New Year, New Series: Well That Escalated Quickly

Happy New Year! With the new year comes all the resolution noise that I'm choosing to tune out. As I did last year, I’m reflecting on the past year, to be grateful for all it has brought me and focus on continuing to grow and take care of myself. When I think of what 2018 brought, my initial thought is, “well that escalated quickly.” This year…

I went from being a mother of a newborn to the mother of a wildly active, fun toddler and soon to arrive newborn.
I’ve continued to learn what it means to take care of myself, particularly my mental health.
I’ve continued to make peace with who I am.
I’ve gotten clearer on what’s important to me and where my focus will be moving forward.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to share a series of posts around what all of that means to me. Here, I'm going to share with you where mamacoaster is today and where we came from.

This holiday season I had the chance to spend time speaking to some family members I don’t get to see very often. On several occasions, I spoke about my writing and where my blog is going. I started sharing my story in the fall of 2017 on Instagram for the sole reason that it was cathartic for me. I found that being open and honest about the shit I was wading through made it less shitty. I didn’t have plans or goals beyond that. I just was a girl on a couch with a tiny baby.

I stayed true to the mission that I would be myself. I would admire other successful mom bloggers but never try to replicate what they did or be anyone other than myself. Sticking to that mission has brought me some exciting opportunities and features. In 2018, my writing was featured on Scary Mommy, Her View From Home, The Um Mum, Motherhood Understood and I am scheduled to be featured in several new spaces in 2019. I am a brand ambassador for Sage Spoonfuls and Softsie. I am so proud of these accomplishments. Through these accomplishments I have connected with many women that share common experiences with me.

I certainly shared much more on Instagram than I did on the mamacoaster website but I’m trying not to feel so guilty about that. Beyond brand partnerships and writing features, I connected with droves of women. The community of women and mothers on social media astounds me. Hands down, the most rewarding part of sharing my experience as a mother has been getting messages from women with whom my story resonates. To know that someone out there, not only read my writing, enjoyed it but actually feels a little better because of it, is the most humbling feeling there is. It is so much better than having a huge following or monetizing my blog. Those have never been my goals. If they were to happen, of course, I would welcome them, but for now, I am good.

For me, the biggest reward of this journey is that I am reminded time and time again that I am not alone and we are all in this together. They say, “tough as a mother,” for a reason. I have heard 2019 is the year of the woman. I don’t know but maybe its the year of the mother? I hope you will keep riding the mamacoaster with me. You can expect a post next week all about how my mission in sharing my story is changing a little and becoming more focused!

ejk