i suppose for me it was cuz social media felt extremely exhausting; i felt pretty burnt out from it - and i really felt the modern web was... far from how it could be, i guess. for a lack of a better term.
i ended up with Neocities for a bit, but over time i ended up on Nekoweb as i felt Neocities didn't quite feel like it hit the same way? idk. Nekoweb just feels more like at home for me lol.
especially since it's let me express who i truly am i've kinda finally felt free? if that makes any sense. my whole likes, interests, etc have seemed to mostly form during my later childhood with only few from my teenagehood, so especially because of that, lots of it has gotten me some of the worst responses?
i kinda felt personal sites are just way more chill, it's kinda nice being in my own space that i can control :3
in response to your questions, i've always wanted to make my own personal site (^_^) and i've kinda felt like it's a dream come true lol.
i guess some of the biggest challenges i've faced when making it was primarily CSS and JS, and all the cool things that make a site more lively? hehe. now it looks far different from the start and i'm kinda proud of how far i've come.
in five years, i don't really know? i kinda want it to be more 'deeper' and just fix up the rough edges maybe.