to see where this wonderful blog takes me.
My 4 favourite things about writing a blog
Exploring my thoughts!
One of the best things about having a blog is the ability to take whatever thoughts are running through your head, condense them into a post and share them online. I have written mostly about food and my adventure into veganism, but every now and then I have written about my lifestyle and things I have tried and discovered. When you’re writing, you’re forcing yourself to examine a situation from all angles and perspectives. Through writing, I more thoughtfully work through something, for example- my ‘Mindfulness’ blog post. I found the notion of mediation and mindfulness really inaccessible, and in writing the blog and exploring different ways of practising mindfulness I started to make sense of it all.
Productivity
I may have mentioned this before, but I definitely think that blogging and writing more regularly has made me an overall more productive person. I really wanted to achieve this when I started my blog, I wanted to make better use of my time. Blogging can be really demanding, and in my first six months or so I posted weekly, which I later discovered was way to ambitious and put a little too much pressure on the whole writing process. Now, I post at least once a month and more if I feel the need. Blogging has taught me how important it is to budget your time.
Connecting with others
Engaging on social media has helped my blog so much. I have absolutely fallen in love with Instagram and the food community online. I am so proud that in one year my Instagram account @generosityofspirit has 1200 followers, which may seem small to some, but to me, it is so much more than I thought I would ever achieve. It is so exciting to explore people who are both similar and different, I have learnt so much from my online community.
https://www.instagram.com/generosityofspirit/
Learning about myself…
I think it has taken me some time to find my ‘blogging voice’, and I am still working on it everytime I post! Keeping this blog for the last year has helped me in more ways than one. Self discovery isn’t the easiest when you don’t feel so brilliant in yourself and this year, in particular, has been really tough for me. But maintaining this blog and the structure it has provided me has helped so much!
I’d like to conclude my first birthday blog with one of my newly discovered vegan recipes… Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies that taste just like Millies !
I found this recipe by @chocolatecoveredkatie when browsing for recipes on Instagram. Instagram is a fantastic resource for foodie tips, inspiration and full recipes- if you haven’t got an Instagram account yet- get one! And then add @generosityofspirit immediately !
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
125g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
30g Sugar
30g Brown Sugar
40g Vegan Chocolate Chips (or crumbled chocolate of choice)
2 tbsp Oat Milk (or whatever you prefer)
2 tbsp Oil of choice
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Method:
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in your wet ingredients to form a dough- it will be dry at first, so keep stirring until a cookie- dough texture is achieved. If needed add 1-2 tbsp extra of the milk of your choice.
- Form into one big ball, then either refrigerate for at least 2 hours or freeze until the dough is cold.
- Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 170 C.
- Form dough balls, and place on a greased baking tray, leaving enough room between the cookies for them to spread.
- Bake for 12 minutes on the centre rack. They’ll look underdone when you take them out. Let them cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before touching, during which time they will firm up.
- You can also choose to make extra cookie dough balls and freeze them to bake at a later date!
- ENJOY!
Happy First Birthday
Thank you for reading my blog and sticking with me through my first year. I promise to bring you more yummy vegan food, restaurant and hotel reviews, recipes and fun lifestyle posts in my second year!
To blog =
to share
to connect
to create
to inspire
