Thoughts on…Blogging
I dreaded my sophomore year of high school. That was the year that all students in my grade would be taught by Mr. E. He was notorious for being tough. That was the year that we would study “The Odyssey”, “The Book of Job” and other writing that I still consider extremely taxing. Writing had never been my strong subject. This year not just re-iterated my lack of skill, it drove it home. With a flag. That said “you suck at writing”. And so I essentially opted out of all writing possible. I went to a university with no core curriculum, so I opted to take zero. Yes NO English or writing classes. Yes, my history, science, and education courses required some writing, but I wasn’t really “writing”. To really “write” I would have to be enrolled in an English class. Writing terrified me because I felt branded in tenth grade.
I have read a lot of books in 2015 written by bloggers that actually published their mini-memoirs. As I was driving 2.5 hours home from our adoptive family camp out, I realized that I have mini-memoirs. Not many. And most are in the first year of this blogging experiment. But writing my story and my thoughts are why I started this blog. I began blogging for me. It was a wonderful place to put into writing what I was thinking and feeling. It still is. I love looking back on my “creations” and feeling proud that I wrote something that someone may read. Even if it is just my family (Hi fam!). When I post about speech pathology, I organize my own thoughts. I am inspired to try something new and then write about it. My creative juices started flowing for possibly the first time in my life on the day that I started blogging.
Am I a writer now? Maybe. And maybe it doesn’t matter. I am not doing this for a grade. I am doing it because it makes me vulnerable, gives me a voice, and helps me to share.
Brene Bronte states in her introduction to (affiliate link) “Daring Greatly“: Rather than sitting on the sidelines and hurling judgment and advice, we must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen. This is vulnerability. This is daring greatly.
Being vulnerable means that I am going to take risks and show more of myself. I’m going to actually post my picture, in spite of being much older and wrinklier than my blogging friends. I’m going to take an occasional opinion, instead of always sitting on the side. I’m going to tell you some of my struggles, instead of pretending that I actually have super powers. And maybe, just possibly, I’ll get a few people to comment on my posts and engage in some real relationships.
So here they are… my thoughts on blogging. I plan to discipline myself to blog about my thoughts on various topics throughout the year. These are not terribly organized. They may contain typos and grammatical errors, which I will (after hanging my head in embarrassment) correct at some point. Or not. I will post them when I fell led and I hope one day my children will read them and know their mother a little better.
*Books I have read this year by author/bloggers (amazon affiliate links)
- Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist
- Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin
- Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin (HIGHLY recommend)
- Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider
- Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist
- Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton (HIGHLY recommend)
- A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans (HIGHLY recommend)
- Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
- Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker
If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU!! As a treat, here is a FREE “Parent planning form for the IEP”. When a parent does take the time to fill this out before the IEP, it makes the process so much smoother. The parents feel more like a part of the team, rather than observers. Click on the picture to get the dropbox link to your freebie!
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If I could “like” this a la FB I would. 🙂 Vulnerability and risk-taking always take us to better places–eventually, if not right away. So glad you are hanging on to your blog and I can’t wait to see the new directions it takes! You might just inspire me to take up blogging again myself!
I knew I’d get a nice comment from you Jen!!
I LOVE this post! In fact, that is exactly why I began to blog; to do something that terrified me. What you describe is living a life of authenticity; warts and all. All your experiences uniquely prepared you for where you are living today and it is an awesome gift to share yourself this way. To tell you the truth, I appreciate knowing we are all more similar than different, more comedic than super powered, and more flawed than perfect. I was happy to see your photo and was struck by how young and beautiful you look!
Thank you so much Annie! And thank you for thinking I look young too! 🙂
Love this! All of what you’ve said about blogging holds true for me as well. I’ve been thinking about why I dread blogging now. All I ever wanted to do was share a little piece of me and what I do in speech therapy, but some how got caught up in the frenzy of keeping up with all the other trends and lost my focus. It is my pledge to myself to find my way back to my original purpose, whether it is popular or not. Thanks for inspiring me to do just that!
