Biting Off More Than I Can Chew: A Coder’s Reality Check

Sometimes, enthusiasm can lead you down rabbit holes you’re not quite ready for. That’s exactly what happened to me this week as I stared at the mountain I’d decided to climb: creating a WordPress plugin. Spoiler alert—it’s a very steep climb when you’re still figuring out what “functions.php” even means.

Overestimating Myself

I was so excited about the idea of tweaking my blog’s post dates to show “420” on a specific day every year. It sounded quirky, fun, and totally doable. But as I researched how to implement the change, I quickly realized I’d gotten ahead of myself. Every explanation I read was filled with terms that might as well have been in another language. Functions, hooks, filters—oh my!

I wasn’t just out of my depth—I was drowning. I kept googling things and opening GitHub repositories, which I thought would help. But instead, I found myself doomscrolling through endless code and projects I didn’t understand. GitHub is incredible, but for someone like me who’s just starting, it felt like stepping into a library with no idea how to read.

Crashing My Blog

Oh, and did I mention that I actually tried adding a code snippet to my WordPress blog? Big mistake. The site crashed, and I panicked. After that little disaster, I decided it was time to take a deep breath and admit the truth: I’m not ready for this challenge yet.

There’s no shame in stepping back to learn the basics before diving into something advanced. I’m still new to coding, and that’s okay. I want to focus on truly understanding what I’m doing, not just copying and pasting snippets without a clue.

Rethinking My Approach

After some reflection, I’ve decided to focus on beginner-friendly challenges instead of chasing complex ideas. I’ve been browsing Arduino projects too, which has been fun but equally overwhelming. For now, I’m going to keep things simple.

My new approach is to focus on smaller, manageable goals that actually build my knowledge step by step. Instead of creating a plugin right now, I might start with tiny projects that teach me about PHP or WordPress basics. Baby steps, right?

Discovering GitHub and FileZilla

Even though I’m shelving the plugin idea for now, I did learn some things along the way:

• GitHub: This platform is both inspiring and intimidating. There’s so much creativity, and it’s easy to get lost in the endless possibilities. For now, I’m treating it as a source of inspiration and bookmarking anything I might want to try later.
• FileZilla: I spent some time reading tutorials and forum for FileZilla. It’s a tool for accessing your WordPress files directly, but I realized that blindly following steps without understanding them isn’t what I want.

Today’s Mood: Meh

Honestly, I’m not in the mood to learn today. Sometimes you just need a break, and that’s perfectly okay. This journey isn’t a sprint—it’s a marathon. I’ll pick things back up when I feel ready.

For now, my plan is to look for beginner coding challenges. Something small, achievable, and not so overwhelming. Maybe even something fun that I can do with Arduino.

The Lesson Here

What I’ve learned from this little adventure is to pace myself. It’s tempting to chase big, exciting ideas, but without the right foundation, it’s easy to feel lost. So, here’s to slowing down, learning step by step, and enjoying the process—even on the days when I feel like doing absolutely nothing.

Stay tuned for more updates. Hopefully, my next post will be about something I actually managed to figure out. Until then, happy coding (or doomscrolling)!