When you’re 40 something, followed all the cultural norms and expectations for your time and place (small blue collar town in PA),…and a light bulb starts to turn on, very slowly. I’m completely new to blogging but have always been a writer at heart, so bear with my first steps here. I’m already looking for my beloved emojis and I haven’t found them yet. Ok, here’s my first smiley face to say hello. 🙂 old school style.

Well the “enter” key might have just published that first paragraph, I’m really not sure? if so, oops! If not, lets keep going here. My naturally introverted self has spent almost my entire life trying to be an extrovert. Thank God I’m finally figuring it out that the world needs both! My joke (which is funny in itself because I can’t tell a joke to save my life) is that every comedian needs an audience, and believe me, once I start laughing I typically can’t stop. And I’ve been told I’m easily amused, so I’m starting to see that my laughing is just what the comedians around me need once in a while.

I have goals of posting beautiful pictures, quotes, little life stories that I promise will sound like I’m making it up,….you can’t make this stuff up! 🙂 I’ll promise to always be my true self on here, which can be a stumbling bumbling mess (at least I typically sound better in writing than in person), so maybe you won’t notice it as much. But if you do, then I’m reaching my goal of keeping it real.

When starting to brainstorm ideas about why I should even think I could write a blog, or what am I even good at, or am I good at anything,…ok, there it is, that little voice of doubt saying “you just aren’t good enough,” or “leave it to the pros,” or “you’ll probably make a fool of yourself.” Ok, enough. 2 years of good counseling, even though it’s 30 years overdue, has made a huge difference in my view of life. I am enough, and I do have things to say. I can’t promise they’ll be funny, witty, smart, or make sense all of the time, but I do have things to say.

So my start up brainstorming note looks a little funny now. My list of ways to introduce myself in writing went something like this: my life stages, keeping it real, blessed beyond measure, one hot mess, generational blessings, breaking the family curse, nature loving, connections – making and keeping them. I’m not even going to try to pretend to specialize in a food blog, or travel,….not that specific and knowledgeable about any one thing in particular. A few topics that my path has crossed include: anxiety, depression, loneliness, self doubt,…Ok, those are the sad ones. My great ones are happiness in the small things, a sense of humor that just keeps laughing, figuring out that I’m a self proclaimed “biggest fan” of watching people do things they’re passionate about (dancing, acting, singing, playing instruments, telling stories, cooking, crafting, motivation for fitness, love of God and showing it through loving others,…)

I’m a writer,…..and I think I’ve started a small novel here. Thank you for joining me on my start up story line here. From “keeping it real” to the “hot mess” descriptions hopefully you’ll get an idea of what you’re in for by connecting with me. Goals will always be to be open, honest, nonjudgmental, and loving in these shares.

Entry #1 complete! Thank you for being here. ❤️??

#introvert #writing #joy