2015 has come to an end and 2016 is here, Happy New Year! In honor of 2015 I’ll spend this post reviewing my posts from the year, along with some of my year’s milestones.
Before beginning, I’d like to thank every single reader I’ve ever had. Each and every one of you has made a remarkable impact on how my year went this year, and how 2016 will go. Keep being awesome!
March 2015
One night, while sitting outside with my parents, I decided to make a blog. I setup my WordPress account, came up with a name, and started thinking of what I would post.
On March 25, I published my first post We use technology for the wrong reason… In it I talked about how too much time is wasted on social media, and that phones offer much more than needless scrolling.
Overall March 2015 finished with just 54 views.
April 2015
April brought 4 new posts. First was What we can learn from our future selves, a post explaining how we should listen to our conscience and reflect on our past.
While on spring break, I wrote a post on why you should always use your vacation time, even if you don’t go anywhere.
During the week of April 15, I ended up quitting my club soccer team, IE Surf. It was a sad decision, but one that had to be made.
In the wake of the event, I did what any one with a blog would do, write a post on it. How to know when it’s time to go… was a post describing how sometimes you need to remove things from your life in order to make it better.
The final post of April 2015 was the most liked post of the year for me, with 32 bloggers liking it. The happy secret to happiness was based on a speech I wrote and given to my local rotary club that week. The article describes the wonderful benefits of laughter.
April 2015 finished with a slightly higher 87 views.
May 2015
On May 6, I published 7 Reasons moms need to be appreciated, in honor of mother’s day and my own mom.
May 13 brought Are you really happy? This post laid out the blurred line between being happy and striving for your best, or just being comfortable.
With the end of May came the beginning of the Psychology Series, a five part series analyzing different parts of life, and the psychology around them. This first post described the bystander effect. It was titled, Psychology Series: What are you doing to help people?
May 2015 finished with 98 total views.
June 2015
June was a busy month for me. School ended, my sisters graduated, one started college the day after graduation and the other a job. But I still got three posts published.
One was on the benefits of music, describing how music is good for your health and well-being; another on world hunger and poverty around the world, it listed ways you can help in your home town; and lastly 7 Reasons why dads need to be appreciated…, a post in honor of father’s day and my own dad.
June’s views jumped to 140 total.
July 2015
The first post of July was the second part of the Psychology Series, talking about the psychology of public speaking, along with its benefits.
July’s second post, The Sweaty Secret to a Better Life, described the great benefits of exercise; not just physically, but also mental benefits.
This was followed by an informative post on how dreams work, and why we dream. It was a very interesting topic, yet a tough topic to write on.
Why gratitude shouldn’t be seasonal… was the last post of July. In it I talked about how it’s not enough to just be thankful during the holidays; and to give proof of that I told how happy I’d become after keeping a gratitude journal. To close it off I included three ways you can become a happier, more grateful person.
July finished with just 128 views. It was also the last month The Edge of Ideas would go by the url edgeofideas.wordpress.com.
August 2015
August was a very busy month as well: my sister moved up to UC Berkeley to start college, my dad turned 50, and I started sophomore year. All three events were on the same weekend!
The beginning of school brought many new things to do: my schedule includes two Advanced Placement Classes (Biology and World History), Advanced Art, Honors Math, Spanish 2, and Honors English II.
To start off the busy month, I published Psychology Series Part III: The Human Brain’s File Cabinet. This post outlined how the human brain stores memories, why we forget, and how we can improved out memory (laughing, exercising, and sleeping!).
Next came The furry secret to happiness, which described your pet’s effect on your relationships, your health, and on your happiness.
On August 2o, I published a post highlighting the three things that have a profound influence on my life: Family, God, and Gratitude. It’s one of my favorite posts of the year because I wrote from a very personal level.
August was a month of changes for my blog: I changed the url to TheEdgeofIdeas.com and I also redesigned the site. This month finished with an astounding 1,100 views, a new standard.
September 2015
September was a big month for me! I turned 16 and got my driver’s license. I also found out you can fail a driver’s test for going too slow, ha!
Three days before my birthday I published Psychology Series Part IV: Dress for success. I showed that how we dress has a huge effect on first impressions, along with how we see ourselves.
Something amazingly cool happened in regards to this post: it was retweeted by the UCLA Director of Admissions for EMBA Program at UCLA Anderson, Sylvia Haas.
@TheEdgeofIdeas Thanks for tweeting it – this is powerful & something people have complete control over!
— UCLA Executive MBA (@SylviaHaas) September 3, 2015
In September I also published an article on why you should be getting up earlier, 15 things to be grateful for, and how you can make your home a happier place.
September ended with 1,209 views total, a number that would continue to rise.
October 2015
In October I published 5 posts. It was more of a quiet month, just a lot of homework and school going on.
The fifth, and so far final, part of the Psychology Series was published. It describes the psychology of why we eat, it’s not just cause you’re hungry either.
Next came a short, inspirational post: Get inspired in 5 minutes: 25 quotes on success. It contained quotes from some of the most successful men and women of all time.
The week of October 18 brought a post of the events in history of that week, two from each day.
Along with the CNBC GOP debate on October 28, I wrote a post reviewing the performance of the moderators and the candidates. The moderators did not get a great review.
To end the month, 5 totally last minute Halloween costume ideas was published, giving people quick, homemade costume ideas.
October closed out with a record 1,894 views and 1,482 visitors.
November 2015
Along with the dawn of November and December, soccer season began. During both months I became very busy with keeping up with soccer, and keeping straight As in my classes. Meaning the posts were a bit shorter.
Get happy in five minutes: 16 quotes on happiness was a post with quotes from some of the happiest people throughout history. It was a fun post, which was reflected by its views.
November 16 brought the first snow to my mountains, so I wrote a short poem about it.
To open the beginning of the end of 2015, I wrote about 17 lesser known events that occurred in 2015.
I was also accepted to have a channel in Apple News during November, Apple users: Go subscribe!
November closed out with 1,470 views and 1,101 visitors.
December 2015
With the opening of the Christmas season I published two similar lists: 8 things to get a teenage boy for Christmas and What to get your parents for Christmas.
To close out December and 2015 I published a post of 10 New Year’s Resolutions, and how to maintain them.
December also marked my first post on the Los Angeles Times High School Insider. It was titled Finding the right college for you: No thank you US News’ rankings. In the article’s first week it garnered 460 total views!
December ended with 1,710 views.
All in all 2015 ended with 7,890 views and 5,635 visitors. Here’s to a great year ahead in 2016!
Thank you! 😉
A year well done Luke!