A Little Note Before the Next Stories

You saw that 2016 trend? Yeah, that.

2016 was the year Dee Explores began, 10 mind-blowing years ago.

It was a year full of curiosity, movement and a lot of figuring things out (I still do to this very day, I haven’t figured out a lot of things haha).

In 2016, I was exploring a place or two every month, and looking back now, I honestly don’t know how I did it. I had so much energy back then 😅

At the start of this year, a friend asked me a simple question: What’s your word for the year? I sat with it for a while and realised my word is believe.

And maybe that’s why 2016 feels so loud in my memory.

That year was when I started believing in myself. It was also when I started writing. Funny enough, I never liked writing in school. I dreaded journalism and creative writing classes. I wrote because I had to, not because I wanted to.

On the other hand, I’ve always loved taking photos, mostly of places and other people. Photography has always been my first love. I still get butterflies capturing places, people and moments.

But somewhere along the way, I started turning the camera toward myself too. It felt freeing. It taught me confidence and, honestly, to care less about what other people thought of me.

Dee Explores (formerly Deetoxify) started as a simple photo blog. Then words came. More stories, more insights from my travels and everyday shenanigans. I grew to love blogging as a way to document life and hopefully help someone else along the way.

Looking back now, 2016 was the year I truly believed in myself, and the season I’m in right now is reminding me to believe in myself again.

I know I don’t write as often as I used to, but lately, I’ve been feeling this quiet nudge to return to this. Creating videos is fun and all but it can get pretty draining tbh.

So this is just a small heads up. I’m trying my best to write more this year. You’ll probably see a few write-ups coming from past explorations — places I’ve visited, coffee spots I’ve loved, moments I’ve been meaning to put into words.

No pressure. No big promises. Just stories, shared when they’re ready.

But until then, let’s keep exploring