Provided that you haven’t been living under a rock, Instagram has an app that generates your “Best Nine” of the year in order of popularity. While it’s interesting to see what content that you created has resonated the most with your audience, end of the year is usually a time of SELF-reflection. What posts meant the most to YOU?
The first year of blogging for me was a lot of trial and error – figuring out the ins and outs of maintaining a blog. My second year has been much more personal – finding my niche, releasing ghosts of my past, recording my most treasured moments and discoveries.
Here are My Best (or Favourite) Nine Blog Posts of 2017 (in no particular order) based on which meant the most to me:
How I Was Almost Bartered for Three Thousand Camels (and a shoe shop)
When there are so many blogs out there, I often think “What’s the point of sharing MY story?” But after a year of blogging, I’m getting a clearer idea of what my niche is; what I offer that is valuable and unique. Weird things happen to me as is evident in this post. Is my face too friendly? Am I too tolerant of strangers? Am I merely a convenient kidnap-able size? These odd tales become frequently told anecdotes that I confess to my blog, that provides a laugh for others – usually at my expense – and a personal diary for myself.
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Why #MeToo Is Important + How It’s Affected Me
This post represents a deeply personal emotional victory for me because it was so difficult to admit that I was still carrying this 10 year deep burden on my shoulders let alone to allow myself to be vulnerable enough to articulate it for the world to see. Despite the fear churning in my belly, I strongly believed that sharing my pain would resonate with other women who experienced something similar and potentially lend them the strength to know that they’re not alone.
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7 Epic Stops Essential For An Authentic Moroccan Road Trip To The Saharan Desert
I fantasized about sleeping in the desert, under the Saharan stars with gentle camels grazing nearby (idyllic, no?) but it seemed too amazing to fathom it ever become a reality, but then it happened! What I didn’t factor into my daydreaming was that it was a 10-hour drive from Marrakech to the Saharan Desert, but you know what they say: Journey > Destination. At the very least, learning to brew a real cup of mint tea, trying on traditional Moroccan garb, and staying overnight in a legit kasbah was AS great as glamping in the desert.
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Why You Shouldn’t Let Embarrassment Hold You Back
Writing has always had a way of clarifying how I felt. When I’m struggling with something internally, it forces me to put the jumble of words swirling around in my mind in some semblance of order. This post gave voice to the part of me that I’m still trying to accept – the blogger, the content creator, the storyteller. When I feel self-conscious posing in front of the Eiffel Tower or taking photos of my food, I re-read this post.
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A Curated 10-Day Itinerary of Cuba
I loved Cuba so much more than I had anticipated! Creating a detailed outline of my itinerary of the trip was like reliving my favourite parts – places, experiences, and activities – of the trip and provided some comfort that there was solid documentation of that trip that I feared would blur with time in my memory.
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How Winning An Award Affected My Impostor Syndrome
(But Not In The Way You’d Think)
The feeling of being an impostor probably manifested when I started going to OCAD and suddenly being surrounded by an entire school who was as good at the thing that had made me feel special. Recently I won an award – for the same project – for the other publication that I had revered in school (mentioned in the post). Internally, I noticed how my feelings about my most recent win had shifted inside me since the initial one. It’s hard to tell when we’re making progress internally but this post was a testament to how much I’ve grown since then.
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51 Thoughts I Had During My First Hammam Experience
While researching hammam experiences in preparation for a trip to Morocco, I found plenty of articles detailing the process but none expressed to me that it was really like. Writing posts in this style of a constant stream of consciousness is very natural for me and easy to make entertaining since my mind is a wondrous – albeit scary – place to be. I can provide an alternative perspective of a topic. In this case, what someone might think while being mostly naked, wet, and lying on warm marble while being vigorously scrubbed by a stranger.
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How to Eat Your Way Into A MuuMuu in Montreal in 40 Hours
I used to avoid 3-day weekend getaways because I was loathe to chip away at my vacation days, instead hoarding them like a greedy Golum for longer trips. After two trips to Montreal – a charming 5-hour train ride away from Toronto – I realized that quick trips took the pressure off, allowing me to relax. Instead of fretting about maximizing every moment, I could focus on what was truly important to me – eating. Now I have a solid, drool-worthy list of restaurants to send friends when they request recommendations.
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7 Souvenirs You Can’t Leave the Souks of Marrakech Without
The souks of Marrakech were like another world and I was so excited to impart my impression of the maze-like alleys and pass along any tips for haggling. One morning after I published this post, I woke up to a noticeable increase in followers on Instagram and out of curiosity I Google-d myself. PureWow had listed my image in their article “Morocco Is Stunning, and Here Are 15 Beautiful Instagrams to Prove It” and in turn had been retweeted by the holy grail for travel bloggers – CN Traveller! This marked a first for me, for my blog to be recognized.
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