Day Three: Losing…and Finding…Myself

Day 3: In Chapter One of You Are Enough, I talk about how sometimes it takes losing yourself to find yourself. Share a time you felt lost, and how you got “found.”

I’ve lost my way A LOT over the years. I’ve documented a lot of my lost seasons right here on my blog and in my books. But I want to go back to a very special season of “lost-ness” that without which, there wouldn’t even be a blog or books.

The year was 2009. I had just broken free from a toxic relationship, and though it was a break that needed to happen, it still left me feeling lost and bereft and unsure of where to go next. I was single for the first time in a year and a half and desperately trying to reconnect with the parts of myself I had lost during the relationship. My creative side. My positive, hopeful side. My sassy side.

That led me…as you might have already guessed…to start writing. Writing had always been a great love of my life, and it had always seemed that putting words to paper served as something of a roadmap to me. I would find myself again in the writing. I would find clarity. I would find meaning. Writing has always allowed me to view the big picture of my life in a way that nothing else can.

I didn’t see anyone else writing about singleness in a positive way, so I decided that would be the mantle that I would take up. I would write about my single journey in a real, honest, and humorous way (because let’s face it…single life is nothing if not funny). I would share my stories and the lessons I had learned along the way of being single and 30-something. I would give a voice to single women everywhere. I was excited about the idea of this new adventure and where it might take me. Never in my WILDEST dreams did I dare to imagine it would take me everywhere that it has. With that one (seemingly small, at the time) decision, I was changing my life forever. I was changing my career forever. I was changing ME forever.

And in the midst of the loss and the heartbreak and the letting go and the rebuilding of my life through the creation of my blog…I didn’t just give a voice to single women. I found my own. I found myself again, reflected back to me in the faces of women across the world who connected with my words. It turned out my story was THEIR story. We were all…The Single Woman.

Yes, I once was lost but now I was found.

And over the years, my beautiful readers…you have helped me find myself time and time and time again. You have helped me be brave to share my stories and my fears and my wins and my biggest losses and my wounds. You have given me a safe, welcoming space to just be Mandy. And you have loved and accepted me for it. What you have collectively given me over this past almost decade could never be put into words…so I will simply say…

THANK YOU.

You can get my book You Are Enough: Heartbreak, Healing, and Becoming Whole at any bookstore or order it here.

Join in my #30DayBloggingChallenge at any time! If you don’t have a blog, feel free to share your stories each day on any of your social media platforms, or even use the space in the comments below. Just make sure you tag your posts #YouAreEnough30 so we can all follow each other’s journeys!