Blog Launch

Good morning everyone, and happy Memorial Day!

This morning while I have cookies baking in the oven, businesses are having their Memorial Day sales and families and friends are getting ready to get together for their gatherings. 

Right now I am just sitting here in my freshly cleaned kitchen, (by my husband), and everything is quiet for a moment, besides the buzzing of our oven, from the cookies of course. But it seemed like the perfect time to sit down and finally write this post for the launch of this new blog!

I’ve had a few different thoughts dancing around my head as to what I should write for this launch post. So, I think I’ll just combine them all, after all, this blog is called “Dash of Everything”. 

First of all, I want to introduce myself, the blog, and tell you why this new venture has become so important to me. To begin with, you may or may not know that I originally had been doing a blog for many years called, My Kind of Simple. I loved my blog and over the years it evolved and it brought back so many different loves for me… designing websites, sharing my love for singing, even songwriting again, and writing down my experiences. This particular blog began around the time I got married, back in 2012-2013. Since that time I have had two adorable baby boys, more moves than I wish to count, and a lot of life’s rollercoasters. 

As I begin to write more posts, you’ll probably learn more about what some of those ‘rollercoasters’ are, but one in particular that seems significant to this introduction is a sleep disorder I was diagnosed with a few years ago. Back then, my diagnoses of Idiopathic Hypersomnia felt really hard at times, but felt more like a hiccup in life than the chronic, debilitated disorder that it is. However, as time has gone on the effects of my sleep disorder have put me through phases that have been extremely hard to manage, and other phases that dare me to allow myself to hope it’s getting better. But, as life would have it, those phases have landed me here… to what feels like an extra long period of my sleep disorder ruling my life. As difficult as it has been to accept that I need to adjust, I am really grateful that I have reached that point, and for all the people who have helped get me get there. 

So I’m sure you’re wondering why I am getting into this in my first post? To be honest, there have been a couple of times while writing it I’ve had to remind myself, but I promise there’s a point… or a few. The first being, that this ongoing experience of having to learn to adjust to my inconsistent limitations has caused me to reflect on a lot of things, and one of those things being my former blog, My Kind of Simple. I have LOVED doing my blog and it is a great outlet for me for so many different reasons. It keeps me motivated and helps me to be creative. But I know I just don't have the time or energy to put the amount of work or content into something like that. It also caused me to think about other people. One of the hardest things about my sleep disorder is the lack of general understanding or flat out knowledge of its existence. I feel like I have so many things I’ve learned from it though that I want to share. 

That’s what made me start to question why it feels like blogging has to be narrowed into something specific. And I love reading blogs of bloggers who do it on their own, but I also began thinking, why should I be the only one on my blog putting out content? There are so many other stories, ideas, and people who are so good and offer another perspective for so many things. From there, the idea just seemed like a perfect fit. To create a blog that incorporated easy to find categories, but not limit the type of content, and then have multiple people contributing to it. It would allow me to still do what I love, but not have the pressure of doing posts all the time because I don’t have the energy, and it would still give the readers something to look forward to from our other contributors. It also leaves space for our readers to submit their own posts, with no following or influence requirement, or really even blogging experience. Just life experience, their unique life experience. 

Phew, okay, I think I’m ready to wrap this up. I apologize, I often tend to get long winded when I do posts. I just have so much I want to say, but I guess we’ll have time for that as this blog gets going. But the last thing I wanted to say was this… it being Memorial Day, I kept thinking I couldn’t just ignore it. I am so thankful for all of those who have lived such selfless lives and been so brave to put themselves in the face of danger to protect. I am also so grateful for the example of my loved ones who have passed. In so many ways, they have made me who I am. It’s their example and knowing them and who they were that has given me strength to keep going during the hard times. And isn’t that how it is for most of us? In a lot of ways we can be a reflection of the people we knew who are now gone. 

So here’s to today, Memorial Day and remembering our fallen heroes and lost loved ones. And here’s to the launch of Dash of Everything today, for learning, sharing, and being inspired by the stories, ideas, inspiration, and bravery that has been passed on.