One year and 96 blog posts later

Last February, I did something completely outside of my comfort zone. I updated my twitter profile, bought a new domain name, and embarked on the daunting new adventure of educating the world about melanoma. I had spent months reading scientific journals about skin cancer and public health campaigns to prevent it, but I wasn't ready to talk about something so personal on such a public forum.

When I hit publish on my first post and posted a link to it on Facebook, I shivered at the thought of my friends reading it. But I fought all urges that told me DELETE DELETE DELETE. I kept it up and posted another one. And another.

I befriended a few other melanoma bloggers, including Chelsea, Carol, Rich, and Al. We all have very different stories to share, but their courage and passion for promoting awareness was (and continues to be) very inspiring.

Over the weekend, I spent some time looking over everything I've written since last February. As I transition into year two, I plan to continue trying new things that push me outside my comfort zone (like organizing the PDX Melanoma Walk this spring!) and hope to continue provoking discussion about skin cancer in young people.

Thank you to everyone who has been following me along the way!