How stress taught an unhappy girl to blog

I don't know about you, but I always need a good kick in the ass to be willing to make a change. I'm a terrible can. The accumulated stress, my daughter, and "coincidence" are to blame for me being a blogger today.

 

Getting to the bottom is no mean feat, and I took it in stride with a 50-foot run. I can just live! There's no denying it.

 

I'm not religious. At least not in the true sense of the word. But I do believe in things between heaven and earth and my little angels. Yes, I do. You read well. Guardian angels. It may be old-fashioned, but I'm not a young woman anymore either. If I ask them for help, they help. Nowadays, I think it's called quantum. But I don't use that word. I don't like it, and I'm not exactly sure what to make of the term. My little angels are not rocket scientists and they understand my needs.

 

I often take on more work and worry than I can handle and then finish things at the cost of total exhaustion and stress. Before I stayed at home, it used to be a living hell. Mom in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's, the farm, jobs, and a never-ending merry-go-round. I was like a hunted animal. A walking zombie. And logically, she ended up on antidepressants.

 

And as I wallowed in my stress and unhappiness, my mental state worsened. I lost my job and it hurt to breathe. At first, I tried to re-engage in the work process, but as it happens, you change your mind, and the man upstairs changes. Good time to have a serious talk with my guards.

 

I have to admit, they were having a blast. Within a week, an ad for starting a blog flashed at me. I've always loved to write. Whether it was letters, poems, or stories about our animals. And now I was peeking at it, wondering whether or not I should...and finally started a blog.

 

I picked a template, set up the basic stuff, and got a little feel for how it actually works.  But now what? I knew absolutely nothing about blogging. The first post was such a desperate cry in the dark and a cry for help to find some work. I don't know what I expected, but nothing happened. Nothing at all. And so I figured I might have to do some research on blogging. I found a bunch of videos on YouTube about how to blog and took some advice from it that I was able to understand and follow.

 

Have a theme so that it doesn't clash with the interests of the readers
Post as regularly as possible
Don't overwhelm readers with a large number of posts

 

The topic offered itself quite spontaneously. I've been taking care of my mom for a few years now. I've pulled a few stories from memory and processed them in a way that would give Ali, as we called Alzheimer's at home, some closure and some relief to my soul. Writing also helped me as therapy, so at first I just wrote for myself. I even went off the damn antidepressants. But I couldn't find the courage to post on networks.

 

It wasn't until my daughter, who also writes herself, talked me into it. She's what they call a copywriter. She set up Facebook, and Twitter and asked me. "So? Can I publish it?" My heart was in my throat and I was having a heart attack. And then I took a breath and said, "Yeah."

 

In that moment, my life changed. My daughter had a lot of people in her portfolio, so there was a little tsunami. I don't remember much of those early days. It was so incredible. I was breathing very deeply and trying to keep my feet on the ground. That was December 2020.

 

I added more points to my policy and became a full-fledged blogger:

Find a circle of people who will be interested in your blog (signing up for groups with a similar focus)
Use social networks to publish posts and the blog itself
Try to interact with readers, engage in discussions
Increase the number of your friends on networks

 

At the time, I was still commuting to work and cutting my commute short by writing. It was clear to me that I couldn't sustain the current pace for long. It didn't take long before I really quit my job. The blog kept me afloat. My grandmother was a newly admitted third-degree addict, and I was on the dole, so financially it was manageable for now. So I listened to my little helpers and stopped pushing the envelope from one day to the next. I accepted the fact that I probably wouldn't be able to get a regular job. I just can't do it anymore. What could happen? It'll work out. It's never happened before that didn't work out.

 

The blog had its regular readers, and I met a lot of great people. Especially amongst the carers. I realized that I was actually doing great against some of them.

 

2021 was a very important year for my blog. I wasn't sure if I would have anything to write about. Caregiving is a pretty stereotypical thing. One day at a time. The same thing over and over again. But in April, another boost came. A Magnesia Litera judge mentioned my blog in her article "The ones that didn't fit". I wasn't flying with happiness and I had to hold my nose to keep it from hitting the ceiling.

 

And then it went from there. Invitations to networking groups and blog promotions, a few interviews, and articles. The number of reads was rising and the nominations for the next Magnesia litera were slowly approaching. It came out and I was nominated! And it didn't matter at all that I didn't win in the end. It was an incredible achievement for me! Especially when almost immediately after the nominations were announced, I was offered a book deal. We're in the final edits before printing. A dream come true!

 

But the angels were still doing their thing and soon after the winners were announced I gave an interview to Aktualne.cz. A few days later I received an offer for a film treatment, i.e. using the blog as a subject for a movie. I can't imagine what else I could have asked for.

 

I didn't want this article to seem pretentious. And I don't know if I succeeded. The point I wanted to make is that if you dream of something, go for it headfirst and don't be shy about asking your guardian angels for help, even if it seems totally wacky. Or just call it scholarly quantum. It doesn't matter. You just have to really want to. And don't forget to say thank you.

 

THANK YOU!!!