Blogging and “Pushing the Button,” One Year Later…

It’s been one year since I pushed that publish button and posted my first blog post.

Time flies, even when you’re fighting cancer!

It seems like this might be a good time to reflect a bit on my blogging experience thus far and share a few of the discoveries I have made along the way.

When I first decided to start my own blog, I had no idea how to go about it (thank you L & J), what exactly I would write about, who (if anyone) might read what I wrote, how long I would keep at it, how many blogs I would end up reading myself, what issues would come to matter to me the most or how addicting it would become.

I was in the middle of chemotherapy. I was losing my hair. I was no longer working. I was depending on my family to take care of things. I had recently lost my mom. I was feeling more than a little vulnerable.  

In short, I was not in a good place and I had no clue how “to do” cancer.

Think about the time(s) in your life when you had no clue about what you were doing or how things might turn out.

Was it when you started high school or started dating? Was it when you got married, became a parent or started a new job? Was it when you signed up for that math or foreign language class you had been putting off? Was it when you got lost or stuck in traffic in an unknown city?

Or was it due to something more profound; a divorce, a job loss, the death of a loved one or a serious injury?

Or was it a cancer diagnosis?

Any of these events might create a feeling of helplessness or be a time when you literally have no idea what-so-ever how you will manage.

For me, two times when I felt most a drift were when I lost my mother and when I received a cancer diagnosis.

As I’ve said before, writing is how I managed. Writing is how I coped with both.

It made perfect sense that blogging was the next step for me to take.

Blogging gave me a place to “put my cancer and loss to use.”

That’s how Nancy’s Point came into being. It was a place to try to make sense of cancer and loss and maybe help others who were trying to do the same thing.

I discovered some things during this past year that I had not anticipated.

I had no idea this blogging community (fellow bloggers and readers as well) was such a welcoming and nonjudgmental (though opinionated!) group. I had no idea I would gravitate to my computer every day to find out if anyone had left a comment. I had no idea I would look forward to reading and making comments on other blogs as well. I had no idea people would care what I had to say. I had no idea I would become friends with people I might never meet in person. I had no idea I would become a passionate advocate for research. I had no idea I would breathe a sigh of relief whenever a fellow blogger reported “NED was still hanging around.” (A year ago I didn’t even know what those letters stood for -no evidence of disease).  I had no idea I would cry real tears when I learned about a fellow blogger passing away or that yet another friend was diagnosed with mets or suffered a major setback of any kind, or that likewise I would cheer upon hearing of their accomplishments, be they large or small.

Mostly, I had no idea I would come to care so much about “strangers.” Even more surprising, I had no idea some of them would come to care about ME!

Perhaps that’s the most unexpected discovery of all about blogging, the sharing and the caring.

As corny as it might sound, it really is all about the collective sharing of stories. It’s nice knowing others are out there. It’s nice knowing others out there get it. It’s nice knowing others out there care.

One year ago, I certainly hesitated to push that publish button for the first time. There are days when I still hesitate to push it. Sometimes exposing my own opinions and vulnerabilities feels more than a little frightening, but yet if I don’t, what’s the point?

I guess I’ll keep pushing that button.

Finally, I just want to say thank you for being “out there.”

Thank you for reading Nancy’s Point!

When was a time you had no idea how you would manage? 

Why do you read blogs and how many do you read regularly?

Do you have any feedback about Nancy’s Point you’d like to pass along? (any kind is welcome)