Last updated on March 4th, 2024 at 08:24 pm
I have only been blogging for a little over a year now and what an experience it has been. I started my writing career with my first novel, When Love & Culture Collide and from there I wanted to write more and more. For years, I have wanted to start my own blog but things kept causing me to false start. I wrote pages and pages of ideas and the things I wanted to share on a future blog but was too afraid to take that plunge and put it out there for the whole world to see.
Then I had my two beautiful children and I wanted more than anything to document the amazing adventures we would have and record each milestone as it passed us. With the thought that my kids could one day go back and read everything we went through as a family, the adventures we went on, the various things they learned and did at certain stages of their life, it really made it easier to finally take that plunge into the blogosphere.
My first thoughts on blogging were more of an online family diary. A place we record our lives and share with everyone. A place where I could go back and relive amazing memories if I wanted to and re-share them with family and friends across the world again and again. Then blogging turned into so much more for me.
As an expat, I found it hard living so far away from my own friends and family, culture and true home after I had kids. I wanted them to know my way of life and feel the love I felt growing up surrounded by SO many family members. I didn’t feel like I belonged here even after seven years. Yes, I have made some amazing friends and we have my mother-in-law close but other than that there is no aunts, uncles, cousins, other grandparents, and extended family in this country. I got homesick and lonely a lot. I am not used to a house that isn’t bursting with people 24/7. Somehow blogging changes all that.
My blog became my family too and along with that the blogosphere. Through blogging I have made some absolutely amazing “real life” friends. Ones I think will be there forever to count on and share experiences with. Ones that get me fully when others that I know, do not. Some are expats too and it’s only talking and sharing with other expat parents did I realize I really wasn’t alone in my feelings. There are many like me that understand what it means to move across the world and feel isolated. Ones that made me embrace my new culture and new home something I am still working on. Ones that got me to look at it all differently. This year has been the first year in the UK I haven’t felt that pain in my chest, that longing to pack my bags and run home, the homesick feeling that everyone is moving on with you and you are standing still, frozen in time. It’s a horrible pain to hide and put on a smile while you watch families gather for Sunday roasted dinners or go out days out together. Longing that it was your own family doing those very same things together.
Those are only some of what used to come my way a lot and somehow through blogging it slowly made those bad feelings go away. It healed my wounds because I get to share my everyday life with all my family and friends back home as well with an amazing new community – the blogosphere. My family back home can feel more apart of our lives too getting to read and watching videos what we have been up to and see the kids grow more now. The interaction and socializing has also really helped me. It has brought me out of my shell more and I am back to being the person I used to be before I came here. I am proud of where I came from and I am proud of who I am, I am not trying to be what everyone else thinks I should be anymore. That’s a huge step for me. I have a voice and I share it openly now.
I also have never had so many people be so supportive to me when I am striving towards my passions in life, my dreams, and my hopes. Those in the blogosphere get them, understand them, and encourage them. Everyone is continual there when I need advice, guidance, help, encouragement or just a good pat on the back and a high five. For the most part it’s the most love I have ever felt from strangers but it strongly binds us online.
I am in awe of the power of love you can have when you all have a common interest, a common passion, and a common experience. You get it when you meet a group of mommies and you all are first time mommies. It’s a concrete bond that you all understand each other better. It’s the same with blogging. In my experience, most of my family and friends don’t get it yet, or slowly getting there but I remember when I first let it slip that I started my blog, after six months of blogging, and I mostly got ‘deer in the headlight’ looks from everyone. If you don’t know anything blogging it’s very hard to wrap your head around it. My mother still says, “its like a diary right?” Yes and no! It’s so much more than that. You are a blogger you will nodding and understand exactly what I mean by that.
Even though I have been only blogging for a little over a year now, blogging still has brought me more opportunities than I ever thought possible as well. It not only fulfilled my passion for writing, my passion for documenting my children’s lives and sharing them, and healed pain that was at times unbearable being an expat, it is now my full time job. If you would have told me that all that would happen in the span of one year I would have said, “as if!” I have been honored that in my first few months of blogging I was a finalist for three awards in the Mad Blog Awards and the BiBs (I didn’t win any) but the thought that people actually read and loved what I wrote each day was more than an accomplishment for me. I cried for each one. I felt a part of a bigger picture and a part of something special. The work started slowing coming in and instead of fearfully looking for a career soon I have started building something I can do from home and still be with my kids while they are little. A job that includes them and our everyday family adventures together. I could never have dreamt of something more fitting and better for myself.
