It’s time. I know I’ve flirted with the idea of stopping lifewithjson for some time now and I’ve been telling myself to leave it and that I’ll eventually come back and blog one day but I don’t think that day is coming. The days of lugging my camera around and documenting my journey through life and cars are at days end. 15 years of blogging and it’s time to call it quits – admittedly kind of bittersweet. I’ve met a lot of people through this blog, participated in a lot of special things and had a bunch of special projects, I’ve been able to share my life in a way that almost seems archaic in today’s world of social media and way of quick dopamine hits by scrolling through pics and double clicking to “like” things. Long walls of text and mass amounts of pictures can sometimes be too much for the new crowd only looking for a pic of their car during a show or not having enough time to read the preface and I’m OK with that. I’ve had my fair share of this and I’m appreciative of those who stuck around since the beginning and for those that joined in along the way.

When I first started blogging, it was because I wanted to share my passion for photography and all the new skills I was able to acquire from photographing everything. I wanted to document my journey of building my cars and install days and hangouts – I just wanted to share as much as possible because it created connections and positive  (and sometimes negative) feedback. Over time, it turned into life changes and adult responsibilities and the blog evolved while you guys stayed with me. I’m now at the point in my life where that passion that got me started on the blog has moved onto loving my family and focusing on just doing what makes me happy. As I get older, I find that I’ve become more reserved and lowkey and some of you that are around my age might understand that same feeling. You find out that life becomes so much more peaceful when it isn’t about “Keeping up with the Joneses” anymore and more about “Keeping inner peace”.  Literally.

My 20’s were about the latest and greatest. John got new wheels? Guess I should too. Recaro’s are the new thing? I need a set too. People building VIP cars? I better find one. There’s nothing wrong with this – you’re young, you have little to no responsibilities, you have money to burn – do it while you can. It’s an intricate stage of your life where you’re learning how to be you and figuring out your place in the world. If you do that for long enough, you’ll eventually get tired, be broke, and become uninspired. You’ll feel like you don’t belong and you’re not sure where to go. You know what the “plot line” of a story is? I just described the “rising action”, the “climax” and now the “falling action”. The last stage of a plot line is the “resolution” or the “end”. Once you get there, you start a new “exposition” or “beginning” and you bring everything you’ve learned from your previous plot line into your next one but only this time, you know better to do better. You don’t relive those actions because you know that if you do, your outcomes will be the same; so you create new actions with improved approaches for new outcomes with improved results.

This is where I am now. Not everyone gets there at the same time but I wanted you guys to know my reason for this denouement. All I work towards now is inner peace. I want zero drama. I want zero toxicity surrounding me. For the younger crowd – I basically want zero ick. So what I learned from my first story is that in order to get peace, I need to create it myself and that just means getting rid of anything that I don’t need anymore (AKA this blog).

I’m feeling a bit somber as I type this out but it’s also kind of like a weight lifted off my shoulders – despite me not really doing anything but paying for the domain and hosting (maybe that’s what the weight is LOL). I’ve said it a million times through these 15 years on this blog but I’ll say it one last time…

Thank you to everyone who has supported this page, the content, the writing, and most importantly, me. Thank you for supporting me by tagging me, reposting me, sharing me – it might not seem like a big thing, but every single share has meant a lot to me. Without you guys, I would not have continued for as long as I have, and I wouldn’t be doing the things that I’m doing now without you. Thank you for being a part of the ride on this lifewithjson chapter of my life and for sharing everything from my first new car to my first house to my first kid. I have but one regret after 15 years and it’s that I have to end this and leave it to disappear forever. When I started this, I never really thought about what the end would be like – who does? But I guess we’re here now and while it is kind of sad, it’s really also super fulfilling and I think that makes it worth it. I’ve confirmed with the WordPress team that as time goes on, the content will still be available to view with certain media links potentially being broken. The domain may change to http://www.wordpress.lifewithjson.com but at least nothing is disappearing 🙂

I’ve cancelled the renewal for the domain for the end of the year. For now, the site will stay up until then. I’m not actually sure if that means this stays up as a forgotten website or if it gets taken down completely! It was nice having you all here. I’m still available via Instagram (@jayhoang) if you need me! As they say – it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later!