What I learned from two years of blogging

two years of blogging

Thanks to Facebook’s memory function, I learned that Sunday was actually my two-year blogversary. Two years ago, I was just far enough along in my pregnancy to be comfortable to announce to the world that I was with child. We hadn’t even picked Harley’s name yet, we didn’t even know we were having a girl yet. I didn’t have a proper theme for this blog at this point – I was just using a free WordPress theme until I proved to myself that yes, I really did want to do this blogging thing and that I could stick with it. Now, two years of blogging later, I have learned so much – about blogging, about myself.

To celebrate Born Geek’s second anniversary, or blogversary, I thought I’d share some of the things I’ve figured out so far, and some of the things I’m looking to work on and learn more about going forward. I tried to do a Facebook live about it on Sunday night, but honestly I just failed – no, I’m not being hard on myself about the video or something, it’s just that Harley was really having a hard time with teething and generally being a demon child, which made my Facebook live a whole lot harder.  Continue Reading

4 Comments Rambling

How to tell your friends (and deal with their reactions) when you’re moving away

moving

I’ve been talking a lot about emigration. I’ve talked about how we came to the decision to do it, how we got through doing it, and all the flurry of activity. But there’s one thing I haven’t talked about yet, and it’s probably one of the more difficult things people can go through. Whether you’re moving to another city, or another part of the world, you will be leaving people behind. Friends and family will need to be informed, and it isn’t always easy, especially when they have complicated reactions. I’ve done this so many times in my life now, I have a bit of advice for those of you who are moving and wondering how to break the news to those you care about – or deal with it when they don’t respond as you’d like.

It’s important to remember that no one wants to be left behind. Even your most enthusiastic supporters will feel sad. Not because they don’t want you to be happy, but because they will feel your loss more than you will feel theirs. No, I’m not saying that people who move away don’t miss their friends; when you move, everything and everyone is new, it’s a completely fresh experience while those who are left behind still live their normal life, but without you in it. It’s hard and sad for them, and it’s almost like they need to grieve the “normal” friendship you once had. And their reactions may be very similar to the stages of grief as we know them, but first – how do you tell those you care about that you are leaving? Continue Reading

8 Comments Rambling

Things that are caught, not taught

caught, not taught

One of my goals for this year was taking my time for myself, time in my own head. On some level, I knew that I just wasn’t feeling and acting like myself, and a big part of that was never really having time to be alone with my own thoughts. It’s something I’ve been struggling with a lot in the past few weeks – Harley has been on school holidays, I feel like there is a constant moving to do list, plus I want to connect with everyone I can before we leave. It’s leaving me very little time to daydream or waste time, which is crucially important for anyone, but particularly for those in the creative field.

You see, there was something I heard a while back on a podcast about how to write good copy. The guy explaining it was saying that while there are certain rules or guidelines to help people write better social media posts or emails, the reality was that it was something that was caught, not taught. I liked the sound of that expression, but it got me thinking about those things I’ve learned and done well with, and how I acquired those skills. While education, research, and learning are certainly important and also something I continue to pursue, I do think that concept of caught, not taught, is vitally important, and ties back into the space in my head thing. Continue Reading

7 Comments Geek, Rambling

It always seems impossible until it’s done – an update on my 2017 goals

update on my 2017 goals

Today is Mandela Day here in South Africa, a celebration of one of the most iconic leaders of the modern world. One of my favorite quotes from Nelson Mandela is “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Any task can appear insurmountable, and then you chip away, take baby steps and all of a sudden it’s done. It’s sort of the basis of goals or resolutions – you aspire to something, but then need to figure out what exactly you will do in order to get there. I made three main goals for 2017, with a series of sub-goals along the way. So here is an update on my 2017 goals – how successful am I after half a year of striving?

To be honest, I think I’m actually doing better than I give myself credit for. So much of life is filled with mom guilt, with feeling inadequate or like I’m spinning my wheels, but actually I’ve made some pretty huge strides. I knew that I had these goals at the start of the year, but I didn’t make a vision board or anything, so they weren’t always at the front of my mind. Instead, I was focusing on all the little steps I had vowed to take to get there. Looking back now, I can see just how far I’ve come… at least on some of these goals. So here’s a reminder, and then an assessment. Continue Reading

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Mom judging and what Baby Dove got right and wrong

my mom judging face

You all may or may not remember a while back I was talking about how everything felt like hurry up and wait. That there was a rush of activity, and then nothing. Well, ever since we heard congratulations at the consulate, it’s pretty much been 100% rush and a whole lot of stress. I will write about all of it soon, I promise, but first I want to talk about mom judging and Baby Dove. You see, only a couple days after we heard “congratulations” at the consulate, I was flown down to Cape Town like a celebrity for the South African launch of Baby Dove. It was a wonderful event that allowed my amazing mom tribe to all be in the same room for one last time before we disperse around the world.

It was also special because of the actual launch. And no, I’m seriously not just saying that because they flew me to Cape Town. In fact, I was totally prepared to be super snarky about the event, mainly because I’m a naturally sarcastic person, but also because I’m so jaded by gaming events that I figured a silly event about soap for babies couldn’t possibly be meaningful. But it was. In fact, you can see my movement from excited but still totally sarcastic, to moved and tearful, back to sarcastic (because let’s be honest, I was never going to live without my jaded view of things for long) on social media, which I Storified for you. Continue Reading

7 Comments Breast feeding, Parenting