Blog

Happy September. Last night I found out at the end of the year, Cohost will be put in the forever box. As in, the website will be shut down and will only be accessible via the internet archive. You will not be able to make new posts starting at the end of the month. To be totally honest, I feel so dramatic, but I am kinda devastated. I have been using cohost for 2 years. During that time I quit using both twitter and tumblr. I tried going back to tumblr at some point, but it just doesn’t click with me anymore. Besides using my personal websites, I kinda doubt I will go back to using any social media type websites. At least I am not particularly interested in any of the alternatives out there right now. Maybe at some point something else will come along.

I met a lot of cool people through the website, and even became closer to some folks I already knew before. While it wasn’t always perfect ofc, I really felt welcomed to be myself. Before I always felt like I had to be on guard on other websites. Cohost seemed to be a place where people who didn’t “fit in” on other sites went. I learned a lot about myself, the world outside of myself, and just kinda grew as a person.

Last night I found out while at work, and then had a situation at work that was a bit stressful. When I got home from work all I wanted to do was scroll and read other people’s goodbyes. I kinda had to pull myself away from my phone. I went outside and started the fire pit and listened to some 2 Mello and Red Vox and sat out there for about 2 hours. It felt good. Now that the fall is fast approaching, I think I want to use the firepit more often. My gf and I bought it back in 2022, and I don’t think we used it at all last year, and haven’t used it this year until now. It was too dark outside for crafts, but I love knitting or crocheting by the fire.

Cohost will close to new posts on October 1st, which also happens to be the day I start therapy. I’ve been on a four month waiting list. It feels like one chapter of my life is ending, and another is beginning. It is an odd feeling. In the back of my head I kinda knew Cohost probably wouldn’t make it long term, but right now everything feels so fast. So soon. I still have plenty of time to figure out how to connect with friends elsewhere, but it still probably won’t feel the same.

If you are one of my fellow Chosters reading this, I hope you are doing well. Thank you for contributing to the website that honestly held me together the past two years. My life has had disaster after disaster the past two years and I don’t know where I would be without both the emotional support and crowdfunding I was able to do there. I really appreciate the kindness and warmth I received from a bunch of people who were basically strangers to me. I hope you are able to find somewhere out there that you fit in. I am doing my best to not view this as an end, but as a shift. A shift that the internet can be a kind and cool space. That we can break away from corporate social media.

Probably one of the most touching things about this is seeing all the people sharing their own websites or talking about making their own. Making my own website has been a fun experience and I guess I will have more internet time to contribute here now! I haven’t really felt sure where I want to go with this website. I guess I will just continue to go with the flow. I will probably be spending the next week figuring out how to get an RSS feed going for here and my neocities. (wish me luck lol)

As always, take care of yourself out there. You matter to someone, even when it doesn’t feel like it.