Why I'm here

Fall Asters

 

I recently started a journey into learning code. I am a 47-year-old woman that has done blue collar work over fifteen years. The outdoors is where I prefer to be. So, why am I here, and how did I get here?

Around 2016, while living in Atlanta, I started dreaming of being a digital nomad. In my free time I looked into many things - teaching English, selling photos, creating a podcast (still could happen), teaching online classes - but nothing really seemed right. Coding, of course, came up a lot in blogs I read about digital nomads. But I dismissed it as not something I was interested in or had the time to learn. I continued to work on my website and tried to get something to stick. I wanted to be location independent, so I could help my parents and travel. But I kept teaching welding classes and doing landscape design/consultation. All very location dependent.

Early on in the pandemic, I decided to move back to Dallas (TX) to care for my dying father and help my mom. All the places I taught in had closed down anyway. It felt like a good time to be with my family. I'm still glad I moved, but I knew I was stepping into a stressful situation. Not to mention, I hadn't lived in Dallas for thirteen years.

Shortly after moving, the stress of watching my dad struggle and decline, along with being cut off from my support system in Atlanta, started taking a toll on my own health. Some chronic illnesses I have started flaring up big time. The major symptom was fatigue and lack of endurance. Not just fatigue, but soul crushing fatigue. After spending the day with my folks, I'd have to go to bed. It was only like between 4-6pm. Other days I was unable to be upright (sitting or standing) for more than a few minutes. Let's just say I needed to do something to feel like I could support myself. So coding kept coming up. I'll go into how it came up after being bedridden in the next post.

Here I want to let you know why I'm here and what my goal is with this blog.

In my journey, that started in July 2021, I find myself continuing to learn to code. Right now, I'm working on HTML and CSS. Then I plan on going on to JavaScript, and who knows what else. The goal is to share the road blocks and obstacles, tips and victories of someone who is teaching themselves to code from scratch. That is why I'm here.

After running in circles or spending countless hours searching through online resources, I wished, over and over again, that I had someone to help me navigate this new language(s). Maybe there are other blogs out there, but I hope you will find comfort and save time by reading this.

I learned to weld in 2015, I started teaching in 2017. At the time, I realized that I had an advantage over other instructors that had been in the field for decades. I remembered clearly what I, and the other students, struggled with and what it was like to learn welding for the first time. I was even able to teach twelve-year-olds how to weld. Learning to weld is unlike anything else. So is learning code.

I promise to be honest, and I'll try to be entertaining. So many websites and blogs on this subject are so dry, with acres of print. They make me want to throw something (I might be fond of hyperbole...and asides). I will sprinkle in some personal life experiences that doesn't have to do with code. We'll see. I'm a creative, so don't do anything in straight lines. I'm hoping this will be a safe place to discuss challenges and triumphs. 

I'm humble enough to admit I don't know sh*t (I like to curse, too). But if I've learned something in life, it's that even if someone is only a few steps in front of you on a path, they can still make the walk easier for you. I'll also try to keep posts relatively short to not overwhelm you.

Since I'm a photographer, I thought it would be fun to add beautiful pictures to the posts. Join me.

Thanks for reading
,

Bria