As of this past Friday, I have now been writing at Tread Lightly Retire Early for a full three years. My first post was published July 10, 2017, which feels like forever ago but also not that long at all.

Life has certainly changed in that time, and this blog has grown bigger and more popular than I ever could have imagined that summer day I decided to finally go from blog lurker to blog writer. I think there are few decisions in my life that have been quite as impactful as deciding to start this blog, but I am so, so glad that I did.

Through this blog, I found the community I didn’t even know I was missing. While there is strife and drama like with any large group of people, I find the personal finance blogging community to be one of the most supportive, positive places to be. Most of my very closest friends are those I met directly due to this blog (and my associated Twitter account).

We may have yet to hit a 50% savings rate for a calendar year since I first attempted that challenge in 2018, but I know without a doubt that our finances are in better shape thanks to the accountability this blog brings. And because of that better handle on our finances, we are able to give more and support others in bigger ways than I had dreamed possible.

Blog Stats After Three Years

You know what? I’ve finally come to a place where I really don’t care about them. I love the engagement that comes from blog comments, reader emails, and social media banter. I love that, especially through my Wednesday roundups and my Facebook group, I’ve found a way to make a difference and impact people.

But the page views each day and month? They matter very little to me these days (another reason it’s probably good I never got around to putting up any ads on this site).

I use no fancy plugins, I spend almost zero time on website creation/updates, and I know way less about the back end tech side than you’d think I would after three years of this. And I pay for the business level of WordPress to make sure I don’t have to worry about those things.

Especially during Covid and this time of quarantine, I’ve been thankful that this blog has not been a source of extra stress, but one of community and support. I don’t know what this next year of Tread Lightly will bring, but I know I plan to stick around for a long time yet. I am so proud of this blog and this community I’ve built, and I’m determined to make a difference in this corner of the internet I’ve managed to carve out these last three years.

So here’s to more than a thousand days of writing here (and more than four hundred blog posts). I worried when I first started blogging that I would run out of things to say. Three years in, and I know that wasn’t a worry, and I’ve got plenty left to say yet.

Thanks for sticking with me and my story during this wild time. I’m so glad you’re here.