What I Learned During My First Year of Blogging

 

Happy Bloggeversary to me! It has been a year that I started blogging. What a rollercoaster! Since I started blogging, I started a new job, met some amazing people and learned so much about life and myself. At times, it seemed that I had bitten off more than I could chew, but overall blogging has made me feel as though I’ve found a tiny space in the world that is perfect for me. I’ve said this in other posts and I’ll say it again: blogging is a form of therapy for me. Writing is how I process life and blogging has allowed me to share what I process with others. Here are three takeaways from my first year of blogging:

1. We have more similarities than we do differences. Since the launch of my blog on January 25, 2019, I’ve received countless e-mails from people who either have a mental health condition or love someone who has a mental health condition. From day one, my purpose was to create content to stifle stigma and let others who carry diagnoses know that they are not alone. No matter the diagnosis or the person, all the e-mails conveyed the theme that suffering is universal and having your pain acknowledged and represented is a type of healing all on its own. Simply knowing you are not alone breeds strength. 
2. Walking in your truth invites others to do the same. Before going public with my diagnosis in 2018 while writing for another platform, I thought I’d be shunned for speaking out about it. Things have been the total opposite. I was able to move forward in my career, I’ve made great friends, and grown closer to my family. I would definitely attribute these things to showing up 100% myself, no longer hiding the pieces of me that I once thought I had to be ashamed of. The very parts of myself that I once kept hidden became the pieces of me that allow me to relate to others. I believe my relationships in all areas of my life have more depth and meaning now. I see others more clearly. 
3. You get out what you put in. Blogging has also been challenging. It has forced me to be intentional about every aspect of my life. And that is something that I’ve needed for most of my life. My posts are not perfect and neither is my life, but I put my heart and soul into my writing and I’ve received nothing but LOVE in return. Am I shooting for another awesome year of blogging? Hell, yeah! And I hope you’re along for the ride!