friendships & community

 

Source: tradingphrases.com via Alina on Pinterest

Living the Right Life series is being put on hold for Blog Positivity Week. but be sure to link up with us next week!
and this week, link up with Ashley as we celebrate & focus on the positive parts of blogging!

when i first started to make this blog become what it is now {reaching out to the blogging community}, i was in a terrible rut.
i felt lonely and sad and really just trying to find my way back to genuine happiness.

i was the first of my close friends/roommates to get married. and then fairly quickly {3 months later by surprise!} found out i was pregnant with Elijah.
while i enjoyed being married, loved being with Adam, and was excited for a baby on the way, it was hard to not really feel connected to my friends anymore.
they were out having fun and doing lots of group things together and most of the time i felt really left out.
as much as i loved Adam, i just felt like i needed someone else to turn to as well [some girls!].
i knew that life goes on and things change {i mean i was the one that left them!}
but i didn’t expect it to leave me feeling this way.

then i had Elijah, and of course my friends were there to celebrate and i appreciate them all very much!
they love Eli as if he is their own and i was really grateful for their support.
but i still felt very disconnected.
by no fault of their own really, i still felt so alone.
[i’m not putting any blame on them! i know this was never their intentions nor was it their fault in any way. life just changes.]
i had a husband and baby now which put me on a totally different level as the rest.
i tried hard to do things like before but it just wasn’t the same anymore.
i had a child that needed to be nursed and to take multiple naps and had an early bedtime… all these things that just made it hard for me to go out and actually do stuff like i used to.
not to mention all the hormones and emotions that come with having a baby… i was a wreck.

i tried to make other friends from church who also were married and had kids. i became really close to them & we did a lot of stuff together. we talked and vented about the joys & frustrations of motherhood. we had our kids play together while we ate lunch. and we just hung out, enjoying each others company.
but then last summer they all moved away.
and i felt all alone again.

so i started writing.

about this time i started going to therapy to try to understand my emotions better.
this helped me even more to find my strength to write & open up about my life
and i started reaching out more to other bloggers & the blogging community.

what happened next was honestly a complete shock to me.
i started gaining followers & {really} friends!
people started commenting on my posts and sharing their own story.
i started emailing other readers, bloggers and shop owners who, still to this day, have become really close friends.
i got to know amazing women who felt the same way as me & could relate!
i met Ashley and had the opportunity to start working with her.
all of these incredible people started coming into my life all because of this little blog.

i was just telling Adam last night what a huge blessing this blog has been for me.
i don’t know if i could fully explain how much it has helped me become a truly better person.
[but if you have experienced it, then you know just how special this blogging thing can be]
i have made incredible friendships {online & offline} that i know will last forever
[or at least a very very very long time!]
i have found a strong, loving community that is filled with the most kind & supportive people

this blog & all of you have helped me find my true happiness again, something that felt so far far away less than a year go.

i know it all sounds really cheesy. and maybe not everyone feels the same way about blogging.
but i honestly do.
thank you all so much for being my friends!
thank you for always supporting me!
thank you for teaching me what life & love is all about and for helping me learn to be happy!
thank you for all that you do for me & my family!

 

[via]

i want to make it clear that this post is not meant to bash any real-life friends i have. i love my friends and they have really been there for as well during this time. i am grateful for them and for their own comments and emails on my blog as well. i have become really close with friends who i have known for years through blogging as well. this is just to show my appreciation for the rest of the blogging community that i may not have known in person before and i have grown to love and adore. so please don’t think i am not grateful for my other friends because i very much am!