Credits to Brand Surgery

"Tyne, do you wanna join the A to Z Challenge? You have to blog everyday in April. It'll be fun!"

"Wow! I wonder if I can write about something everyday for the next 30 days."

"This is my 3rd year already. You should be good too!"

"O.K."

"I already signed you up."

"LOL!"

And that was the start of the crazy-blogging-everyday-no-skipping-sleeping-late challenge!

I swear I have never blogged this religiously in my entire 5 years of having this site! But it's quite addictive and compelling, actually.

These are my realizations about blogging in the last 30 days with the A to Z challenge:

Blogging is a Commitment. At first, it felt like I jumped into marriage without being ready for it. Like any commitment, it requires dedication. You need to devote time while juggling all your other activities. Talk about sleeping around 2:00 a.m. almost everyday.  I also use my lunch time to write my blogs just to keep up with the challenge. Imagine that! 

Blogging reaffirms my passion for writing. I consider writing as my ministry. I aspire to make a difference one blog post at a time. In fact, I do wish to author a book someday. And I realized over the last 30 days how passionate I am about this gift. I spend at least 3 hours per day for a blog post including research time, editing of photos and proof-reading. I always aim to leave my readers with something to learn, laugh or be inspired about. I have come to appreciate writing all the more through this challenge.

Blogging has been a pathway for me to meet more people. I have never (virtually) met that many people from across the globe before, sharing the same passion for writing. Imagine there are over a thousand of bloggers participating this year. This challenge has paved the way for me to connect to people by walking through their sanctuary of thoughts and insights. It's like knowing their life story even before meeting them in person. I have so much respect for writers who bare their life stories and share their gift of writing. On a personal note, I appreciate that Dee and I have become much closer despite the fact that we live in different continents now. Because of this A to Z challenge, we had to chat everyday. And I'd like to thank her for signing me up, helping me with my site (for free!) and for inspiring me to blog every single day.

Blogging keeps me abreast and informed about anything. With the wide variety of themes on this year's challenge, I have read through the most interesting facts, stories and insights from the blogs I visited. Thanks to the power of internet, I can learn a lot of things from travels, to lifestyle, writing fictions, current events, photography, grammar, selfies, about love, faith, dating, singlehood, marriage, just about anything and everything. By visiting blogs, I am educating myself. I got inspired all the more to hone my writing skills. 

Blogging has opened me to a lot of possibilities. The A to Z challenge has afforded me the opportunity to expand my network and reach a wider audience. I get surprised to see my stat every time I check my google analytics report. Support from fellow bloggers who visit my page and leave insightful comments made me love what I do all the more. Also, there is that opportunity to earn from blogging. I know a few friends who get perks like being invited to try new products, dishes or services and subsequently get paid for their write-up or review.  And there are those who found love in the blogging world. The possibilities are just boundless.

So here are my Top 5 Posts:

Oh My G - My 5 Types of GIRLFRIENDS

APRIL Love Fools

The JOURNEY of a Single Person

The 5 LOVE LANGUAGES

10 INCREDIBLE Countries I Travelled to

And here are some of my favorite blogs during this challenge:

A Deecoded Life's "Why I Kissed Online Dating Goodbye"

A Deecoded Life's "Kisses from the Future"

Chuck Allen's "What Happened to Alice" series of stories

Moonlight and her Shadow's "Stages of Love"

Brits in the US 23's "Geraldine"

Thank you A to Z Challenge for bringing out the zealous writer in me. 

And thank you everyone for visiting my page! You guys inspire me to write my best every time!

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This post is part of the A to Z April Challenge

a blog hop that goes through the alphabet

for all the days of April except Sundays.

Today's feature is Z for ZEAL.

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10 Indications that you are from Generation Y

People born between roughly 1980 to 2000 are labelled as the Generation Y (or the most awesome generation to have walked the earth! Haha!) Of course, I can write all the good stuff here because I am one of the Millennials! Woot!

Now, tell me if you can identify yourself with the below:

1. You got the widest network of friends and acquaintances, which explains your 500+ friends on FB. Not to mention your connections on IG, Twitter, Path, Pinterest, Linkedin and dating sites (what?!). And so you resent everyone who does not accept your friend request. 

2. Always looking for adventure. Usually Nomadic and Dynamic. Splurges on travel for pleasure.

3. Never settles for an average paycheck or stagnant career growth. Hardest to retain among the workforce. Challenges the status quo. Questions the rules or authority. Often leaves the Gen Xs sour-graping because you leapfrog them or boss them around. 

3. Dawson's Creek, Smallville, Gossip Girl, High School Musical and American Idol were some of your favorite series or shows.

4. The most Narcissistic of all. Taking self-love to an extreme degree, as evidenced by the countless of Selfies taken. Selfies while pretending to be asleep, hospital selfies, shirtless selfies, duck face selfies, selfies on the gym, on the bathtub, ridiculous selfies every time and everywhere! Geez! (O.K. I am sometimes guilty of this. Eepps..)

5. Lives in a culture that loves brands, labels or titles. You speak Prada, Chanel or Gucci. What or who you wear speaks of your social status. You equate titles and material possessions with success. 

6. You belong to a greater portion of the current Single and Unmarried populations. And lamely blames career for it. (I Know, Right?)

7. Tech-savvy. Grew up with easy access to the most modern technology and innovations. Heavy reliance on the Internet for everything. 

8. The most opinionated of all. Never runs out of something to whine, rant or blog about. Likes to be heard online. Everyone can subscribe (or unsubscribe) to a live feed of all your dramas. And blogging has become your outlet when you can't get a real person to listen to you.

9. Masters multi-tasking. Able to blend life and work effectively. You chew stress like a gum. Acts as if everything is under control. You can easily get the job done while your co-workers are still studying the manual. 

10. You were one of those who enjoyed pathetic vampire love stories like the Twilight Saga or completed all the Harry Potter series or watched Titanic for at least, 3 times in your lifetime.

So are you now laughing about being a Gen Y baby? Aren't we just the coolest? Haha!

This post is not intended to spite the other generations. We love and respect you guys! Without you, we won't even be around. Now Gen Z learn from us! :)

Acknowledgment: Credits to the owner of the photos taken from Pinterest or Google.

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This post is part of the A to Z April Challenge

a blog hop that goes through the alphabet

for all the days of April except Sundays.

Today's feature is Y for Y.

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