Blogging and Babies - My Second Act

Hi! My name is Erin, and I have a personal blog called Mommy on the Spot. What is a blog, you ask? Well, it means different things to different people. For me, it’s a kind of place where I go to write about my life and connect with others. You know, kind of like going out for a cup of coffee with some friends without leaving the house . . . which would be frowned upon since I have a little ones that are not even close to the age of being left alone yet.

Anyway, to understand how I discovered blogging, I should probably start at the very beginning (since it’s a very good place to start). 

Before I became a stay-at-home mom of Marie (almost 5) and Thomas (2 years old), I was a junior high school teacher. I was pretty unhappy at my job, and by unhappy I mean miserable. Of course I didn’t realize it at that time. I just thought everyone had a huge amount of anxiety at work and curled up in the fetal position on Fridays, waiting to recover from the hellish week.

So when my life-long dream of becoming a teacher didn’t “work out,” I pretty much felt like I failed.

Then I became a stay-at-home mom, something I always envisioned for myself. In the beginning, I was confused. I didn’t know how to view myself as a mom. And then there were the medical dramas that surrounded each baby: Marie with her physical developmental delays and Thomas with his chronic ear infections. 

Their babyhoods were just a *bit* intense.

Both Babes are totally fine now, but in order to stay focused on the health of my kids, I shelved pretty much any emotion I had. So once they were OK, I. Was. A. Mess. But I worked hard to get that all under control with the help of a very talented therapist. During one session, she said something that changed the course of my life: “Why don’t you start blogging?”

A blog? What’s that? I didn’t know anything about blogging. But after some researching, it sounded like a good idea.

I set up my blog (a feat in and of itself for this former technically impaired person), and I just began to write. And write and write and write. 

Then something magical happened. I felt a part of me flourish, a part that I forgot even existed. I felt excited when I wrote my posts. When I clicked on the “publish” button, I felt such a rush! And when I read my first comment, I. Was. Overjoyed.

I became so excited with blogging, I decided to go to a blogging conference called BlogHer10.  At this conference, I was surrounded by people who knew all about blogging. I also saw that there were many avenues blogging could take me. And that? That was truly inspirational.

So here I am almost two years later, blogging and raising Babes. I love it and where it is taking me.  I feel like this whole new world of opportunity is opening up:

• I am practicing writing on a regular basis.
• I am meeting some amazing people that I am proud to call my friends because I am gaining a better understanding of myself through writing.
• I have bad days, but I am generally happy and feel like I am doing what is right for  me (as opposed to feeling sick to my soul).           
• I am feeling a sense of community I have never experienced before.

I thought, at 33 years old, that my life had already been lived out. But this second act, this reinvention is just the beginning of a new era. The journey took an unexpected turn, and I am so grateful. Now when I wake up, I feel excited to have a place to write.

I feel alive.

I used to be a cynic when people would say that if you love what you do, good things happen.  I think I didn’t understand that because I hadn’t found The Thing that I truly love to do. 

Now that I have found writing and blogging, I can’t help but not believe that.

So now that I have shared a bit about myself, how about you? What inspires you? What makes you feel all alive and exited?