HOW BLOGGING SAVED MY LIFE

I wrote this original post 2 months after I began blogging and it resonates even stronger now, almost 4 years later. The love I have for the blogging community overflows with admiration and devotion. I know many of you can relate to this post. Even if you’re not a blogger, there is a common theme here, how something that brings you joy, can turn your life around.

From APRIL 2015 Have you ever felt like something was missing? Yet, it was hard to pinpoint? I mean, my husband and kids are happy and healthy, my marriage rocks, I have a beautiful home, I seem to appreciate the little things in life and although small, a beautiful extended family. Sure, rough spots popped up now and then but no matter what they were, we would seem to overcome them due to our faith and unyielding love. Yet, no matter how happy my life was, there was still an ache in my heart. An ache that I had no purpose. An ache that I didn't feel I was making a difference. An ache that friends weren't as loyal as they used to be. An ache that two of my children would be going off to college in 18 months and I really didn't know what I was going to do with myself as a big majority of my life is dedicated to my family. And ache that the positivity I tried to exude often wasn't reciprocated in this world. Couple those aches with an anxious personality, increasing social phobias and curve-balls and there were days I felt like it wouldn't even matter if I got out of bed.  Yet, you know what always kept popping in my mind was that so many of the blogs I was a fan of DID make a difference in my life. Many of you bloggers would make me smile with an inspirational post, a rocking' outfit, a yummy recipe, words of advice and basically just seeing that there was still so much good in the world. For the past three years, every time I finished reading a blog post by a favorite blogger, I thought to myself, why don't I start a blog? Just maybe I'll brighten someone’s day and jotting down my thoughts in that kind of format might be therapeutic.  I walked into our living room one day and said "Honey, I'm starting a blog!" A week later, I hit the publish button, then again, the next day, and the next. Guess what, I wanted to get out of bed. Blogging inspired me! Heck I even lost 3 pounds the first week because I was so busy blogging in my spare time that I was forgetting to eat. I became even more organized and prioritized even better than before. When people started commenting, I felt like hey, even if I just make one person smile that's something! I found the blogging community to be so kind, so supportive and so unselfish. I found myself wanting to get up early in the morning just to check my feed so I could comment on other people's blogs and let them know their content had meaning to me. If you're taking the time to write a blog post, you're a special person and it means that your whole heart is in it.  I mean, it's not that often that I blog about something serious but even if it's just a funny post, a fashion post, a family post or yummy post, it's something. I may only be a minuscule speck in this whole wide world of Internet but it's my speck and it saved my life. Maybe not literally but figuratively, just like so many unintentional adventures in our lives, it lifted me up out of the pit and gave me a safe place to stand. Cheers to this fun ride called Blogging, cheers to YOU, who put your heart and soul out there every day and cheers to those who take the time to read and truly smile with you.  xoxo 4 Years Later FOLLOW-UP As I re-read this post, everything in it definitely resonates but it’s even magnified. Blogging has allowed me so much. It has brought me the best friendships in the world and the pleasure of meeting strangers that now have become the best of friends! Some of these ladies, I talk to almost every day! It has strengthened my work ethic. It has allotted me, along with my husband, to resign from a job that brought me no joy and even though I now often put 50 to 60 hours of work into the blog each week, each part of it brings me happiness! One of the best parts also about it, is, it does not define me, it’s not something I have to do, it’s something I want to do! Soon, we will be complete empty nesters and I feel, with a renewed sense of confidence because of blogging, that this new chapter just affords more opportunity for growth. material content, new ventures and always an expanding heart for those of you who read and who I call friends!

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"Do what makes you feel good. Remind yourself of what you're good at and make sure you do that." ~ Jessi J.

xoxo