Yesterday marked a strange little anniversary: five years of my blog. Exactly five years ago, EverTheNomad.com was born.

It has since gone through a few highs and lows. The highs included the weekly series of guest posts I ran a few years ago, which featured some of today’s top bloggers & writers – shout-out to Lola Akinmade of Geotraveler’s Niche, Eileen Smith of Bearshapedsphere – and many others.

More recently a high included Local Voices Croatia, another series which ran only one summer but gathered some great cultural movers & shakers in Croatia into one exciting online basket. I still have a list of 30+ people I’d like to interview…

There have also been a handful of posts that touched people, like this one on freedom and another on scattered vs settled life. The comments I got on these made me realize there’s a reason why I write.

Like with all things, there were lows, such as long silences that happen mostly because I’m too busy with other writing and traveling to devote time to the blog.

In the last five years, I have learned a few things. I’ve learned that I’m not the best social media citizen – I read few blogs, comment on hardly any and rarely retweet. Not because I don’t care. Far from it. I admire several of my fellow bloggers (and especially those who are primarily writers) who have the tenacity, discipline and passion to keep it going and keep it fresh. Kudos to you all.

I’ve learned that I am more old school in my ways. While I’ve certainly embraced online media, the embrace has been a bit loose, so to speak. I’m there but not quite.

Many a time I’ve considered killing my blog, softly and for once. But a little voice always tells me not to. Five years later, I love the fact that EverTheNomad, however humble and inconsistent of an online presence, still lives and once in a blue moon makes someone think, offers a new perspective or stirs a soul.