So a few years ago I was talking with a close girlfriend of mine. She was sharing with me a difficult experience she was having and because I had undergone something similar years earlier, I shared with her my experiences. And although our experiences were not exactly the same, there was a connection there. A common ground. And after I had finished telling her, she looked at me and said, “I know exactly what you mean.”
I really do think those are some of the most important words that we, as human beings, can speak to one other. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been so relieved to hear someone describe a challenge or struggle because then it’s like, “Wow. It’s not just me. I’m not crazy.”
As you can tell, that conversation has really stuck with me, and to be completely honest it was about that time when the seeds of starting a blog were planted. I was just having such a tough time wrapping my head around my only child going off to college. There was so much fear and anxiety. And I thought to myself, “Surely I can’t be the only one.”
So for the past couple of years I have been sharing the ups and downs of this part of the motherhood journey. And the funny thing is, is that in my hopes of sharing my struggles to possibly help others who might find themselves in the same situation, what I have found is that this blog helps ME more than I could possibly have imagined. I can’t tell you how cathartic it is to ‘write’ down my thoughts and my feelings. Just to get this stuff out. Honest to God, it’s like therapy for me. For some reason, the actual process of organizing my thoughts enough to write them down helps me so much in figuring things out. And then once it’s out of my head on a ‘page’ I feel so much lighter. Freer if that makes any sense.
I know I’ve said this before, but the fact that anyone reads my blog besides my mom is amazing to me. And that’s probably the most gratifying part of the whole deal –that in some small way you and I connect. That you get it. Honestly, you just have no idea….
I like your whole trio here but I have comments for each part so I’ll break it up since you did too. I get this feeling because I feel it to… it’s just like that nodding friend who hears you out (not that anyone can interrupt a blog post that’s already written) and then says something encouraging and understanding and gives you a huge hug. I also seem to make sense of life when I’m journaling, and isn’t this just like that, but better?
I like your whole trio here but I have comments for each part so I’ll break it up since you did too. I get this feeling because I feel it to… it’s just like that nodding friend who hears you out (not that anyone can interrupt a blog post that’s already written) and then says something encouraging and understanding and gives you a huge hug. I also seem to make sense of life when I’m journaling, and isn’t this just like that, but better? Plus, we may never have really met each other without blogging!
When I write to work things out it helps SO MUCH. Unfortunately I often forget about that. Need to get back to it more often, but glad you are still doing it!