One whole year later, I’m finally back to publishing on my blog. I almost can’t believe it. The past year has been a whirlwind of emotions, concerning this blog. I went from denial about actually taking a break from publishing here, to acceptance, grief, guilt, disappointment, confusion, and finally to hope, grace, and joy. 

In this reconnecting article, I’ll be retracing my steps to the roads that have led me here. This is important for me to look back on, not to excuse, but to try to explain to myself first, the path that led to the break.

I began writing in 2015 as a freelance content and ghost writer on Upwork. I didn’t like writing. I found it so difficult and mentally tasking, but the feedback was very positive. I had many return jobs, and the income from it was incredible. I kept at it for about a year, saved up some money and then quit freelance writing to focus on my undergraduate degree, build a skill in tech, and start another business that I found more interesting at the time. I ran that new business for some years, and it grew exponentially, but I still didn’t build the tech skills I desired. 

In 2018, I decided to start writing again; this time, personally on Medium. I had just finished undergrad, sold off the said business I had started in 2016, started my first full time role at a tech company, and was finally picking up a tech skill as I was just getting into data science. I was also planning to move out from my parents’ home, and overall, I was trying to figure out my young adult life. It was a lot to juggle all at the same time. Writing became an outlet to express myself and the many moving parts in my life at the time, filled with uncertainty, curiosity, doubt, and excitement. I wrote tech and life articles on Medium, with some of the highlights being my 2019 Year in Review, How to install spaCy on Windows 8, My Tech Journey, and Data Science story. I did this till December 2020 when my Medium was permanently disabled for no clear reason. I tried to appeal this to no avail. I got greatly discouraged and stopped writing. 

Though I felt betrayed, disappointed, and wanted to absolutely give up on writing, I knew it is a very important skill. Not only does writing improve my deep knowledge about the topics, it was a way to give back to the community that had really helped me, pay it forward and help someone as well. It is also a very crucial skill to have personally and professionally, knowing how to express yourself succinctly and accurately, and I knew that even though it wasn’t my favorite activity, the only way I could get better at it and actually enjoy it more, was to keep writing. 

So in 2021, I decided to start again, and this time, self-hosted my blog. I launched my new (current) blog in July 2021 and it was an act of honor to myself to keep writing no matter what. I promised to publish an article each month, which I did until 2023 when I had some life changes coupled with the stress from grad school and I broke that promise to myself. I struggled for another year, barely managing to put together an article each month, to keep to my word. It was a combination of grad school stress and burnout, settling into my new role post-graduation, and not having what to share personally (as I was spending all my time working at my new job, which I don’t write about on my blog). 

Finally in October 2024, the day right after my birthday, while awaiting my delayed flight, I made the decision to quit. I was going to pause publishing on my blog indefinitely. I committed to maintaining the already-published articles on the blog for as long as possible, so people could revisit to read any older articles they might have saved or bookmarked. But I relinquished all the pressure to keep showing up here, and decided it made no sense to pour from an empty cup. I told myself that I don’t have to come back. It was fine if I didn’t; but then, if I chose to return to writing here, that’d be great as well. 

Well, here we are. I’m back. 

The 1 year break was something I didn’t know I needed, but then it made so much sense once I embarked on it. 

During this break, I took the time to read my previous articles, especially under the life category. It was so beautiful to see how I have evolved and grown over the years.

I love to listen to my close circle and I always consider any advice they share with me. In October 2024, when I shared how I was feeling concerning my blog, one of my friends told me to think of reinventing the goal of the blog. I could think of restructuring it from a place to share what I’ve learned, to a place to share things I’m just curious about and exploring. That’s it. 

I have decided to do that. 

Before we go further, I think it’s only right that I reintroduce myself. 

Well, hi there! My name is Aniekan and I’m a data scientist. I love to work hard and play even harder. Some of my core values that influence how I live my life are integrity, hardwork, love, rest, abundance, kindness, generosity, contentment, and overall my faith in God. Outside of work, I love to travel, explore beautiful places, spend time with my loved ones, listen to music, and dance. These make me genuinely happy. I’m really glad that you are here. 

Thank you for being patient with me, thank you for waiting for me, thank you for giving me a slice of your time, even today, and thank you for reading this piece to this point. It really means so much to me. 

What to expect?

Honestly I can’t make any external promises right now as I’m still rediscovering the rungs around here. 

However, I’ll still maintain the tech, career, and life categories we currently have. I might not put out grad school articles anymore as that phase is over for me, and I don’t know that I have any updated information to share right now. If you are here strictly for grad school articles and you have specific article requests or any question, could you kindly send an email to contactaniekan at gmail dot com, and I’ll see if I could flesh an article out from the response or just respond to the mail directly.

I’m also writing an article, which I’ll publish by the end of the year, sharing lessons I learned from taking the 1 year break away from my blog.

Conclusion

To conclude this piece, one thing I can say is that I’m going to show up as authentically as possible. I’m going to pace myself and make sure to re-energize frequently to avoid burnout again, and I’m going to keep trying everyday to be a better version of myself. I’m going to allow myself to dream, to leap, to fail, to learn, to rise again, try again, and to grow.  

I only started dreaming again this year, 2025. I had just been going through the motions for a very long time, and it was very draining, but finally my spark is back. The passion, the intensity, the relentlessness that makes me me. I’m so excited to be back to show up, first for myself, and then share a portion of that with you all. It’ll be my utmost pleasure to have you on this ride with me. 

Thank you for reading and Welcome back to Aniekan’s Blog!

Sincerely,

Aniekan.