I love blogging, I make no secret of that. Blogging encompasses so many wonderful things and has changed my life, helping me in ways that I could not have foreseen when I typed my very first post. I started blogging when Baby was five months old, two months before I was diagnosed with PND. Before Baby I had a job I loved, which was the centre of my social life too, most of my friends were tied up with work, so I saw them most weekends and I was always in contact with people. I would work in the evenings and at weekends and that was fine, because I loved my job. Then Baby came along (after a long wait) and everything changed; I was on maternity leave and most of my friends fell my the wayside. Blogging has given me back my feeling of self-worth, a purpose (outside being a mum), sanctuary, therapy, support and the most wonderful friends.
I know that blogging enhancing lives is not unique to me, so I asked a few friends how blogging has changed their lives. Here’s what they had to say.
Hannah – Mums’ Days / Live. Love. Blog
I used to be an avid memory keeper. I had tones of scrapbooks filled with them. Over the years I stopped collecting; I stopped taking as many photos or keeping cards. Blogging has allowed me to get back this passion and to challenge myself to keep improving the way I present them. It’s a scrapbook for my little family as we navigate life together. What is even more amazing is that in sharing my own memories and the things I’m interested in, I have been able to connect with other women in a way I never thought was possible. Creating a community where we can all help each other through this wild journey that is motherhood has been awesome and allowed me to support myself financially whilst doing what I love!
Kat – Beau Twins
Blogging has bought me an incredible gift. It’s united me with like-minded people and became a strong part of my healing process through PND. It’s help rebuild a confidence I never thought I would see again and connected me with amazing, supportive, loving and caring friends. Through my writing, I have been fortunate enough to reach out to people in similar situations which to me, is just incredible.
Amy – Mr and Mrs T Plus Three
When I had my first baby I was just 18, I had my second a year later at 19. Although I’ve always worked I’ve never done anything I’ve truly loved until I started to blog. I have always collected and written stories and it isn’t until now that I realise my writing is a hugely important part of who I am. My blog is a place for me to have a voice in my own right, something that has been truly cathartic for me. It has been entirely life-changing helping me to find inner-sanctum, a confidence I didn’t know existed and best of all form the most wonderful friendships.
Em – Snowing Indoors
Over the last couple of years blogging has had a positive affect on my life. It’s helped me make some wonderful new friends, improved my confidence, has allowed me to give my family new experiences and provided me with an outlet where I can totally be myself. On top of that, it’s pushed me to improve my photography and writing skills, all very positive things in my eyes.
Kate – Pouting In Heels / To Dream Of Dresses
If I had to sum up in one word, what blogging has brought into my life, it would have to be (without a shadow of a doubt) this one – OPPORTUNITY. An opportunity to make new friends, an opportunity to have new adventures, an opportunity to use my voice more wisely, an opportunity to learn and grow, and not just as a blogger but a person too. Blogging has enriched my life because of the many, many opportunities it has brought my way and the wonderful thing is, it can and does do the same for everyone!
Katy – What Katy Said / Live. Love. Blog
I have only been blogging for a year but in that short time it has most definitely changed my life. Reading other people’s blogs has inspired me to make changes to my own life, to be a better friend, a better wife and a better mother. I am naturally very shy but blogging has given me a confidence I never knew existed. I have a social life, attending blogging events and meeting up with fabulous bloggers that I am proud to call my friends. The biggest change has been the way I view myself. I have never given myself much credit for anything but blogging has ignited a passion for writing and photography and I the fact that readers come back time and time again makes me feel proud, proud that I have achieved something of my very own. I am proud to be me.
Julia – Rainbeaubelle
When I started blogging, I wanted to write about the lighter side of life – I work as a news journalist and I’d had a traumatic year where my husband had been critically ill and was still extremely poorly. I wanted a bit of escapism, to write about things that made me happy – my family, fashion, maybe a bit of food thrown in too. I never realised how many connections I would make through blogging, how many friends I would make through this new venture.
Then when my world was turned upside down again this year and my husband was diagnosed with inoperable cancer, I found so much strength from blogging it’s difficult to see how I would have made it through without that outlet. To be able to write through my emotions and feel so much love and support from people who would read my words, that has just shown me how powerful writing can be and how grateful I am that I started my blog in the first place.
Leigh – Headspace Perspective
I started dabbling in blogging a few years ago, but really only invested significant time and effort in it after the death of my baby son, Hugo. He had been born very prematurely because I had a life-threatening pregnancy complication that I had never heard of before I was diagnosed. I used my blog as a platform to write about the life of my beautiful son, promote awareness of the condition that nearly killed me, and to write about my life after Hugo – I call it Hugo’s Legacy. It is not an understatement to say my blog has been my lifeline: it has given me a purpose, a reason to get up in the morning. My posts are written from the heart, very open and honest about my grief and readers have got in touch to thank me for putting into words feelings that they had been unable to articulate. The blogging community is wonderfully loving, kind, and supportive – I am so grateful to everyone for helping buoy me up during dark times.
Caro – The Twinkles Diaries
Blogging has changed my life in so many ways. When I began my little blog it was purely for cathartic reasons. Starting an ‘online diary’ was a way of coming to terms with my pregnancy. Writing it all down was almost an affirmation that everything was going to be OK — that I was finally going to become a mummy, after such a long and difficult journey. Two and a half years on, I still use my blog as a diary but it’s now changed my life in other ways. It’s introduced me to a new circle of friends. It’s given me the opportunity to utilise so many of my skills that I’ve built up over my working life. And excitingly, it’s even opening up the possibilities of a new career. I never — in a million years — thought that setting up that free WordPress account, back in 2012, would impact on my life as positively as it has. My blog has been an incredible learning curve. It’s offered me a place to confide my feelings, new friends, new skills and now a possible change in career. My blog is the bringer of much positivity, in so many ways. I can’t imagine life without it now.
Karen – Stopping at Two
On the surface it may not appear that blogging has had much of an effect on my life. Before the blog I was a happily married mother of two girls and part-time teacher and 16 months on I still am. Blogging has changed my life, but it has enhanced it. Blogging has increased my self-confidence hugely. I have never been much of a writer, but putting my work out in the public domain and getting feedback from people who have actually read what I have written and then fantastic comments about how they have enjoyed what I have written or it has helped them in some way is the best feeling you can get from writing. From reading other people’s blogs I have met some amazing women from across the country, who I would never ever have met if I hadn’t started my blog. I am privileged to be able to call these women my friends and can’t imagine their not being in my life. Finally, the blog has helped me focus on my life and evaluate what is important in my life, how I spend my time and what I want to get out of it. So nothing life changing, but a definite improvement in my life has come from my blog.
So there you have it, some pretty inspirational stories. Has blogging changed your life? I’d love to hear how.
