Well, here it is: my first ever blog post. Until a few months ago, I never thought I’d start a blog, as I never found my life or my thoughts interesting enough to warrant doing so- and yet, life in the tail end of my twenties has taken some unexpected turns and has become marginally more interesting in the grand scheme of things, so here we are, on a fucking blog.

My creation of this page has been driven by a few different factors. Partly, it spawned from a practical need for a place outside of Instagram to share semi-regular life updates as I travel, giving my family and friends a glimpse into what my life looks like from week to week or however often I see fit. From a purely extrinsically-motivated standpoint: I told way too many of my peers and loved ones that I’d start something like this for me not to actually go through with it. The main factor, however, which I have found to be the real driving force behind this, is that I want a space strictly for my own creative expression, whatever that expression may be. 

My desire to create has steadily grown throughout the past three or four years; instead of continuing an insatiable consumption of content created by others, I have decided to venture onto a path of creating and sharing some content of my own. Whether through writing, photography, art, music, bodily movement, or another medium for expression, The Grateful Jake will serve as the platform for which I share, express, and create.

The last few years have been a time of massive growth for me on many levels, and the potential for this growth to continue has exponentially increased with my recent decision to leave behind the life I knew in California to travel the world in pursuit of new knowledge and experiences, and to create a path of my own. Traveling alone to foreign places always presents a golden opportunity to abandon traits and behaviors that no longer serve me, and to create new ones better aligned with my ideal version of myself.

On my current nomadic path, wherever I go, I can be whoever I want to be. None of the people I meet know who I was in high school, how I acted in college, what I did for my previous career, or anything else from my past unless they ask and I tell them- it’s a beautiful freedom, and I am embracing it wholeheartedly. If I want to do things that don’t fit in with the version of Jake that everyone back home is familiar with, I don’t have to deal with the limitations created by that framework- I can create a new framework by doing whatever the fuck I want. The only person with the power to judge and limit those actions is me.

Aside from the aforementioned purpose of sharing creative content, the creation of and subsequent posting to this page will serve me as a regular opportunity to practice vulnerability and authenticity. As I said above, none of the people who I meet while traveling carry any preconceived notions of who I am or what I should do; the people who know me from home and will have access to this page, however, do. This isn’t to say that they won’t be accepting of deviations to those norms; no, my loved ones and my friends deserve much more credit than that. I pride myself in the company I keep, and I have no doubt that I will find continued support from all of those people regardless of what I share here.

I am beginning to allow myself to be exactly who I want to be, exploring new desires and interests, new methods of self-expression, new levels of honesty with myself and those around me. Committing to share the pure, unadulterated version of myself with those who know me well, those who don’t know me at all, and everyone in between: it’s a bit scary, but more than that, it’s really fucking liberating. I did not choose to travel in an attempt to leave myself or my past behind; on the contrary, I am embracing it all- my past, my mistakes, my flaws, my strengths, my potential, my truth. 

So here I am, friends. Judge me if you please, for that is out of my control, and will not affect the content I share here. I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m proud of myself for even getting this far, and I’m grateful as fuck for what this space will become. This would not be possible if it weren’t for the unwavering support of my family and friends, and inspiration from some of the people closest to me who are on their own journeys using similar means of expression. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the things to come on The Grateful Jake.

Sincerely,

Jake