March 20, 2018 – Trials Bring Joy

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A few months ago I was lying in bed when an idea hit me. I wanted to read people’s stories, hear their voices, invite others into their world. I wanted to dive into words written by people just like you and me, sharing their passions, their journeys, and their lives.

Fast forward a handful of weeks later and here we are. My dream became a reality and I am excited to share that over the next 7 months, twice a week, we’ll have the chance to do just that – read other people’s stories here. Some of them are fun things – exciting life experiences or creative careers. Others are deep and heavy, challenging to read yet important to gain empathy and perspective on.

All of these posts will be written by real people, not necessarily writers, but people who are brave enough to open themselves up and give us an inside peek at a unique part of their lives. To those contributing, we thank you in advance for sharing! You are my hero!

I have always been passionate about people sharing their stories. Story telling welcomes transparency, vulnerability, and allows people the chance to say “me too”. And while there will be many you don’t or can’t relate to, I think reading others stories gives us a unique idea on how to support those in our lives who are walking in their shoes.

Every story matters. And I hope you are as excited about these next several months as I am. Help me cheer on these brave story-tellers, letting them know they aren’t alone if you understand their world, or congratulating them on the story they are living. Each of these pieces makes up a beautiful puzzle of real life. Piece we often don’t see posted on social media, stories that aren’t flashy or fancy or going viral, but that are real, genuine, heartfelt, painful, sacred, messy, and a triumph. These story-tellers are all warriors in their own way, undertaking either a passion or a burden with grace and perseverance, and letting us inside their walls. Let these stories remind you that no life is perfect and assumptions rarely tell the whole part of the story. I hope these stories inspire conversations and spark something in you to look at the story you are leading and find value in its ups and downs.

To get you excited, I wanted to share with you the topics that are ahead in this “What It’s Like to…” series. The diversity is abundant and I’d love to hear some of the topics you are most excited to read about!

Of course, laced throughout this series will still be me – writing as usual and sharing my world and heart, both about the messiness of infertility, motherhood, and the extraordinary amount of grace I need daily. So don’t go anywhere, 2018 is going to be a good blog year.

Just so you don’t miss a single post, be sure to be following me over on Facebook, Instagram, and click on the right hand side (desktop) or at the bottom (mobile) to sign up to receive emails with blog posts as they go live! We will kick things off on THIS Friday and I can’t wait!

Here are the stories we are going to get to tell and read about!

What it’s like to ….