I am blown away with what blogging has done for me and what the blogosphere community has done for me this year! I can’t shout it enough THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the love, support, and friendship you all have given me this year. I only hope I have done the same for you all. I look forward to what 2015 has to offer and I hope you will be along with me too for the ride and I will be there for you too!
Thank you
from the bottom of my heart
and Happy Holidays
from Let’s Talk Mommy!
* Linking with HonestMum #BrilliantBlogPosts
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Bless you! I’m so glad you found the blogging world and it’s lovely community xx
Thank you Fritha so very much and for being such a big supporter and friend! You rock! 🙂
Awww, this is such a sweet post Jenny. I’m so glad that the blogging world has done so much for you, to make you feel happier and more at home in the UK. It’s amazing how much love a community of people hidden behind computers can give you. For me, blogging came at a time when I also felt quite isolated and lonely; as a first time mummy when none of my friends were anywhere near that stage yet, and it was my lifeline. My friends in my phone who were always there and always understood. Its a powerful and beautiful thing that we have all found. x
Thank you so much Lucy. So true. And I also have blogging to thank for you in my life now too. Definitely is my life line now i cant imagine ever going back.
Aww! What a lovely post! Blogging is amazing and the people you meet through it are….I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and all the best for 2015 x
Thank you ever so much Kim
For all the support and blog love. I have loved all your comments everytime. Means a lot that people take the time to comment and come
Back to read more. Happy Holidays.
I’m so glad I found your blog & your twitter. You’re one ôf the loveliest bloggers around & you’re always one I search for to read. Well done on all your success and I hope 2015 is an even bigger year for LTM xx
Oh Beth you really are so sweet your comment just about made me cry. Thank you ever so much means the world to me that people like reading my blog. Happy holidays.
Aw lovely ode to blogging Jenny! It’s awesome if you can make a bit of a career out of it too. I definitely get what you mean about some people just not being able to get their head around it though. Happy holidays to the Taylors! Xx
Thank you so much. Yes thought i would end the year on a little ode to blogging, a giveaway before I take it off to enjoy the festive season. Although Share With Me will still be on xmas eve and new years eve for die hard blogger sharers. Hahaha
such a lovely post, I only moved across the country rather than a different country but I understand what you mean about being homesick & not seeing your family & friends often but like you I have found some great friends through blogging x
Oh its still the same feeling i bet. Thanks hunny. I am so grateful for blogging now and i cant imagine life without it either. Its a part of the family too.
I can’t believe you’ve only been blogging a year I thought it must of been much longer, yours was one of the first blogs I came across when I started writing mine a few months ago and I love reading it! X
Oh thank you so much. Nope i am a newbie too right with you learning along the way. Really appreciate your kindest words. Happy holidays.
Such a lovely post — I feel fairly similar.
I never had the slightest intention of starting a blog until I fell pregnant. And even then, I hadn’t anticipated that it was something I’d continue once the babies were born.
That said, once the twins arrived — and I began to chart their progress — the idea of stopping my diary for them was unthinkable! I have charted so many milestones and feelings and memories over the last 2 years, and one day they will be able to look over my words and know just how much their mama loves them.
It’s an amazing community isn’t it? Most people have been so supportive and friendly but I’ve also felt excluded by other, more established bloggers, who haven’t been particularly welcoming. It’s sad, but then that’s how it is in real life isn’t it? Not just the Blogosphere!
I’m grateful that mostly my experiences have been positive though. It’s so nice to read that yours have been too!
Happy holidays, to you and your family this Christmas X
Oh what a beautiful comment thank you. Yes well i have had similar encounters myself. You just got to take it all with a pinch of salt babes and go on your merry way. Keep it up. Twins and a blog is hard work but both so rewarding. Happy Holidays.
This is lovely, Jenny. The blogging community really is so loving and supportive, and it’s wonderful to read that the year you’ve been blogging is the year you’ve felt at home over here. I really wouldn’t be without blogging either, for completely different reasons. It’s great you’ve made a career out of your blogging, so you can enjoy the precious times with your little ones. Here’s to many more successful blogging years xxxx
Thanks hunny. Its definitely a great healer for all sorts blogging and the support is mind blowing. I hope its been the same for you or at least a place you find comfort.
What a lovely post sweetie, so glad you found blogging, it’s such an amazing part of life isn’t it. Well done of everything you’ve achieved, Merry Christmas sweetie!
Thank you Vic, so sweet of you. It’s been an amazing year. Loving it all.
