In High School, I had an English teacher, Mrs. Connolly. I’ll never forget her with her fiery red hair and red glasses. She was tiny but mighty, and she turned me off from writing for years! I’d dread getting a paper back in her class and see the red all over critiquing my writing. I’m fine with getting critiqued but it seemed that I could do nothing right in her class. I think it was my first C ever in HS. I couldn’t stop writing forever, because I had to write papers in college, but I no longer enjoyed writing and definitely didn’t look forward to it.

I would journal periodically, especially when I was going through a tough time. I have so many half filled journals because I only wrote when I was depressed. Then in 2005, I relocated from PA to NC and started my first blog. I wrote to share my journey with friends and then over the years it evolved. I’ve written on and off over the years, mostly off the last few. What I’ve learned though, is that people want to know your story. They want to hear how you have gotten to where you are in life. They want to know the journey you’ve taken to get here. And the more you share your story, the more you realize how many people have similar experiences. Of course, each of our journeys are unique but there’s often this thread that ties us together.

While it’s not always comfortable sharing, especially on social media, I find that so many people relate and have a positive response, that I feel the need to keep sharing. I also love learning about other people and their stories. Share you stories, you never know who you might inspire!

By the way, I started writing this post February 19th, I guess I need to get better about posting on here more regularly!