"Blogging, Dachshunds, and Chaos—Oh My!"

The thing about me is that the picture in my head is always way different from reality. Every. Single. Time.

Take my dachshunds, for example. You think you're getting a tiny, adorable lap dog that showers you with unconditional love, right? Ha! What I actually have is one tiny dictator who believes she runs the house and another who operates like a personal stalker. I can't even think about going to the bathroom alone. Privacy? Never heard of it.

Blogging has turned out to be the same story. In my head, it was simple: sit down, write some thoughts, hit publish. Boom. Blog complete. Reality? Oh no. After hours of YouTube tutorials, reading books, and consuming more coffee than should be legal, I’ve learned that blogging is so much more than just putting words on a page. Apparently, you're supposed to have a strategy, provide value, and—get this—understand things like SEO, branding, and monetization. (Did you know you need approval just to put ads on your own blog? I did not. Insert shocked face emoji here.)

Then there's social media. Back in my day (yes, I said it), Facebook was the social platform. Now, if you’re not juggling five different apps and making viral content, do you even exist? I’m just trying to share my thoughts, not launch a media empire.

And don’t even get me started on professional blogs. These people are out here posting daily, with 30+ menu options and dropdowns so fancy they belong in a corporate handbook. Meanwhile, I’m over here high-fiving myself when I successfully insert a photo. I’d include a picture of my teenage daughters' dinosaur-like attitudes, but they’ve informed me that if I embarrass them on the internet, they will sue me for emotional damages. Honestly, they might have a case.

Being a single mom to two teenage girls is already medal-worthy. Add in keeping up a home, managing my therapy practice, writing books, and answering to two demanding dachshunds, and some days I feel like I deserve a trophy just for making it to bedtime. And then there's math homework. Apparently, math has changed. Who decided this? I’d like a word. Because when my teen slides her homework over and says, “Mom, they changed math,” I just stare blankly, questioning everything.

But hey, blogging isn’t algebra (thank goodness), so how hard can it really be?

So here I am—diving into this blogging world with determination, humor, and an unreasonable amount of coffee. Here’s to embracing the chaos, figuring it out as I go, and keeping things real (and mildly ridiculous) along the way.

Cheers to blogging, bathroom-stalking dachshunds, and whatever comes next!