What I Still Love About Blogging

Photo: CreateHER Stock

YUMMommy has been my baby for almost six years.  No worries, it will continue to be my baby for many more years to come.  I first created this blog to have a place to reach out to other moms (and dads).  At the time, I was single mom who felt alone in her journey of trying to parent a child in modern times.  As with anything in life, I've had my ups and downs with this blog.  Here's why I'm still in it for long haul to keep sharing my journey, tips and more.

What I Still Love About Blogging

The lovely ladies of Blog Charlotte enjoying Mom's Night Out at Chick-fil-A

Building Community & Friendships

Before starting this blog I was a severe introvert.  Now, I'm still very much an introvert, but I'm a functioning introvert with people skills.  I love that I've built a community on here and through my social media channels.  What I love even more are the friendships that I've cultivated through this world of blogging that have transcended beyond the computer.  

It's refreshing to have others who can relate to struggles, frustrations and successes that come with owning and maintaining a blog.  Writing and blogging can be lonely at times because we spend a lot of time in front of our computer screens, but our supporters and fellow blogger friends make it all worthwhile.  I love you guys enjoy sharing your stories with me either in the comments here on the blog, through an email or via social media.

We're here to support each other.  Kids or no kids, everyone needs to have village, community and friends they can go to.  We all need that place we can go to and be surrounded by people who get us and understand what it is we're going through.  And for me, YUMMommy has become and continues to be that place.

Creating A Legacy

Most of us want or desire to create some sort of legacy to pass down to our children.  This blog is my legacy that I will pass down to Moo and JJ.  I first realized that I was creating a legacy with YUMMommy when I was working on a post one day and Moo came to sit on the couch with me.  She's been fascinated by the fact that I'm blogger pretty much since was old enough to comprehend what a blog is.

That day she asked if she could have/take over my blog when she became a mom.  My first thought was "you want to be a mom?"  Isn't that what all little girls want to be at some point?  I didn't.  The thought of being a mom when I was her age terrified me and it took me a long while to decide that I wanted to have kids.

However, Moo's always known that she's wanted to be a mom like me.  And now she wants to be the future YUMMommy.  I told her that yes, I would pass the blog down to her and that she'd have to find a way incorporate her brother and other future siblings.  Since then, she's been just as involved in this blog as I have.  She tags along to blog events, she's always giving me ideas of things that I "should" talk about and she asks a million and one questions on how blogging works.

It's heartwarming and delightful to see her learning and trying to learn the lay of this land in preparation for her future takeover.  I have no doubt that if you're still reading YUMMommy once your children have children, y'all are going to love her and her stories as much as you love mine.

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone

On stage at the Charlotte Southern Women's Show for the Food Lion Frugal Cookoff

One of the things I love most about blogging is that it's giving me several opportunities to step outside of my comfort zone and conquer my fears.  For example, I've wanted to be onstage in front of a live audience.  However, the thought of actually going through with it terrified me and I never sought out opportunities to do it.

This year the opportunity actually came to me when I was asked to participate in Food Lion's Frugal Cookoff.  The event was being held our annual Southern Women's Show here in Charlotte.  There are thousands of people who come out to this event.  I was going to be onstage, cooking a meal that I had no clue what the ingredients would be beforehand and was going to be judged by professional chefs, Food Lion reps and even a professional food critic.  Did I mention that I was also going up against a group of my blogging friends?

At first, I was going to say no because I was just too afraid that I was going to have a panic or anxiety attack in front of the audience.  But then I decided to overcome my fear by stepping outside of my comfort zone.  The event was a success, I tackled my fear and my team won!  I went on from there to appear on a live taping of the Charlotte Today Show and it was amazing as well!

Blogging has been such a blessing for me (and my family) in so many ways.  I'm forever grateful that I gathered up the courage to start YUMMommy and look forward whatever the future holds.  Thank you guys for coming along for this ride!

Do you have a blog?  What do you love about it?