I barely have time to say this, to sit down and write...
but I'm gonna anyways, so hear me out for a sec...
This is dedicated to You, all of you who have made me smile
who have talked me through what felt like hell,
but also for those of you, who have been there waiting in the light at the end
a treacherous long dark tunnel.
(Meaning, you weren't there during it, but you most certainly have every
right to be called my friends now!)
It seemed for a good 4-5 years (in MY early 30's)
myself and a few of my closest friends suddenly found ourselves going
through a heckuva time in life.
That's not a good heckuva. Life got sketchy.
There was divorce, crisis, depression, miscarriage, anxiety,
financial difficulties, strained relationships...
and basically very low zeal for life.
I remember when I was young, hearing about the 2nd coming of Jesus,
(or as some people call it, the end of the world)
and not wanting it to happen just yet...because I wanted to get engaged,
have a wedding, have kids, a house FIRST...you know the story.
You most likely have been there too??
But once I got past all that exciting stuff, it's almost as life kicked in...
it suddenly became hard, and I quickly found myself saying..
"Ok God, anytime you wanna take me to heaven, I'm so ready to leave this place."
But, instead God gave me some amazing friends,
who sat and listened to me cry about the same stupid stuff
over and over again, literally for years.
And then life started changing AGAIN, God was healing hearts,
we were happy again, we were determined to not let other people
or circumstances drag us down,
we became fighters...
friends were finding love, finding peace, finding freedom...
as was I, but inside of me it has just been a slower process,
and honestly I've had a few moments where minor things would crush me...
but everyone else was so happy again, I didn't want to bother them
with the same ole, same ole. So I kept the down times to myself..
between me and God.
Mind you, these crushing moments have been few and far between lately,
and honestly I believe are just an attack from Satan to see if he CAN in fact
KEEP me defeated, (which he can not.)
HOWEVER... and this is a BIG HOWEVER....
I don't say this lightly. I met several girls through networking...
and suddenly I was smiling all the time again.
Let me just say this... meeting
GIRLS
that I could relate to, that had similar creative
inclinations and interests as me, that were so incredibly encouraging...
was ABSOLUTELY, EXACTLY what I needed.
It sounds silly, it sounds like I am merely keeping myself preoccupied
with the internet or social media.
But if are like me, you know that is not the case.
Particularly if you are mom...much of your daily communication is
with 1 year olds, or 3 year olds, or 6 year olds, or 8 year olds...
It's just the way it is... and YOU NEED SOMETHING to let you be YOU,
not only a creative outlet, but friends who get why you do what you do...
here, online... because chances are most of your real life peeps, don't quite
understand it..
I love my blog, I love being creative with it...
writing, graphics, videos, tweeting, instagram....all that is fun.
I really have found my niche with this thing.
However, it can be very time consuming.
But at this point, there are 2 things about it that HONESTLY interest me
1) encouraging others and making them smile
2) having friends like YOU who make me laugh, smile and get me
Seriously, there have been moments where I get choked up, when typing the words
"Exactly!!" to a bloggy friend on twitter, because I have someone that KNOWS what I mean.
My "real life" friends KNEW exactly what I was going through,
because they were going through bits and pieces on their own...
and they were most definitely there for me..
And then when life got full & happy for everyone again..
it still seemed I needed friends that I could really connect with,
and I got me a bunch...
I got you. wink wink...
So I am writing this as both a HUGE thank you, to all my friends...
BOTH real life and online, who have laughed with or at me,
gave me their honest opinions about my stupidity,
let me come barging into their house in tears, complain,
borrowed me all the coins they had
just so I could get a freakin ice cream cone at mcdonalds...
or repeatedly retweeted how amazing a blog post I wrote was...
but in the end, loved me, encouraged me...
gave me hope.
But beyond the thank you, this post is also a defense for all my girls online,
who are connecting, making God ordained friendships...
and being such an ENORMOUS encouragement to one another..
It's not just something to do to suck time away from you, it's creating friendships...
and you have a world of people question why you tweet so much,
blog, or why you're so into social media...
(after all its not real life, right?)
I'm just sayin... I get you.. I love connecting online when I have a house full of kids...
playing, yelling, screaming...and there YOU are...
someone to keep me sane, someone that is doing
the exact same thing and laughing about it...
even if it is via tweet, ok?
I know things are different, more complicated,
more techy in this day than they were 10-20 years ago ...
"Life was simpler. why must we 'waste' our time on the internet?"
blah blah blah
Is there beauty to be found there? Yes. I have found so much of it
through you... inside of you... and found hope & inspiration.
Don't shout me down when I'm preachin good, yo.
Anyways, there is NO super awesome way to end this, but to say Thanks to ma' girls..
and Holla !... Where My Girls At?
You are truly sent to me by God, because HE knew what I needed
at this point in my life... it was most definitely the beauty and inspiration of
so many wonderful encouraging women.
ALSO: This week I am co-hosting my first link up!! Woot Woot!!
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* * *
Link-ups are all kinds of awesome.
You get new followers and some new super-cool people to follow.
You get new followers and some new super-cool people to follow.
Each week the Totally Social Link-Up will
have a different focus.
This is your one-stop-shop for linking up various
social media accounts and similar interests.
This is your one-stop-shop for linking up various
social media accounts and similar interests.
This week we are linking-up Hellocotton pages!
Next Week: Bloglovin’
Simple Rules: via Jennifer from MommyHuh
* Follow the Hellocotton pages for our lovely co-hosts:
Breanna @ My Beautiful Crazy Life
Julie @ The Funny Thing of It Is
Katie @ Little Becky Homecky
Megan @ Semi-Charmed Kind of Life
* Follow 3 or more others and get to know them!
* Grab the button and share!
* LINK-UP & ENJOY!
