Born Whole

Happy 1st birthday, Born Whole!

It’s been a whole year since I wrote and published my first blog post and 52 weeks later, I am still here, faithfully blogging every Thursday.

Although the idea of starting a blog had been brewing at the back of my mind for some time, I kept putting it off and citing an endless list of reasons for why I wasn’t ready to set up my blog just jet.

But then I went on a writing retreat at Abbey House, Glastonbury, led by my wise and altogether fabulous mentor, Julia McCutchen. There, in a room full of people I barely knew but with whom I felt intimately connected, I realised that the conditions for starting my blog would never be ‘right,’ so I might just dive right in and do it. And I did.

The day I posted my first blog entry, I was beset with a horrendous migraine. Sharing my personal writing with the outside world was like walking naked down the street, and I avoided checking my phone and email for hours afterwards, petrified of any reactions to my writing.

Nonetheless, I kept writing and posting, and as the weeks went by, it became less frightening and eventually I reached a point where I thought to myself, what the hell, this is who I am and this is what I write, deal with it!

Over time, I’ve got some fabulous feedback on my blog for which I am very grateful. My mother sometimes calls me after reading my blog and says in a slightly tortured voice,

“We never knew that’s how you felt,” or “if only you’d told us.”

But as I keep telling her, this blog is not intended as some kind of reckoning with the past or getting back at those who hurt me.

Rather, I write this blog in the hope that it will reach readers who for some reason or other find value in what I have to say.

Recently, a woman whose son was born with a cleft wrote to me to say she appreciated my blog. Her message alone made me feel that a year’s worth of blogging – of walking down the street naked – had been worthwhile.

Now that I’ve got my blog firmly established, my next step will be to expand and deepen the contents of Born Whole over the next 52 weeks. And to all of my readers I say a heartfelt, THANK YOU for your support!

PS. If you like what I write, please share my blog on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc. The more the merrier.