The Muddled Mother is officially six months old today and these last six months have been a bit of a rollercoaster. I started my blog initially as a way to just write down what I was feeling and to try and make sense of it all through my battle with postnatal depression. I honestly had never thought about blogging before or really even read any other blogs myself. I thought of myself as pretty basic with my writing skills and knew I was pretty useless with my grammar and spelling (I’m sorry, I am trying). After publishing my first post I was actually shocked it was getting read and even commented on and decided to show a couple of my closest friends. The feedback I was getting was so overwhelming, positive and I actually felt good about myself for the first time in a long time. I got brave and decided to write a couple more posts and then decided to go public over Facebook. It was a huge leap for me to be so open and honest about my struggles, but I felt comfort that people could resonate with how I was feeling and I got plenty of messages from old friends, new friends and strangers who pushed me to become open about my struggles.
Blogging has been tough for me as it has left me rather exposed and has made me delve deeper into my own mind, this has left me emotionally exhausted at times and has caused me to have a couple of breakdowns and being put under hospital care. I have faced it all now and finally have the tools in place to get better. I have had problems with my mental health since my teenage years and writing about it has helped me open up and not supress these emotions. I think my postnatal depression was basically everything I had supressed for years finally exploding and I had to finally deal with it.
In January after another breakdown and visit to hospital I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. To have this mental illness labelled on me was pretty scary and something I knew nothing about, but with time, reading and understanding I have accepted it. The diagnoses does actually make sense to me and I am learning skills to deal with it, so I can make my life easier. I am optimistic about the future and have decided my mental illness with not define me.
These last six months I have learnt so much about myself, the good and the bad. I have a new found respect for anyone dealing with mental illness and have become much more open minded. I’m pretty happy with the person I am becoming and plan to continue working in a positive way to help lift the stigma around mental illness.
So six months in and I now have a DA score of 20 (this won’t mean much unless you are a blogger), which I am so happy with. I’m around 715 in Tots 100 as of last month and I have over 3000 followers across social media. I am happy with these stats, but I still have plenty to improve on. I try and average out 2 blog posts a week plus one review, which I find doable and not too stressful. If I don’t want to write for a few days or a want a week off then I do. I am starting to do reviews which I really love doing as it’s part of one of my skills in my proper job and to get paid to do it is always a massive bonus.
The next six months I have many other plans for my job and will hopefully starting the tax year with a self-employed income. I will continue writing about mental illness, my struggles, parenting and hopefully a few more recipes (one of my other skills from my work). I am still considering possibly doing a little bit of vlogging toy reviews with Miss J.
Thank you everyone who has taken the time to read my blog, comment and share. Your support, kindness and understanding has meant so much to me. Here is to the next six months!
I loved this post. I struggle with bipolar disorder and use my new blog as a way of self care. I believe that being honest with who and how I am will click with people and I will find out more people suffer just as I. Thank you so much for this post. Following you on everything 😀
I’ve followed you too. x
What a brave post. You have achieved so much with your blog in just 6 months. I’m glad it has helped you.
Wishing you success and sending hugs
#familyfun
Thank you x
Wow! You have achieved so much in just 6 months. Congratulations and well done for sharing such an honest post. #familyfun
These are amazing achievements, keep up the brilliant work. The topics you blog about are so important and you are amazingly brave for opening up and sharing your own struggles to help others. #brilliantblogposts
Thank you. It’s been tough, but I’m so happy with what I’ve managed to do in six months x
It’s sounds like you are doing incredibly well!! Congratulations. Very admirable to write candidly about your mental health problems too. Hope things continue to go well. #stayclassymama
Thank you. It’s been a hard one to write about, but so rewarding too x
Thanks for sharing ! I am 3 months into my blog and it has been the same scary roller-coaster you described! You should be very proud of your accomplishments…you are inspiring!
Well done for getting to 3 months. I love blogging and the freedom it gives me to express myself. x
That’s all very good for 6 months!! Congrats! #Stayclassymama
Sounds like you’re blog is helping you get through some dark times. Good for you for being so open about your mental health issues. I’m sure it’s helping to raise awareness at the very least amongst those closest to you. I blog as a form of self-therapy too. It really does help to get it all out there.
#stayclassymama
It’s been the best kind of therapy x
Ah wow congratulations on 6 months. I really thought you had been blogging a lot longer. You’ve had a tough 6 months but I am glad you have found blogging to be helpful in your journey! Good luck for the next 6 months. Thanks for joining us at #familyfun x
Tammymum recently posted…‘My Do It’ Raising an Independent Woman
Congratulations
it would be cool to see how many people give up before 6 months, must be at least 50%
I’m sure I read somewhere it was 90%, but i’m not sure how true that is.
I think having. Holstein is a massive mental leap for us, whether we have struggled with Mental health in the past or not, but having a child when you’re already (or have previously) struggled with mental health can compound things to an unbearable point. I, like you started blogging as an outlet, but as a very chatty person IRL found I was publishing it for feedback, and to seek reassurance that I wasn’t alone. Blogging has been a great way to connect with people that can help through the darker times.
I wish I could publish twice a week! That would be great. You’re rocking the blogging world mama. I look forward to your Vlog channel! #thatfridaylinky
Children* Not Holstein!! No idea what that is!
Zoe recently posted…Dearest Mama To Be
I set up my youtube tonight. First little step done! Kids are mentally a massive leap in our development.
Great post! Congratulations on a successful first 6 months. Mental health is, in my opinion, a major issue that we need to face in society. I’m glad you’ve found blogging to be helpful. Good luck with future posts! #ThatFridayLinky
Thanks David
Well done. You’ve achieved a lot in six months. The only way is up! Thanks for linking up to #ThatFridayLinky
Emily recently posted…That Friday Linky
Congrats on 6 months wonderful honest post Thanks for linking to the #THAT FRIDAY LINKY come back next week please
Happy six months! I love reading your blog! #globalblogging
Steph D recently posted…Baby Picasso at Work- The Joys of Painting with a Baby
Thank you 🙂
You have achieved so much in just 6 months! It’s amazing and you should give yourself a really big pat on the back. It’s really hard work. It’s lovely to hear you are feeling more positive and coming to terms with your illness. Positivity is great and you sound like you have it covered. Thank you for sharing with #StayClassyMama
It’s been a hard six months, but also so rewarding
OK, so firstly, I LOVE that picture of you in the hot tub/pool…. I’m a little jealous actually 🙂 … What amazing achievements, you should give yourself a pat on the back! You have brought so much awareness to the topic of Post Natal Depression, I have enjoyed reading your posts and look forward to what comes next! #globalblogging
The hot tub was so amazing, what I would do to go back for a few hours. Thanks, blogging has really helped me x
I love reading your blog! You are such an inspiration. Our stories are very similar so reading your blog at difficult times gives me hope. Well done lovely. Here’s to the next 6 months. Xxxx
Thanks Amy. I also find yours so helpful and I understand we go through many of the same struggles. Meeting other like minded friends is probably my favourite thing about the blogging community.