My oh my. Well that idea didn’t work at all, did it?
 
I had so much fun reading through your Freshly Press Yourself posts, getting to know who you are and how you think. It struck me that we all have so much in common,  yet we express our ideas in such unique and fascinating ways. Thank you for putting yourselves out there and giving us all a tiny glimpse into your various worlds.
 
There were well over one hundred responses, so it was no small feat picking a mere three blogs to “Freshly Press” here on Truth and Cake. In fact, it was next to impossible. But below are three that struck me the right way at the right time, posts I think most of you will be able to relate to and possibly learn a thing or two from. These posts are so fresh and so clean, clean.
 

The Blackbird Whistling had me at hello. Or, rather, she had me at her About Page. The title of her blog comes from a Wallace Stevens poem:
 
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendos,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.
 
Swoon City. Blackbird is a new blogger, and this list of truisms was her very second post (sound familiar?). But she’s definitely onto something. Revel in the simplicity and specificity of her thirty life lessons.
 
Here are a few of my favorites:
 
10. People notice when you greet them with their actual names.
 
13. The list of food that does not go well with peanut butter is exceptionally small.
 
20. Keeping a jar of nutella “for baking purposes only” is impractical and more than a little mean.
 
24. That singing performance to your car radio is, in fact, quite noticeable to other drivers. And that’s okay.
 
29. Part of growing older is realizing that you can be homesick for more than one place.
 

I find it incredibly endearing that Emily begins her post about introversion by listing all of the exhaustingly rambunctious (and potentially extroverted) activities her daughter may be participating in at any given moment: wearing a diaper on her head, rubbing soap all over her face, eating a pencil. You have to click over just so you can see that sweet little troublemaking face.
 
As often as we talk about personality types (I’m an ENFP, by the way) in school, in career counseling, just for fun, we rarely take the extra step of examining what it means to operate in a world made up of “quiet” people and “loud” people. And when we do have that conversation, the loud people tend to drown out the quieter ones. What is it like to be an introvert in a mostly extroverted world, where gregariousness is rewarded and solitude frowned upon? Emily delves into some of the ideas Cain explores in her book, “Quiet” while lending plenty of her own experience as an introvert to the mix (hint: there are beauty pageants involved).
 
 

Finally, I chose Bonnie’s post “What’s the Point?” because I think it touches on something we all need to hear now and then: blogging is about being yourself, not somebody else. You may be brand new and still slowly growing your ideas and your audience. Some days you’ll want to give up. Others you may feel like you’ve just written the most original, fantastic post only to discover that someone else has already posted something quite similar. Don’t be discouraged. Just do your thing. People can smell authenticity a mile away. As Bonnie says in “What’s the Point?”: “I can so easily get derailed when I cruise around blogland and see so many awesomesauce bloggers, and come up short. And then, I circle back with myself and try to remember this: ‘comparison is the thief of joy.'” Say it out loud. Take it to heart.
 
 
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There were so many great posts that I had a really hard time choosing just three. I hope you take a few minutes to check out this one and this one and this one. Also, this one.
 
And, if you find yourself looking for a bit of reading on a rainy day, please feel free to go back to my Freshly Press Yourself post and read any of the blogs you didn’t get around to yet. There are a lot of gems there and, more importantly, a plethora of potential blogging friends. I’m sure if you say, “Hey, belatedly visiting your post from Truth and Cake,” they will be delighted to make your acquaintance.
 
This definitely won’t be the last time I do something like this, so stay tuned for “Freshly Press Yourself Part Deux” one of these not so distant days. Thanks for playing. You rock the blogosphere, my very fresh friends.