Happy Holidays to you too! I can imagine that life as an expat must be so hard at times and it is lovely to hear that blogging has eased that at least slightly for you. I have been blogging about the same amount of time as you and can’t imagine not having blogging in my life now – the friends, the community. It’s as part of me as I am a part of it x
Thank you so much Donna. I couldn’t agree with you more and whilst I don’t blog a lot about how hard it is to be an expat it’s great to know I have such a great supportive community behind me when I do need advice, guidance or a good hug and pat on the back. Happy Holidays
What a very heart felt post. I didn’t realise you had such a hard time when you first moved to the UK. It must have been tough and how wonderful that something so amazing has grown from all of your hard work. Congratulations to you in your amazing blog. I wish you every success in 2015.
Happy holidays x
Thank you laura so very much. That meana alot to me and thank you for reading and commenting. Happy holidays.
Love this post and I can totally relate. I love the doors it has opened. None of my ‘real life’ friends blog, or see it as important. but I sure do, its a huge passion of mine & so glad I found it 🙂 x
Glad its so great for you too. I couldnt imagine life without it now.
What a lovely lovely post Jenny and I couldn’t agree more. It sounds a bit weird but I think to myself every day how lucky I am to have started my blog. Not only has it bought so many amazing people into my life and real true life friends, it’s made me realise my creative side, find a passion for photography, learn new skills and record so much more of our life than I ever would have done without it. I am sure I would have still taken lots of photos as I always have done, but blogging has made me take a million more and now I have such a beautiful record of my girls lives.
I also have managed to give up my previous job and work freelance because of blogging- not to mention the incredible opportunities that have come from my blog- some days I truly have to pinch myself and I don’t take a single second of it for granted as I know it won’t last forever.
Although I have made some lovely friends through having Mads I feel like my blogging and online friends really get me and are true true friends, I can’t believe we are going on a girls weekend in Feb- I am just so thankful for the people who have come into my life through this weird little online world.
Sorry for the essay but I don’t know if it is Christmas or just the fact I am always an emotional wreck (ha!) but I am actually feeling a bit teary as I write this. I just honestly feel so thankful and I couldn’t agree more with everything you have written. xxx
Oh thank you hunny. You are such a great friend and i am the same i dont take it for granted either. I get teary and emotional all the time about it and the new found community i am apart of. I dont hate living here anymore and its changed my life completely in just a year. I cant believe it. I love your essay. So great to have started my blog which brought me so much to be thankful for. Happy holidays. Roll on february. I cant wait its going to be a trip of a lifetime.
Oh this is such a lovely post Jenny, a definite ode to blogging and I agree so much with what you’ve written. For me blogging opened up a world to find the people who think like me, who want to parent like me, and the ones who don’t who challenge me to work out why. It is my creative multivitamin and I wouldn’t be without it 🙂
Great way to put it. Creative multivitamn. Love that saying hunny. So true. Glad its so much meaningful to everyone else too.
Ah I can totally relate to this, blogging literally changed my life! I’m so happy I made the decision to start one. I can’t even imagine how homesick you must have felt, we moved to Spain once and I didn’t think I would miss England at all but I really did and we weren’t even that far away. It must have been so hard for you and I’m so pleased blogging has helped you! You have done so well in a year of blogging and you will no doubt just keep growing and growing. The social side of it is such an amazing extra too and one that I know I didn’t expect. Blogging is awesome! Happy holidays xx
Thank you so much Jess. It was so lovely to get to meet you a few times this year and share our blogs together. Its great so many have felt the same as I have. It’s such a great world I didn’t know was there before! Happy Holidays!
I think that those who don’t ‘get it’ totally underestimate the power of blogging. Jenny you never cease to amaze me with your creativity and drive. I know you will go far in 2014. I’m so glad that it has brought much more to you than that. I think we could all say the same. Happy holidays to you too xx
Thank you so much sweetie. It brought me to you too. So lovely to meet you a few times this past year. Hope to see you again soon in the new year. Thanks for the support and blog love. Happy holidays.
Aah this is lovely Jenny, I’m so glad that you’ve gained so much from blogging! I can’t ever understand how hard it must be for you being an expat sometimes, so it’s fabulous that you’ve gained strength from this space of yours. You deserve all your success! x
Thank you Becky for your amazing words. It means so much to me. It wouldnt be anything without all my readers. I am ever so grateful for!
I am so glad you found your blog. My blog has helped me so much and brought so many great things into my life, mainly new friends and this wonderful community that we are all part of. How amazing is blogging?! x
Hurray for blogging. So true and i am glad most people get from their blog amazing community feel and friends on top of their love for writing and beinh creative.