"A Farewell", or "A Point of Uncertain Return", or "I Hope to See You Again", or "A Resolve to Change". I'm leaving. Not as in "I'm taking a break for a bit, check back soon!" or "Oh, I'm not gonna be too active, but I'll still make sure to check my messages every now and then." Leaving. As in "I will make an effort to move on, and I will not be on Scratch in the meantime." Return is potential, but not guaranteed. At the very least, it won't be until I take the time and effort to make some changes to better myself, and to discover other places that i can grow into. Now, you're probably wondering. "Isn't your account 10 years old?" "Why are you stopping now after being here so long?" "Is this forever? Will you ever come back?" Well, let me explain. I made this account when I was 7. Seven. A young child. Back then, I didn't even realize this as a social media, and just a place where I could learn more block coding and play some games. Now I'm 17, and things have changed. I've realized the community this place had and since around 2020, when the pandemic hit and I came on here to pass some time. There were projects on trending that were influenced by a lot of trends and memes, as well as a lot of fun games and other things, that made me realize that this place was a community. So I spent time in it. After a while, I decided to pick up drawing, because I was inspired by a Scratch project that made me think "hey, I could make this too!" So I drew stuff, I got into the community, I made some friends, chatted, played, posted, and a lot more. Until a couple years ago, I wasn't allowed to be in a lot of socials, and even when I had some freedom to go to other places, there were still reasons and enjoyment from here that made me want to stay. But things are different now. There have been several things in the past couple of years that replaced things I used Scratch for. I've seen places to play a lot of unique games on, I was allowed to use Youtube freely, so I looked at animations and videos over there... but one thing didn't change. I didn't have anywhere else to really chat on, or to post casual things like pictures and posts. So I've been using this place. I've seen chatrooms, art communities, I've posted art projects on my own. But over time, I started to feel the walls. Scratch has a fair amount of rules, and I have been making it a point for myself to follow those rules. Posting appropriate projects, reporting ones that aren't... So when it came to drawings I couldn't post here due to breaking the rules, or because people here wouldn't be interested in it, I felt a bit down, and that was where thoughts in my head started to appear of finding other places to go. Over time, I had a sort of intermittent fallout with drawing in general due to some real life issues, so I hadn't been posting projects as a result. Which led to me spending a fair amount of time chatting with people. But over time, that also turned into a weight. There were the spam attacks through the course of the past year, some issues feeling draining, but I could still find a couple spaces devoid of that. Then, over time, it started to weigh down on me yet again. I felt a bit out of place at times, and that only increased when I wanted to get some thoughts out of my mind. I made few long comments talking about my thoughts, then seeing them afterward, they felt like the sort of things that should be saved for other places, not a block coding website. At one point earlier this day, I had finally realized. It's time to move on. Here is what I am planning. I am planning on leaving this site and staying inactive. In the process I will take an effort to discover other places to chat and post where I can have a fresh start. I am not planning on linking said socials on here when I make accounts on them. Partly because it isn't allowed, and partly because I want to be able to have a fresh start without having an activity/following on another site weighing me down. Going to new places, trying new things, without a fear of failures, slip-ups, or misunderstandings echoing far and wide... That's the plan. Perhaps, when I'm done... I can come back here. Post lighthearted things, silly things, things just for fun. Without lingering thoughts of restrictions or for a lack of other places to go. Perhaps, sometime later, I can post things on other socials, but still check back on here every now and then to chat, to create projects, to share things... To everyone who has followed me, chatted with me, checked out my projects... Thank you. Thank you, each and every one of you, for being nice to talk to, for showing appreciation, for making things yourselves that have made that made this site worth being on. For self-improvement, for moving on, for everyone that I met along the way, for all the things I've seen on here that I won't forget... ...and for hope that we may meet again. Farewell.
