One Year Ago Today …

Happy Sunday! Today is going to be an easy post. It is a tradition in the blogging community to celebrate your Blogiversary, a.k.a. the first anniversary of blogging and today happens to be mine! Exactly one year ago, I introduced myself to the world. I pressed publish and made a conscious decision to expose my life and vulnerabilities to anyone and everyone who wanted to read my stories.

Thank You

First and foremost, THANK YOU to all for the love and support you have shown me. I did not know what to expect or quite honestly, what I was doing. I had zero desire to add social media to an already hectic life. Now I have Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram (not doing so good here), two Facebook pages and I can’t keep up with any of it!! I do the best I can because you have to do these things to grow and succeed. But, man do I need help! Does anyone want a job that does not offer any compensation? Feel free to reach out!

Because of all the love and support, I have had over 33,000 views on my blog. I started with an average of 1,500 views per month and now I am up to well over 4,000! This past week, approx. 1,600 people wandered over to my website to read various stories. This may not seem like a lot to some people, but I couldn’t be happier. So many thanks to my friends (and Christine) who share my posts and tell their friends about the blog. I appreciate all the help I can get.

I can’t forget to say thanks to my fellow bloggers who have nominated me for so many awards – six to be exact! (Still have two to complete) I have been truly honored by the love from my peers. I have so much respect for them because I know how hard this is.

Also, thank so much to those of you who visited my store and bought a mug or a t-shirt. That kind of love has made me shed tears from pure joy and gratitude.

More One Year Stats

With that in mind, I have built a follower base that is growing quite nicely. For some reason, within the one year, around 4200 people have decided they like me and what I have to say.  Say what?? My Pinterest page has gone through the roof with almost 3 million monthly views. Crazy!

I had no idea what to expect and I have done everything so slowly – always keeping in mind, quality over quantity. The writing is the most critical part of this for me so I won’t compromise that to make money.

Speaking of money, I have made a whopping $160 with all of it going back to some charity or another. But that isn’t why I am doing this really. Would I like to be self-sustainable? You bet I would! However, my daughter, Roberta’s words keep ringing in my head … remember why you are really doing this, was it for the money? Or was it to get my story out to help people?

My Why

I didn’t do it for the money, so that has not been my focus. My life story is complex and until I started this adventure, while everyone knew I had stories, nobody had any idea just how complicated it was. I don’t for one second think that I am alone, I know I am not. I have heard from sooo many people who have been in similar predicaments. A person may not be able to relate to all my stories, but they can commiserate with a chapter or two or even three.

That is my true desire. I share, with the hope that you will share. It does my heart good to know that it helps others open up. People need to understand or feel that no matter what they have been through, they are not alone. This world is a crazy place, and we need to be here for each other. To be kind to one another.

About seven years ago, when I decided I wanted to write a book one day, I planned to preach about not being judgemental. I have been through some shtuff! It is not my desire to complain, and I am pretty sure that comes across. I am not moaning or saying “oh woe is me” because I do not feel that way! We can choose to dwell, or to persevere and fight the crap that can bring us down.

My Purpose

Apparently, I decided to fight. I didn’t even realize exactly how strong I really was until this blog was born one year ago. As I write, I learn so much about myself and connect the dots to decisions I have made. My why for doing this is to be able to help you – the reader while giving myself some much-needed therapy. Folks, I can now understand why keeping a journal can be so important to mental health. Writing is very therapeutic!

I want to show people that we shouldn’t judge others because you don’t know what they have really been through – like me. I made bad choices, with good intentions in a quest to just be happy. It was important to me that I change the dysfunction that I wanted to change and keep moving so my kids would continue to improve it moving forward. That’s it in a nutshell!

Goals For The Next Year

My goals for the next year are just to continue what I am doing, work more on my clothing/accessories store and publicize more so maybe I can become a little more sustainable. I would also like to get my advice column moving – nobody has asked me anything yet! BUT, my real long term goal is to be published. I really want to write the autobiography of a regular/typical person. Maybe I will call it, My Name Is … ?

Everyone wants to read about the movie star or the famous musician, but what about us? What about the typical man or woman who actually walks amongst the commoners? That is real!

So this is my dream – to be published. Have you ever heard of the 7 Laws of Attraction? I believe that if you put what you desire out into the universe and stay positive with that thought, it comes back to you. I have to believe!

Final Thanks

Lastly, my gratitude to God, because I feel him by my side and know that this is what he wants me to do. This is my purpose.

Thank you so much for indulging me with this One Year Anniversary post! It is with so much gratitude, I wish you a very happy and blessed Sunday.

Much Love Always!!

Sandy

#empower #enlighten #inspire #educate and please always #BeKind