7 posts in 7 days – It was a challenge thrown out to bloggers everywhere by Jennifer Fulwiler, author of The Conversion Diary, and it was one I decided to accept. I’ve been blogging five days a week for several months now so I figured the 7 posts in 7 days wouldn’t be too big of a deal (Of course it’s now after 11:00 Monday night, and I still haven’t posted today, the first day of the challenge!)
Reasons for Blogging Five Days a Week and Not Seven
Sundays – I don’t work Sundays because I genuinely believe God gave us Sunday as a Day of Prayer and Rest. I think that, for all we talk of resting, of getting away from it all, of needing a break – few of us (myself included!) actually know what rest really is or how to do it right.
Let me explain why my day of rest is so important…
As a single mom of five boys, I wake most mornings before 5:00 and go to sleep around 11, but it’s often later than 1:00; there are some nights I hardly sleep at all, and too many days that I see my boys hardly at all. 🙁
There are days the boys do everything on their own: homework, dinner, showers, laundry, and more…
There are days I am so exhausted that I snap at them for no good reason.
There are other days that I am so exhausted that I unthinkingly agree to the, “Hey, can we have ice cream?” that they sneakily inject into their (sometimes) long-winded stories, and before I know it five boys are pushing past me, shoving their way into the freezer, and clamoring for bowls and spoons.
Yes, a day of rest is a much needed day here!
That day of rest has lost me tutoring jobs and has caused me to question whether I was being selfish or unsympathetic about some particularly insistent clients, but that’s not it at all. It is just that, in this world that threatens to pull us apart, rest is so important in keeping us together.
We all need down time,
and reading time,
and sit down to watch a movie time,
and play a board game time,
and go on a family hike time,
and football in the snow time,
which is how we spent a good portion of this Sunday. The weather was gorgeous, so the boys and I went out and played a game of 2 hand touch. My still-painful broken toe labeled me Automatic QB, and, as the only Giants fan in my male-dominated, football-loving household, the fact that I threw more interceptions than Eli Manning did all season was pointed out (aka rubbed in my face) many, MANY, MANY times!
But the point is…Sunday has always been a day of rest for my boys and me.
Let’s see if I can schedule a post ahead of time at least for this Sunday though 😉
Saturdays – Saturdays are another issue.
I don’t often post on Saturdays,
Why not?
I don’t honestly know.
It’s something I’ve been wanting to do.
Maybe I’m just lazy.
Or maybe I just need more hours in each day – a LOT more hours in every day!
Okay, I am determined: I will post Saturday!
My Bigger Blogging Challenge:
The point of the challenge (I believe) was not to just post, but to have us confront our fears of imperfection (I know I am never completely happy with my writing and am always finding room for improvement) and to make our blogs better driving up traffic.
While posting a bit more might not have been a great challenge to me, getting over my fear in order to drive up traffic certainly is!
I decided to take Jennifer’s 7 Posts in 7 Days Challenge to new levels. For me, that meant confronting the hardest part of blogging for me – telling people that I have a blog in the first place. It may sound foolish, I know. It seems like every other blogger out there is frantically researching SEO and looking for ways to promote her blog.
But me? I spent half my time writing praying no one would ever find out about it…
Most of my blogging has been done secretly. I’ve counted on God to send the readers He wants me to have, but truthfully, I’ve also been afraid to come out of my comfort zone and let people see what is really going on behind the scenes of who I am.
The doubts that shoot through my head and my heart are infinite, large, and grotesque; some of the most vocal, the most repetitive go something like this…
Why would you think anyone would be interested in your life anyway?
Why would you think you have anything important to say?
Why do you think you have the ability to write in a style that anyone would want to read?
Why are you so stupid? (This can be substituted with any number of adjectives – all negative)
What if x found out about it?
Why…why…why… What if???
The mantra is endless.
And so, while I will trust God to send those searching online, I also have to trust Him to help me with my friends and family hoping my story may help some of them undergoing painful circumstances frightened and isolated behind closed doors.
I must trust God that…
where I am a big coward, He will give me courage;
where I falter, He will make me strong;
where I want to give up or run away or crawl under my blankets and hide,
He will keep me going, and He will find me when I am lost, and He will make the sun shine on me despite me.
And, while I know I can still count on God to send the readers He wants me to have, I know God does not usually hand us things on a silver platter. There is value in honesty and hard work and love, and He wants us to earn that so that we may begin to realize our true potential in Him.
And so it is with bucketfuls of insecurities, that I let my blog be known today, and I want to thank so many friends for the encouragement they have given to me and for liking and following me on Facebook and Pinterest and on Twitter as @1MomAnd5Boys. I cannot bear to think where my boys and I would be right now if we hadn’t had so many wonderful people around us, supporting us, keeping our chins up and our spirits lifted.
Thank you again for all your support. My boys and I are truly blessed.