Have You Tried This Yet?

Thank you to P&G’s Have You Tried This Yet? program and Kroger, for sponsoring my writing about trying new things, and breaking out of my everyday routine.

Click here to find great savings on high-performing P&G products at a Kroger store near you. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Have you tried something new? Have you broken out of your normal routine? Helped someone else break out of there's?

When I was contacted by the Clever Girls (who so totally ROCK!) about doing this sponsored post, I was thrilled! Because I knew exactly what i wanted to talk to you about!

What is my something new?

BLOGGING. 

Yeah, yeah I know- I've been blogging for over a year, but some of your dear readers are new, and may not have gone back and read all 1700 posts (!!!!), so I wanted to talk to you, especially, about my experience as a blogger!

I started blogging over a year ago, in response to an email alert from one of my best friends, about a essay contest that Laurie Notaro (left) was hosting on her website. If you don't know Laurie, she is HYSTERICAL. She is also an inspiration to all women who do not fit the Barbie perfection model. She is real and she writes books that will have you rolling on the floor laughing so hard. Anyhoo, I tried to work on an essay, and somehow or the other (I still haven't figured out why), I decided to start a blog and write there instead. I basically answered that internally nagging thought of "Should I Write?" by leaping into the blogosphere!

I have ALWAYS wanted to write. I was in 2nd grade when I won a local writing contest and got to meet author Wilson Rawls. His "Where the Red Fern Grows' was one of my favorite books at the time, so I was beyond tickled pink! I look back at my horse story that won now and laugh! I was definitely horse-crazy! The biggest tantrum I ever threw was when it looked like we would not be going to meet author Marguerite Henry, writer of the Misty series among numerous other horse stories, like we had planned, at a book signing. Luckily (for all of us), the folks relented and we went and she was very very sweet, and signed my book with a Christmas tree drawing! I was over the moon!

I have always been a voracious reader (thanks Mom and Dad for instilling that in me), so I should not ave been surprised, looking back, that I wanted to write. But by the time I got to high school, I loved books, but just didn't have the same resolve to take writing in college- music had won out and I went into Broadcast Communications. Course I was still writing- just newspaper articles, press releases and ads! AH-social media BEFORE it was called social media! LOL

I didn't venture into radio or newspaper, but took a different career path, thanks to some well-meaning friends who thought I was perfect for a job in their field of work. And I was- as I am still doing the same job, just in a different state! BUT, as is the case when one gets older, I started feeling that urge to write again. Course Motherhood will do that to you too!

I wandered into the land of blogging with literally no info, except how to set up a Blogspot blog! Within weeks I had met some of the most giving and nuturing people online!  Who you ask?

My fellow Mommy bloggers! Literally they became my online mentors. No one I spoke with declined to offer any help or point me in the right direction. they literally uplifted my spirit and made me believe that I may have finally found my missing niche. Writing a novel? A Dream that I can never find the time for. Writing a blog one post at a time? Totally doable!

Now if you've read this blog, you know it's pretty much 'niche-less' according to bloggy land!  So when I was accepted for the WeBlog Conference last year I was beyond psyched and delighted! It still amazes me to this day that with less than a year of blogging under my belt, that Jyl and Kelli, saw something in my writing that they could help, and that I could help others with! I have always been a person who could find an answer to a problem presented (thanks to all those nuns who taught RESEARCH!), so it was a dream come true to me!

At the conference I met some of the nicest, most honest, fun and pretty darn cool people I've ever met! It was a great group and Jyl and Kelli selected some great people. We even formed our own group after wards because we wanted to keep the closeness going! But the one thing I took away from the conference the most is that MENTORING is not just for kids and adults. When adults mentor other adults in a past time,sometimes you get a lot more from it- be it lifelong friendships or a stronger sense of self . or a greater pride in one's knowledge!

And that is what blogging has meant to me- it's not just the writing and hoping ya'll will read every post (seriously I know better, but one can hope), it's the relationships that come from this social interaction.

When one of you writes and tells me something I posted made a huge impact in your life, saved your child a horrendous medical experience, or just made your day, I with my college education can not find the right words to say- I am so overwhelmed by gratitude and the amazement of my writing affecting someone else! So let me say it to you now- THANK YOU for the trust you have placed with me and the respect given is magnified, and sent back to you 100 fold!

So when someone says to me "Should I start my own blog?", my answer is always YES!!!!!!!!!

Should you try something you always wanted to, but weren't sure about? YES!!!!!

You will find that taking the chance opportunity will build up your spirit and joie de vivre! So like P&G says, Have You Tried IT?  Find YOUR It and take that leap of faith today!