Gifts

Taking time out from the Big Project to respond to this tag from Manda.

Here are the rules:

The Rules:
1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
2. link back to the person who tagged you
3. link back to this parent post
4. tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

The Answers:
1. Blogging has given me a place to talk about something that I'm not comfortable talking about IRL. It's intensely personal for me. And, most of my "real life" is about my career, and my current job isn't particularly pro-family. Plus, I am seen as sort of hard-charging and aggressive, which are assets in my field. The TTC-thing is sort of antithetical to how people see me, and just not something I want to put out there with most of my work friends (what they'll say when I'm pregnant is a whole other story, but I'll deal with that if and when we get there). Without blogging, I'd be going mad.

2. Blogging has connected me with other people who are having experiences similar to mine, and has thereby given me support I wouldn't otherwise have. Since 35 is in the rearview mirror for me, most of my friends already have kids, or have no plans for them. I don't know anyone who is currently TTC, or has been open about having trouble TTC, if they've had problems. Hence, I would otherwise have no one to share this experience with, and would have no source of commiseration and support, but for blogging.

3. Reading the blogs that belong to those in this little corner of the world has prepared me to deal with whatever may lie on the road ahead of us. By reading about all of your experiences, I've celebrated your best-case scenarios and cried over your worst-case scenarios, and I think this has prepared me for whatever may come in my own journey.

4. Blogging has given me a place to record this journey, for better or worse. After my first year, I plan on using one of the online publishing services to create a journal out of my blog. It's just for me, to remember where I've been. . .and hopefully, someday, I will be able to look back through it and see how far I've come.

5. Blogging has made my world both a little bigger and a little smaller. A little bigger, because I now have connected with so many more people that I've met through blogging. A little smaller, because these connections are literally all over the place, and I've come to realize that no matter where we live, what our socioeconomic or educational background, or what side of the political aisle we may sit on, we are all connected by some very basic things in life.

I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, but feel free to blog on this one, if you'd like, and have a happy weekend.

PS CD18, and no apparent O. But I'm sleeping 3-4 hours a night, missing lots of meals thanks to meetings, etc., and my overall stress level is off the charts, so perhaps this is no surprise. I'm not temping this month, so it's also possible I had a very short hormonal spike, the monitor missed it, since I've been having lots of CM. I am so busy with the Big Project that I'm not even going to worry about this right now. I AM starting to turn my thoughts to Borneo, however. It's getting closer. . .