What My Blog Ladies Mean to Me

  Earlier this year, I felt lost.  It is very difficult to explain why.  My best friend had moved 1300 miles away.  My mother in law was dying before my eyes.  I was struggling with knowing that I no longer would have that go to person right near me.  Not my mother, not my best friend, not my mother in law. Life was carrying on even with this knowledge, as it should, but I was floundering.  What was my purpose?  What do I do with myself?  Who the hell am I?  How do I do this alone?  And when I say alone, I know that I have The Big Sexy.  I KNOW THIS.  But I do better having that go to person, too.....that female.....that one that just "knows" what the hell I'm talking about, because she's been there.  She's experienced it.

So, I was playing around on Facebook and as crazy as it may sound, I stumbled upon a post by People I Want to Punch in the Throat. It was one about the over achieving mom's and the elf on the shelf bullshit.  She had me at hello.  I read her blog religiously because it was almost as though I was reading something that I, myself, would have written because Gawd knows, I had thought what she was writing.  I wouldn't say what she had written was life changing, but it was eye opening in the sense that there were other people that I had never met that truly are, like me.  From her blog and Facebook page, I come across The Underachiever's Guide to Being a Domestic Goddess and You Know It Happens at Your House Too, which led me to Tripping While Standing Still, I Want a Dumpster Baby,  Mary Tyler Mom, and Slice of Humble.  These were all women that I followed for a few months before starting my own blog and Facebook page.  These were the ones that helped me in such different ways and didn't even know how much.   Some of them don't even have me on their radar....and that is okay.  Little did I know just how much more I was going to learn about myself while continuing to follow them and read what they wrote/posted every day.

When I initially was going to start my page/blog, I was going to about being a bitch.  A rock 'em, sock 'em, tell 'em how it is kind of gal.  I mean, this is how some people in real life view me anyway, I was just gonna live up to that.  Yes, I am a person who will not hide how I feel about things.  I am a person who is passionately loyal and protective of my friends and family.  I am a person who believes what she believes and won't let someone intimidate me because they believe differently and somehow, all of that made me a bitch to some and I had let it convince me that I was one.   But, my view of what I wanted for my page and blog changed after continuously reading what these women wrote.  I realize that their purpose for their blogs and pages may be way different than what I walked away taking from them, but the fact remains is that I walked away WITH something.  And that something was good.  I no longer wanted to be a bitch or known as a bitch.  "I" hadn't changed.  I was still the person that didn't hide her feelings.  I was still passionately loyal and protective of my loved ones.  I still believed in what I believed in.....but I now viewed things through different eyes.

What did I take from these blogs?  I walked away feeling that I needed to show more compassion to others.  I walked away feeling like I needed to quit being so quick to judge others (insert disclaimer here....I am judgemental....this I know....I am a HUGE ass work in progress on this one).  I walked away realizing that I don't have things bad.  That things could be much worse and that I needed to be thankful for what I had.  A job.  A husband who adores me.  I walked away learning that I needed to be a better parent to my healthy children.  That I needed to show them more patience and understanding.  I walked away with inspiration to be better.  Better all around.  Be better in my quest for health.  Be better in my parenting.  Be better in my role as a wife.  Be better as a friend.  Just.  Be.  Better.  These ladies helped me so and they weren't the only ones.  God....there were a handful more, but these were the ones who helped me the most and continue to do that every dayum day.

As I created my own page and began writing, I found more and more women who were just as inspiring.  (Craughing, Deb at The Monster in Your Closet, Blissfully Discontented to name just a few) How is it that strangers can help one another so?  I don't know, but they did.....

And for that, I am thankful.