Missed Bliss

During her panel at Blissdom Canada, the amazing Jennifer Reynolds, Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Family magazine put out the challenge to those in attendance to submit a pitch for a 700 word article that she would pay a dollar a word. Everyone was very excited. I immediately started mulling and note taking. However, life jumped up and kicked my big ideas in the ass. Upon returning from Toronto, I found a husband who was a bit concerned about his health. So much so that he hit the drop in clinic as soon as he could. There he was set up with many tests. One test – a stress test – did not show good results and he was admitted to hospital right there and then. Six day later he had an angioplasty to remove the stuff that was blocking 70 % of one of his arteries. The next day we got him home.

Thoughts of creative writing and the fame of being published went totally out the window and  was replaced with focusing on my family and my husband.   This scared us both.  We could have lost him.   The last few days have been a time of reevaluating what is important to us and what we want from each other and our lives.  Needless to say I  missed the deadline.

Below, is some of what I was working on for the submission. Some of it was drawn from things I had already posted. I wanted to tie in the ‘bliss’ of Blissdom and blogging and what it has meant to me.

Bliss in Blogging

I have only attended a few social media and blogging type conferences. The second best part of attending a conference is reading all the wrap-up blog posts about said conference. The first, of course, is actually being able to attend.

Attending a gathering of like minded individuals, your tribe, is bliss. The energy at Blissdom Canada 2011 reflected that feeling. People were happy. People were there to share their passion for blogging and social media and the general consensus in both the personal and business tracks was just that: Find your bliss. Do what you love. Be passionate. Enjoy it. That for me is what blogging is all about. Blogging helped me find my bliss. Blogging has completely changed my life and the person I am today. It has shaped everything I do. What was an outlet for writing about raising my kids has become a medium of self analysis, self study and self growth. It has inspired me, shown me new ways to think, new career ideas, new aspirations. I have made friends, gained connections and grown in my own self confidence.

I don’t know if blogging has made me a worse parent or better. I do think the person I am now is a better person than 10 years ago. I hope that reflects on my parenting and relationship skills. In fact, I am certain it does. When I look at photos of myself as a mother to an infant 9 years ago, I barely recognize her. She is without substance. She is lost and unsure of herself. She clings to her child and hopes someone comes along to tell her what to do.

Now with almost a decade later with another toddler running around, things feel different. I am a different mother to Tara…this third child. Yes, a mother who might spend too much time on the computer….but a mother with soul, with substance. A mother with joy and bliss in her life that she hopes reflects on the rest of her family.

I have never been one with inspirational career goals or entrepreneurial dreams, but blogging has allowed me to meet women who are like that, and they have helped me reach down and search out just what does make Kerry happy? I have met mothers who feel as helpless and sometimes as hopeless as I. I have laughed and I have cried.

To say I am a bit of a late bloomer would be an understatement.

Blogging has done all that. The community of blogging is what I lean against when I feel the world battering me with its whirlwind of demands, crisis and complications. The community of blogging is what allows me to breath. Blogging lets me take a moment to gather my strength and stand up and face what the world throws at me.

With the community of blogging….I can handle anything.

That is bliss.