Thank you Pam!!!! I enjoyed seeing your “girls” this last week at the campout. I hope one day we will meet in person!
Love love love this!! It was so fun to see your photo on TPT the other day. At first I wondered if the site changed requirements for sellers. Now with this post it makes more sense. I own or have read nearly every book on your list. (you might also like Emily Freeman’s books). Great stuff! Brenè rocks. I did a weekly small group discussion with Daring Greatly one summer. I have always thought you’ve been more vulnerable than many SLP bloggers with the posts on your family situation. My heart really went out to you after reading them. The amount of things you juggle amazes me. Please also know that there are many SLPs in our profession who are not twenty or thirty something (me included) and it’s nice to hear more experienced voices on the interwebs. 🙂 I appreciate substance and depth. Thanks for sharing more of yourself with us.
Thank you so much Nikki for all of these thoughts!!! We must be two peas in a pod to enjoy all the same authors! I will look up Emily Freeman. Anything else you recommend? How about the other books by Brene?
Emily blogs at Chatting at the Sky. She has a new book out next week called Simply Tuesday. Good stuff. I think Melanie Shankle is hilarious. I have her latest book on my TBR pile. Another on that pile is Barbara Brown Taylor’s Learning to Walk in the Dark. Just finished Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton which really spoke to me. We did Brené’s The Gifts of Imperfection for bookclub earlier this year. Decent, short overview but I enjoyed Daring Greatly better. Looking forward to her new one coming out this month. So many good books to read.
Nikki can you email me so we can continue this discusssion!! I love talking books!!!! superpowerspeech@gmail.com
What a great conversation you have started with this post! I can so relate to the “i am not a writer”., I used to think that about myself. I didn’t think my thoughts were important enough or valid enough. Blogging is a way to bravely say, I do have some ideas, maybe they’re not perfect but here they are. I find myself growing because of the blog and really thinking about what we do and why we do it. Like Pam, I find myself getting caught in trying to keep up with the linkys and sometimes forgetting why I started this blogging journey. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you Anne for your affirmations! Now that I’ve decided I”m going to blog more of my thoughts, they just keep popping into my head! 🙂
You are awesome!
Hi, I’m one of your regular readers but rarely comment. I’m not an SLP, either. I’m a sped teacher, but there’s so much overlap. This post resonated with me because I have always struggled with writing and have panicked in the past over papers, etc. Most of that I’m realizing was because I’m an immigrant and English was my second language. I’m still not fond of writing , but it can be therapeutic, so I keep at it. I started a blog, as well, because at the time, there weren’t that many out there that dealt with autism or the severe profound, especially at the secondary level. I thought maybe I could help someone. But I found it to be a stress reliever to voice some of my opinions and frustrations, so that is why I continue. I bounce between trying to help, and almost using it as a diary about my job. I don’t want to sell anything, so I’m not very popular, lol, but that’s OK. Anyway, great post that touched a cord. http://Www.specialedconnections.blogspot.com. Jannike
thank you Jannike!! And I imagine, especially for those who did not grow up speaking English, that writing would be a huge asset in improving all language (oral and written) skills!!
LOVE your post, and I think I am your biggest fan! Your materials are awesome, and I think I use something of yours (or multiple somethings) every day at school. I tell everyone how great they are. Plase do not say you are old, because if you are, then I am a dinosaur–I’m starting my 36th year in schools this fall (and I did not start as an infant). I like your writing and your style, please keep at it–I always make time to read posts from you, and from Erik Raj, who I just had the pleasure of meeting in person last week when I was on vacation in New Jersey (seeing relatives, because I’m not sure NJ is considered a ‘vacation’ spot by anyone!). Maybe someday I will get to meet you in person, if you are ever in Southern California (Orange County) let me know!
Judy, you will always be one of my biggest fans! You seem to love me more than my own family!!! 🙂 I may go to ASHA when it is in San Diego (my cousin just moved down there). Is that about an hour away from Orange County?