THE JOURNEY BEGINS….

Thank you for joining me! I recently began an amazing journey to finding purpose. While this can mean a lot of things, subsequently for me it meant writing again. Although being a novice, I likely went at the whole thing a little backwards.

First, I began by starting to write a bookFrankly, this is something I have always wanted to do. Secondly came writing articles, journaling, and doing a lot of reading myself. Thirdly, and I’m finding most importantly, came a website. THAT has been a true test of my patience and tech abilities. Even so, it has been a fantastic and freeing experience to let the words flow and give myself the time and mental space to explore ideas for articles. Sharing pieces of me through both humor and story-telling. It is now finally time to put myself out there. In conclusion, the start of the The Mom Huddle blog.

WRITING- JOURNEY TO FINDING PURPOSE

The journey in writing may have come as a bit of a surprise for those who know me.

“You write?”

“Where did this come from?”

“What are you going to write ABOUT?”

“You don’t want to work in sports anymore?”

First off, calm down. Honestly, it has always been there. I have written thousands of articles in my head over the years. My lone car ride articles are truly masterpieces, for instance! Unfortunately, I just never made time to actually put them on paper or push the envelope forward in any way. Therefore, the amazing Pulitzer worthy stories locked up in this head are ready to come out! Ha! Ha! For the moment, I will begin with this blog.

PURPOSEFUL WRITING- THE MOM HUDDLE BLOG

In any case, my desire is for The Mom Huddle to serve as a sounding board and create community for moms. In this way, my writing is centered around the motherhood space I am currently living. I am not an expert on motherhood. In fact, I grade myself as probably somewhere around a C to C+ mom. #truth

We will get into my self-graded status later. Nonetheless, the point I’m trying to make is no one is perfect. After all, sharing my story includes both the good AND the bad, questioning everything I think I SHOULD know as a mom but feel I DO NOT, and the funny and embarrassing (which tend to be in the same category in my house).

Too often, we think the mom next door, the mom at the PTO meeting, or the mom showing up looking like a million bucks instead of frazzled to the core, has this whole motherhood thing under control. However, we do not know the internal battle everyone is fighting with their own insecurities. We will discuss those insecurities and the general lack of a “Mom Manual” for all of us to reference. Furthermore, in this community we can all start to realize we are more alike than different. Frankly, we’re on the same team not competing motherhood squads. The Mom Huddle is about being teammates, not competitors of who can do it better.

THE MOM HUDDLE- EXHIBIT A

Recently, my family came back from our 2019 summer vacation. In truth, I had to laugh at myself. Even though I’m starting a blog on the craziness of motherhood and how important it is to share real life, guess what was showing on social media? I managed to put all fun and incredible pictures on Facebook and Instagram of my family. Don’t get me wrong, we had an amazing time! However, to look at social media, it was all smiles, cool pictures, and family bliss. AU CONTRAIRE MON FRERE!!!! 

For example, my oldest son on a hike to a WATERFALL mad about the fact we would not turn around because we were almost to the WATERFALL and he was tired. “We live in Indiana…. seeing a legit WATERFALL is kind of a big deal.” (said I to the s**thead….) Taking a picture of Jeremy and I, Bryce captured his big brother sulking on a rock in the background. This picture did not make the social media highlight reel. Why not though? My assumption is you have all dealt with THAT child in THAT sort of moment. Such is life.

Child in background pouting on a family hike

“Happy” camper photo bomber on a family hike to a waterfall.

JOURNEY TO FINDING PURPOSE- SKY IS THE LIMIT! 

The point is, all families have their “moments.” My hope is The Mom Huddle blog provides a platform for a mom to see the craziness in another’s story. Furthermore, realize she is not alone in her thoughts and feelings. In fact, she is part of a community with more commonality than differences. My wish for women everywhere is for them to find their huddle of supportive women who build them up when they need it. On the contrary, also give them a swift kick in the rear when they need it as well. THIS is what The Mom Huddle is all about.

Yes, the blog will have some stories of tips and tricks I have tried and worked for our family. But more importantly, the focus will be on surviving and thriving in your own unique way. The old saying more than one way to skin a cat, seems to apply here. No, I’m not promoting skinning our children! On the contrary, with no “Mom Manual” we have to understand there is more than one correct answer in how we mother our children. From this standpoint, we should then be supporting each other as a tribe of women. We’re all on the same team, so let’s act like it. While motherhood is an amazing journey, it’s also full of detours, mishaps, and pull-out-your-hair moments. Through community, we can and should share and not feel alone in what can sometimes feel like a very lonely and stressful point in our lives.

BYE FOR NOW!

I look forward to sharing with you on this journey. We will see where it takes me, but I’m excited to give this a try. Maybe this will even inspire someone to take their own journey to finding purpose for themselves.

Click here to read more on my story. You can also subscribe to receive new blog notifications and updates on the book progress. Until next time, go be your personal best!

There isn’t one right way to be a woman. There isn’t one right way to be a daughter, friend, boss, wife, mother, or whatever else you categorize yourself as. Instead, there are so many different versions of each and every style on this planet, and beauty lives in that dichotomy. – Rachel Hollis

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