On Niches (In Blogging and In Life)

I'm a person of many dichotomies.

I love sciences, but I really like design. I like being with people, but I love being alone. 

For a long time, I thought that was something I should change about myself. During the summer, I'd "decide" what kind of person I would be that fall--as if it was that easy. Some years I'd want to be that super sweet girl who everyone loved to be around. Some years I decided I would be the tough girl who didn't care about what anyone thought.

But I would always find out, by the second or third school day, that it just didn't work like that. I can't choose a stock character and make it me. 

More importantly, unlike the stock characters I tried to be when I was younger, I found that I couldn't put myself in a box. I was on the cheerleading squad, but I also played soccer. I was a good student, but I also flunked a test once in awhile. 

Eventually, and especially lately, I've begun to embrace the dichotomies (and sometimes, contradictions) within myself. It's really a beautiful thing to realize the value in loving and embracing your personality with all its quirks, and even FOR its quirks. 

I've begun to love the fact that I don't "fit in a box" and I should add that you should too--because YOU don't fit in a box either. 

Over the last few weeks (and really the whole lifespan of my blog), I've been exploring my blog, the concept of a niche and "categorizing" your blog. Quite similar to the way I feel about myself, I can't put my blog into the metaphorical box. And again, like the way I felt about myself, I thought this way a bad thing, that no one would ever really like my blog if every post I wrote doesn't fit in their little niche of "positivity bloggers" or "design bloggers". 

But I thought to myself, why have I accepted and embraced that fact that my own personality doesn't fit into some stereotype, but I still expect my blog to? 

Though it seems all over the board, 80s music, plant microbiology, black + white design and positivity mantras have one thing in common: they are loved by me. And though the topics of my blog may seem equally random, they are united under the fact that they fit under the umbrella of my passions. 

And as I've thought about my many passions that I've chosen to represent in this blog, I think I've truly stumbled upon one of my biggest passions in this blog. 

I'm passionate about loving myself. Not in an "I believe I'm beautiful" way, though I think that's real truth. I believe that my existence, my interests, my loves, my hates, my quirks, my inconsistencies and dichotomies (and yours, too!) are totally valuable to the world and one of the things that adds to the texture and richness of our lives. And I'm passionate about making sure you know this truth too. When we embrace our weird personalities, we can live bravely and freely. 

That's why when Bloglovin' asks me to categorize my blog, I have no qualms about shamelessly and fearlessly choosing "other".

it's not rocket science.

I feel like most people have a skewed view of science. For instance, the majority of you probably believe that blog posts should not be about science and you're already done reading this. But if you haven't already clicked [x], let me explain to you why we should have blog posts about science.

What should we blog about? Our lives and our passions, right? For me, science is both. I know that science might not be what everyone wants to read about, but I've decided to truly embrace every blogger's motto--"I blog for myself." 

I consider one of my main goals in having this blog recklessly owning my own quirks in order to inspire other women (like you!) to embrace their own individuality. Quirks are good. They aren't something we keep to ourselves. Because that's borderline shame, and that's so not okay.

So to transition into what (I hope) will be a regularish post on science, I'd like to show you that science really is for normal people! In order to do that, I'd like to share with you some articles on science of all kinds that I've found interesting lately.

Has DNA Really Solved the Mystery of the Yeti? // The Guardian. Hint: it hasn't. Basically a geneticist named Bryan Sykes got ahold of a piece of hair that has been claimed to be from a yeti, founded in the Himalayan Mountains. After doing some testing, it seems to be related to an 40,000 year old polar bear jaw found in Sweden. This led him to think there may be an undiscovered bear population in the Himalayas.

Fat May Be Linked to Memory Loss // Life Science Network. Yet another reason to work on losing a little weight. "People with high amounts of abdominal fat in their middle age are 3.6 times as likely to develop memory loss and dementia later in their life."

Fishermen in Peru slaughter dolphins to use as bait for shark fishing // The Guardian. In an underground investigation, Ecostorm (an environmental agency) has discovered a ring of Peruvian fisherman killing dolphins for bait (which is illegal, as it happens).

Neanderthals Used Toothpicks to Alleviate the Pain of Diseases Related to Teeth, Such as Inflammation of the Gums // Science Daily. I mean the article title's kind of long enough that I think you get the gist without me summarizing it...

Sleep allows brain to wash out junk // Science News Magazine. A new study shows that sleep can clean out unnecessary particles from our brains, including proteins that can lead to Alzheimer's. So it's possible that sleep is linked to the next step in preventing Alzheimer's, how about that?!

Well friends, thanks for sticking with me. Listen, I'd love some feedback on a post like this. I know it's different, but I hope maybe some of you liked it. And if you didn't, please don't be mean and stop reading this blog altogether. I understand that you might not like everything I post. But I hope that my blog brings you something of value. Back on point, let me know how you liked this post and if you didn't (really!).

What kinds of science do you find interesting? What do you blog about that's a little unique, just because you're you?