5 Years - Time to Mosey

I'm not sure how long I'm going to do this, but its worth a shot.

What's worth a shot?  The second half of that sentence doesn't really have anything to do with the first half.  Uggg.  That barely sense-making sentence was written 5 years ago today as part of my first blog entry ever on any site.  At the time I wouldn't have believed you if you'd told me that I'd still have this blog 5 years later and, with the exception of the last year, would have been updating it very consistently.  That sentence was meant as a way to cover my ass when I inevitably stopped after a week or two, much like everything else I had recently tried on the internet in the weeks leading up to that first post.

I never expected to write 1378 entries.  I never expected my friends to embrace my words this much.  I never expected complete strangers from around the world to become more important to me than many of the people I interact with in my daily life.  I never expected to meet one of my closest friends here.  I never expected to send gifts to and receive gifts from several of you.  I never expected to host a Mindsay-based radio show for over 3 years.  I never expected this blog to be such an important part of the 5 most important years of my life.

It's been no secret that I haven't been around here much the last year.  This is the inevitable transition after the last 5 years.  I used to require this blog to convey my thoughts.  I wasn't so good at sharing important feelings, even to my closest friends.  I don't really have that problem any more.  I'm more confident with myself and more open with those I love and trust.  A lot of things have happened over the last 5 years to get me to this point and this blog was no small part of it.

I don't really need to post entries here any more.  I can go right to my friends and talk about the important things now.  I no longer need to use this blog as a place to write, because I'm no longer afraid that no one will read my words unless they're here.  I write other places now and have even been paid to write other places.  So with that all in mind, this is likely my last entry here at Mindsay.  I'll still frequent the site and read your posts.  I may even comment, but I have no plans to write anything new here.  I may drop a link from time to time, but we'll see if that happens or not.  Probably not, as I have Twitter, Facebook, and other spots to publish things like that.

If you are one of my friends who have some way to contact me outside of Mindsay, someone who knows who AAP really is, and would like to see my Twitter, Facebook, etc, please use those other ways to contact me and I'll pass the links on to you.  If you do not have other means besides Mindsay to contact me, then please don't ask for those links in the comments.  My real name is associated with those other places and if you don't already know me, that's probably not going to change now.  For the most part, AllAroundPsycho is leaving Mindsay the same way he came in... anonymously.

It's been an amazing 5 years here.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that this blog, this community, has had a huge impact on me.  There were a lot of things over those 1827 days that contributed to me becoming the more confident man I am today, but the Mindsay community was certainly one of the more important (and surprising) ones.  I'm in debt to all of you that have read me, commented to me, or befriended me.

Thank you.