Lessons Learned… My First Year of Blogging
Today is my one year blog anniversary from starting FlyingDawnMarie, and so it seems like the perfect time to reflect on the past year. Just over a year ago, I started thinking it would be fun to share a bit more of my life in the air through blogging…so I did my research (thank you google!😂) and I started off.
I had grand dreams of posting five days a week and taking the weekends off... it seemed reasonable enough at the time because my aerial home-base studio had just closed its doors after five years, and my husband was working freelance in between full time jobs…so we had time on our hands to play.
What I didn’t count on was the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes when creating the “play” of a blog post. Looking back now, I have a huge amount of respect for those bloggers who post daily. I am in awe of how they can stay inspired and keep their content fresh!
The first month of blogging I had a blast sharing pictures and going on little aerial adventures with Nate…but by mid-May our daily lives were rapidly evolving as I started taking on more private aerial clients and Nate began working full-time for a new company.
I pulled back on the posting and tried to set more realistic expectations as Nate and I navigated our new work/home life schedule…but I never really felt balanced. As July approached I started feeling like I didn’t even have anything valuable to say, and story ideas either eluded or bored me. So for the next few months I waved my white flag and played quietly behind the scenes without really showing much of anything. As fall faded away and 2019 approached, I felt that faint pull again to continue with FlyingDawnMarie. In January, I broke my radio silence and posted to begin the new year. I felt encouraged and inspired. Then…the rains came! I mean rain like I haven’t seen in the past decade in Southern California! Every week Nate and I would talk about our little adventures and start planning weekend aerial ideas, only to be completely thwarted by the weather. We encountered freezing temperatures, torrential down-pour‘s and a muddy mess. For two months straight, my aerial rig didn’t make an appearance…but in that time we had some much-needed quiet moments together, and I had the opportunity to experience the freedom of releasing control and not being able to do all of the things I wanted to. I started smiling instead of grumbling when plans didn’t go as I hoped, and I started looking for things to be grateful for instead.
So here we are now one year into blogging, and this is only my second post of 2019…but I’m OK with that because this is just a part of the journey. And wherever this one goes I’m enjoying the season and smiling.
”To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
My prayer for today:
Dear Lord, thank you for the opportunities to grow, to learn, to be patient and to move forward. Thank you for all the seasons because I know they serve a purpose. Help me to be sensitive to your timing and not to push my own agenda, but rather to lean into your leading so that I find peace even when things don’t go the way I think they should. Amen
Happy flying friends!
