This Origin Story

This website got started because I wanted to “do everything” and help out my hometown church on their own website revamp in the 2020 quarantine but I knew very little and didn’t have the flexibility to break their site to learn. So, I called a friend to teach me the basics, coughed up a couple hundred dollars, started my own website experiment and laurenraeodle.com was born.

I had a site and no plan. Upon some brainstorming my experiment grew one piece at a time. Since I was little, I wrote things down that I thought about: from childhood crushes to the next big idea. Early in college, I joined the journaling community. (Thanks Mark from GA for introducing me!) I wrote every thought, idea, prayer, and sometimes those candid conversations with God you really did not want anyone else to ever see. Writing in my journals became a catch all to the millions of thoughts and ideas rolling around in my head.

So the first piece with very little of a plan was a blog. I had a blog site and a consistent writing tendency and told only three people for over a year. (Thank you Mary, Grace and Genevieve for keeping my secret.) I didn’t really want anyone to read anything I wrote. I knew I wasn’t going to be my journal but a catch 22 for things I couldn’t leave in a journal and maybe those three friends might enjoy thinking about as well.

A little over a year in not much has changed. I still write occasionally and this is my experiment. Enjoy what this site has to offer. Sometimes I think about it as snapshots in time or life experiments that teach me new things away from the judgement of the world. I hope you feel encouraged to think about life away from the judgement of others and try new things! :)

Written: May 24th, 2021