Keep on Writing

/ Jessica

A WordPress notification popped up just now. Apparently, it’s my 7 year anniversary on this blog. Whoa, that seems a bit unreal. 7 years?

Back then, I was one of those, “Blog?? Oh no, not me! I’m NEVER going to have a blog! No sir! Ugh uh. Hard pass.”

A sudden week’s worth of hospital days/ mystery illness changed that. In the midst of night time hours, while my family slept, I started this blog.

I was sooooooo nervous. I’d spent a lifetime doing what I love doing- writing and taking photographs, but put them out into the world? Umm, no.

My mom was not onboard. She couldn’t really get her mind around what a blog was or why in the world I thought I needed one. It reminds me of the movie, “Julie and Julia” where Julie’s mom has the same sort of reactions.

I carried forward anyway and mom became one of my top readers. She signed up for email alerts. She got notified and read all my posts.

It didn’t seem to take long for her to understand my sudden urge to blog. She stepped right up and into this blogging adventure.

She stood by me when I had zero WP follows and stuck with me when I had 100.

She’d comment on my posts, a few words here and there about what she learned or liked.

Heck, she’d even welcome me back after I had long dry spells in writing. And, I have had some looooooong dry spells!!!

I

Miss

That

Last week I considered quitting this blog.

Seriously.

I have been so absolutely torn about HOW to write about loss, carry forward with other writing, and circle back to loss if I need to. It is absolutely exhausting trying to figure out how to write right now.

Being totally open, to a bit vulnerable, then switching to regular stuff, only to need to write more vulnerable stuff?

Eeks.

It’s like a teeter totter that’s lost it’s balance.

“Forget it,” I thought. “This is too hard. No wonder people don’t write about this! I’m quitting!!!!!”

But, teeter totters don’t get up and walk off the playground, so neither will I.

When I started this blog all those years ago, I did it on the premise that if I could help one person, I’d keep on writing.

ONE person. That’s a pretty darn good reason to write.

And, you know what?

I didn’t see this until RIGHT this second, but dang, maybe that one person, for today anyway, is me.

Here’s to 7 more years!!!

Thank you for reading.

Jessica

zinnia we planted in memory of my momma

© COPYRIGHT 2022 Unmeasured Journeys

*** all writing and photo are mine

26 thoughts on “Keep on Writing”

  4. Happy Blogiversary Jessica. I will be ten years next February. My first four and a half years, I had only two commenters, who followed by e-mail, a neighbor and a friend. Then someone on WordPress discovered my blog, because I wrote about trees and his blog name was “Uncle Tree” – I said “how did you find me?” And then it took off from there.

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    • I LOVE that you had a friend and.a neighbor that commented and were the only ones for awhile. That’s very sweet. My beginning posts had hardly any comments or likes. I used to get SO excited when I got one like. Was the neighbor the same one we chatted about? The one who encouraged you to start a blog?

      Wow! 10 years in February will be celebration worthy!! That’s really great! That’s also pretty cool about the trees and taking off from there!! Very cool!

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      • I only had Marge and Ann Marie who commented for the first 4 1/2 years and a few friends followed me – no comments though. Yes, Marge is the same person who encouraged me to start a blog. I really never thought of starting a blog – it was her doing and because she was a good friend I “went along with it” for her. :) I have to think about how I’ll celebrate that five-year anniversary – my favorite posts maybe. I’ll have to think of an angle. This year on January 1st I made a post about my favorite photos taken in 2021, so I may do that again this year – it was fun going thru a year’s worth of photos and picking my favorites.

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  6. Congrats on seven years of blogging! And yes, I think that writing about your grief is very helpful, so even if your blog wasn’t helping anyone else, that counts. But I also think that when one person is honest about their struggle with loss and grief, that helps others who are also struggling. So trust me, you’re helping more than one person!

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    • Hi!! Hello, sweetheart. My goodness, seeing your name feels like home!! Chestnut Street!!! I really appreciate that you signed up and read my blogs. Thank you so much for that. Grief can feel extremely lonely at times. It’s odd. And, the last thing I want to do is sound like a broken record… that’s where writing gets tricky. I’m glad to hear that my writing has helped you. That means so much to me. Bless you. If you ever want to talk, pm me o FB. Hugs, sweet one!! Thank you for commenting.

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  8. Happy blogiversary! Seven years is no small feat, so congrats on making it that far. I totally know how it is to have your blog not exist to those close to you, but that’s good. It’s sad that your closest supporter is no longer around, and I thank you for being honest and sharing your story. Here’s to seven more years indeed!

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  9. I can understand your reluctance to write. Take a break if you need to, but come back and join the circle. I always enjoy your posts.

    My mom was already dead when I began to blog. She would have read posts only if I printed them and mailed them to her. She knew how I loved computers and email, but she adamantly did not want a computer in her house.

    Family members read mine and occasionally comment, but bloggers are the ones who keep me going.

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  10. I believe your momma is still reading your posts. She puts her comments in your heart. Have you noticed? It is hard to write about grief and then to write about ordinary things. But isn’t that life? Isn’t that how we get through the pain? We have to carry on through the ordinary things as best as we can. Laugh and smile when we can, even though our heart is heavy. Also, your not the first person whose family doesn’t read his or her blog. Some of mine do, some don’t, some do sometimes. Sometimes, it can be a good thing if they don’t read. :) Like when I didn’t mention someone helped with a big task (because I was told the person wasn’t going to help), then the person actually helped but no one told me. Then they were mad because I didn’t mention they helped! So, I updated the post, but feelings had already been hurt! I’ve had other bumps with family members, too. And there are things I don’t write about because I know there would be bumps. So, family not reading can be a blessing. :) Congratulations on your Seven Years as a blogger! You’re a great writer, and I, for one, would miss you. Love the zinnia!

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    • Hi Betty, maybe you’re right. Maybe her comments are in my heart. That’s kind of comforting. I think you’re onto something with the parts about having a heavy heart and doing the best we can. I always go back to what you’ve told me before about that it hasn’t been very long. 4 days til 6 months. not very long at all. Mostly I think I’m just trying to figure out how to navigate my life without a mom….

      I miss her on my blog, too. Thank you for your comments. I appreciate your time.

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