Taking a break from all my photo-intensive entries to do a Talkative Thursday post is a nice idea.
When I first started blogging more than 6 years ago, I actually wrote in two blogs concurrently. One blog was this one that was focused on my kids. The other one was my personal blog, where I penned down my ideas, thoughts and happenings in my life outside of the kids. There was period of time I had inspiration and thoughts like rushing waters through my mind everyday, so writing a piece of article was easy. Mostly, I wrote about my reflections after reading the bible, or things I learnt observing people around me. I was also very encouraged to keep writing then because there were friends who actually told me they used my articles during their cell group discipleship sessions! Haha!
But by and by, I realised that even in my personal blog, I was writing stuffs related to the kids and what I learnt as a mother. The kids were too big a part of my life that I could no longer find non-kids-related stuffs to write anymore. So eventually, I focused only on the kids' blog. The kids' blog was easy to maintain because I was mostly documenting the activities we did with them during the weekends, So photographs became my guiding force. In some posts, words became few because I was just showcasing my photographs and they sometimes tell a better story than words.
Yet I don't want to forget that I love to write. Writing is therapeutic and sometimes when inspiration comes, I can just rant and rant on. That is why if you have been a frequent reader of this blog, you'd realise that once in a while, a post comes up and sounds like it came right out of my train of thoughts. Haha! Ranting is a good way of releasing stress, methinks. It basically gives you the chance to say whatever's in your mind, and at the end of the ranting session, thoughts always become clearer and less clouded.
Motherhood has its good days and not-so-good days. There are days I feel like I could conquer the world and everything's under control. My house is not in a mess, my kids are playing peacefully with each other and I have time to have fun with them. On other days, I just feel like hiding under my blanket while the kids turn the house upside down and turn a deaf ear to all my shouting and screaming. The funny thing is when my kids are with me, I wish I have time to do my own stuffs, but when I am away from my kids, I miss them like crazy. Motherhood is a nasty play on our emotions.
What I've realised over the years is that I function better as a mum if I have a job. While I did enjoy my 4 months of maternity leave, nearing the tail-end, I couldn't wait to get back to my office and get myself busy with all kinds of projects all over again. Leaving the house and going to my office everyday gave me a chance to disconnect from the kids and focus my energy on something else. At the end of the day when I go back to my kids again, I slip back into my role as a mum, but much happier.
During the weekends when I spend all my waking moments with my kids, it can become so overwhelming especially when the kids give it all that they've got to annoy me with their incessant whining, screaming & petty squabbling with each other. And so, the result is I do not suffer from any Monday blues at all, because first day of work in a week feels like a big relief from my weekend vocation: Full time mum. But of course, having said that, I treasure time I have playing and chatting with my girls because I know how fast they grow up.
Blogging has played a big part in helping me deal with negative emotions that arise out of tough motherhood experiences. I am by nature a positive person, so it is not my style to fill my blog with entries that are complaining or generally negative. So whenever I blog, I focus on the positive side of the experiences and package it as a life experience that has made me a better person. This process has been more than liberating both for my mind and for my soul. And as I document down the milestones in my girls' lives or share photographs of excursions and outings we've had, I get reminded of what blessing and joy they have brought into my life. Blogging is my way of staying thankful and grateful for these little ones. That's probably the reason why I still love blogging after 7 years. =)
I think I've been talkative enough for today's post! It's time to start thinking of what topic to write about for next week's Talkative Thursday post! =D
