Saturday, September 28, 2013

Another Number, Another Milestone

Since I started this blog, my goal has always been to inspire others and encourage people to go on in spite of their circumstances.  Regardless of difficulties and challenges that everyone experiences, my purpose has been to show that it is possible to work through them; to demonstrate that no matter what obstacles we may face in life, there is a way to overcome them.  All one needs is a little positivity and faith and to know that everything’s going to be okay.

While I was in the hospital, my blog received its 100,000th visitor.  I’ve kept a tracker so that I as well as others could see how many people have seen my blog, read my writings, and maybe have been inspired by what I’ve said.  Over the years, I’ve done blog posts whenever my blog has hit a certain amount of visitors.  I wanted whoever visited to know they weren’t the only ones reading what I had to say.  I’ve inserted sections of each post so that you can see the progress my blog has made from the beginning.

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February 26, 2009:

I have almost 3000 visitors since October 26, 2008, and that includes people from all over the world. People from countries such as Mexico, Germany, Canada, Norway, Spain, Australia, Netherlands, Brazil, and parts of the United Kingdom are all tuning in to read what I have to say. I'm also getting visitors from all over the United States. I would just like to say keep on reading on and know that I am happy to invite all of you into my life.

June 27, 2009:

Wow! Over 8000 visitors. I'm waiting for the day that the number of visitors hits 10,000. It won't be long now. Maybe I'll have a party. I encourage all of you to pass my blog onto others. The more people that I can share my story with the better!
Thanks for all of your questions and support. You are the reason I keep my blog going.

August 4, 2009:

I just exceeded 10,000 visitors. How exciting! Thanks everyone for reading my blog. Keep the comments coming; I enjoy reading them.

January 6, 2010:

Wow! I've reached 20,000 visitors. When I started this blog, I never imagined that so many people would be reading what I had to say. I realize how many people I reach out to and help with each day passing. I'm glad that I can be there for those who need a little support and encouragement.

April 20, 2011:

I just wanted to inform everyone that my blog has now had over 50,000 visitors since I started it October of 2008. That's so amazing! Every day I think about the thousands of people that are impacted by me or what I've written. It makes me feel good to know that I can help and educate others.

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I also wanted to count the number of visitors for my own purpose; to visually see it rise and remind me of the reason I started this blog.

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On May 21, 2012, I wrote this blog post titled “Why I Blog”:

I've been thinking lately about reasons why I blog. First, it's important to know that everything I say is true to me and my feelings. My goal is to share my story, giving others a glimpse into the life of a quadriplegic. I want to educate others about people with disabilities and tell those looking from the outside that there is nothing to fear or be afraid about. No question is a dumb question. In fact, I encourage people to ask and explore their thoughts with me. All of these are reasons why I started to blog about my life.

Before reading a friend's blog, I had no idea what one was. I was intrigued by the number of readers and how many people commented on the post. I was also interested in finding out how to go about setting one up. I've always loved writing, especially about myself, so I figured blogging wouldn't be too difficult. After researching a little bit about blogs in general, I started creating a mine in September 2008.

After figuring out a name and design, I made it live by October. I didn't know what to expect and hadn't a clue the responses I would get. Pretty soon the number of visitors started rising and I realized I was reaching people across the world. I never imagined I would be receiving comments and e-mails from others in similar situations just looking for support and someone to relate to. While starting to realize the impact I was making, I became addicted to blogging. I began opening up more about my life and writing in more detail.

I knew quickly how important and special this blog was becoming; this is what I stated in a post a couple weeks after starting it up:

"I love this blog! It feels good to be able to express myself while others become inspired by me. It is so much fun to post my writings and opinions. The first month was going to be a trial to see how I liked it. Obviously, this blog isn't going anywhere soon. I'm excited to say that I am going to keep this running as long as possible." 

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Over time I’ve thought about my blog and what it means to me.  All of the posts above speak about a number; a counter that shows how many people visited my blog.  I realize that I’ve been focused on that number rising to indicate the amount of people reading what I have to say and possibly being touched or affected.  To be honest it’s not about the number; it’s about the lives I touch and the people I inspire.

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On August 14, 2010 I wrote:

Sometimes I treat this blog as sort of a diary. It's not always easy to talk to someone face-to-face but it's definitely easy to talk to a computer screen. As long as I don't think about the fact that tons of people are reading my writing, I can get out a lot which is good for me. Not sure that it's always something others want to read but it's a helpful tool for me to get things off my mind. I know occasionally I help others as well who are going through similar situations with my honesty.

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One thing that helps is when I receive comments on my blog about how inspired others feel when they read my writings.  For example:

Kaylyn said:

"You're such an inspiration, Jenni! Thanks for keeping up with your blog- I'm sure there are a lot of us that like to follow your journey.”

Anonymous said:

"I'll just come forward and say I'm one of these people that randomly anonymously frequent your blog lol. I found you by one day googling "Paralyzed from the neck down" on google images and your picture came up with you in a standing frame. I believe this was on the easy stand website? with a little blurb on your story. Anyway, it had a link (at the time) to this site and I clicked on it and ended up here from time to time. Mostly out of some type of curiosity.. I don't know, I may sound a bit stupid or naive but I never believed a person paralyzed from the neck down was actually a real thing. I thought it was only some type of fantasy scenario that happended in a movie, T.V series (Touched by an angel-eque) or only was suffered by the actor Christopher Reeve. Hence the curiosity about you... I just was "pulled in" that you had suffered and were living with this kind of injury and wanted to see how you were able to get on in life.

I was a bit puzzled how you couldn't be depressed and was shocked to see how normal your attitude was and how you aim for an actual career instead of just being "the patient". You're really surprising. You have even re-shaped a lot of my perception on disability.

I just thought I'd lay down my thoughts and reasons for coming to this site. I'm sure your curious as to who your anonymous readers are and why they come here. Don't feel pressure to be any type of inspiration or anything to us.. just live your life. Update only when you feel like you want to.”

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I’ve realized that another reason I created this blog is so that no one would feel alone.  So that people would feel like they either had someone to look up to, something to look forward to, a person to help make their life worth living, or just lose their way in the life of someone else just trying to live theirs.  Since my accident I had thought of myself as a person with a disability-never the other way around.  I always strive to look on the positive side and even on my down days seem to find a glimmer of hope.  This is my nature.  This is who I am.  This is the girl with The Site That Breathes.

Jenni

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