why this blog exists

When I was 16, I decided I wanted to have a blog. I wasn’t quite sure what it would look like, what the content would be about, or who it would be for. All I knew is that I loved to take photos, I loved thrifted fashion, and most of all, I loved to explore the world. It was the beginning of the age of online “content creation”, and I loved exploring platforms like Lookbook to be inspired by people sharing their outfits with the world.

And so I created Wanderllusted. It was a simple Blogspot site where I shared details of my weekend adventures with friends and family, my explorations in Sydney, the outfits I wore, the food I ate along the way. I had some ideas to make posts about upcoming overseas trips I had, but it fell off with my final year of high school looming and other priorities I had at the time. I promised myself I’d start again, one day.

Over the years I got caught up in the details: what this might be, how I could turn it into something, what to call it, how to make my photos look professional enough to be shareable, what to write about. Whether it was going to be a photography portfolio or a travel website. What specific niche I would address. Analysis paralysis, if you will. It all felt too hard, and so it became a can too easily kicked down the road. This space existed only in the reaches my mind, a fully-formed vision that I told myself might just become real one day, if I thought about it hard enough (to nobody’s surprise, it never did 😅).

There’s a common trope that you learn more the older you get, but looking back on the blog there are things I can learn from “me” of the past. She let herself be inspired by the things around her, she was honest about what she enjoyed, she expressed herself joyously and genuinely, and she gave herself space to share without fear. Most of all, she just got started.

So here I am, more than 10 years later, writing this and answering to the mental promise I made myself when I was 16. It’s a space to share the places I’ve been, the stories I have and the photos I’ve taken with others who might be interested, but it’s also a space I can do this whilst learning to de-centre the audience at the same time. There is something about this process where the pleasure and joy inherently disappears once you start thinking too much about who it’s for. It’s stripping the process of “creation” back to what it is at its core - the beautiful relationship between the creator and what they create - nothing in-between to dilute, distract or diverge. It’s finally allowing myself to truly exist without needing to fit into a certain niche. And going further than that, it’s actively rejecting the concept of a niche, allowing myself to view life as a rich tapestry of experiences and interests and hobbies, things to be excited about trying without the innate pressure to seek perfection.

This is a space primarily for me. It may be raw and low-fidelity sometimes, but take this as fair warning that you won’t find any apologies here.

And if you’ve made it to the end, maybe this can be a lesson to you too - embrace imperfection, go and do the thing you’ve wanted to do for years but keep making excuses about. Or just use this space as inspiration for your next trip. Or both…?

I’m glad you’re here!

Sera ❤️

"I have only one purpose: to live intensely."

— Arkaye Kierulf, “Spaces”