For the last two months, I’ve been living in my parents’ guest room. It’s been twelve years since I lived with my parents, and while I’m grateful they’re allowing me to stay with them as I make a major life transition, I’m anxious to have my own space again. So between reruns of House Hunters, Love It or List It and My Lottery Dream Home, I’ve begun the daunting search for a place to call my own. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from HGTV, it’s that creating a list of non-negotiables and desired features is the first step in the house hunting process. (The other thing I’ve learned: each property must have a cute, descriptive – and usually alliterative – name that the host can use to differentiate them throughout the episode.) So I sat down to make my list of requirements, and this is what I came up with:
Of course, these requirements are largely based on my lifestyle. As a small-town spoonie dog mom with a tiny budget, my needs are vastly different than the California newlyweds shopping for million-dollar mansions on HGTV. Don’t get me wrong, some of those mansions are drool-worthy. But when I really thought about the things that are important to me in a home, I realized that in a lot of ways, less is more. Less square footage means less cleaning and maintenance. Less money up front means more possibilities for upgrades in the future. Less land means less lawn care. Less people, traffic and crime in a small town mean less stress. So far, I’ve found one house that meets all my criteria. It’s a fixer-upper that needs quite a bit of work, but it has a lot of potential. Of the houses I’ve considered, the one I’ll call “Blue Bungalow” is the best fit for my needs, despite the wood paneling, vintage floral curtains and salmon-pink faux brick walls. Décor aside, it checks all my boxes. And compared to the other options I’ve seen, it needs the least renovations to be livable. Unfortunately, my offer wasn’t accepted for the Blue Bungalow, so my search for the perfect place to call home continues. I’m optimistic that spring will bring more options, but in the meantime, I’d love to know what tips and tricks other homebuyers have learned in the process. Share your advice in the comments, and subscribe for updates on my house hunting journey!
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I truly can’t believe that it’s been a whole year since I took the dive into blogging. After hours and hours of tinkering with settings in Weebly, creating my logo, building an editorial calendar in Excel and writing content, I still hesitated to hit the “Publish” button. Looking back, I’m glad I took the leap.
Before I launched my blog, I read hundreds of articles about blogging by bloggers. I was convinced that I had to follow a specific formula: fill a beautifully-designed editorial calendar with content for the next six months, create an affiliate marketing plan to monetize my site, become an expert in SEO (the ever-changing science that’s not really a science that I’m fairly certain no one is actually an expert in) and schedule posts on every social platform for the optimum days and times to drive traffic. Don’t get me wrong, all of those things are important, and they can certainly help to make your blog more successful. But I doubt there’s a single blogger out there who’s doing all of these things perfectly 100% of the time. No matter how many articles, videos, podcasts or books you consume on blogging, you have to figure out what works for you. Blogging is an incredibly personal endeavor, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. That being said, I’ve learned a few things in my first year of blogging that probably apply to most bloggers, or anyone taking on a large creative project. If there’s a topic you’re passionate about or you have a personal story you’d like to share, blogging is a great platform for doing so. Just keep in mind some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way: 1. The things you create don’t have to be perfect to be worth sharing.Blogging is less formal than publishing a novel or writing for a major magazine. Consistency is almost as important as the quality of the content you create. When was the last time you felt like you had a long-term relationship with the freelancer that wrote that article in Cosmo? When readers follow a blog, they develop a relationship with the creator. They understand that the human behind the blog is just that – a human. Your audience doesn’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect you to keep them in the loop and not leave them hanging for weeks or months at a time. So go ahead and post. Don’t wait until your writing is perfect or overedit to the point of exhaustion. Completion is more important than perfection. 2. You’ll be amazed what simply telling your story can do for others.Over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with some amazing people I never would have met if I hadn’t started blogging. When you share your own story, you create a safe space for others to do the same, and you learn from each other. I’ve had the chance to collaborate with other advocates, bloggers and artists, and I’ve learned some invaluable lessons in living with chronic illness and pursuing a creative career from their experiences. I’ve also had the pleasure of hearing from readers who’ve been impacted by my blog in some way, and it’s been humbling to say the least. It’s opened my eyes to the importance of advocacy and the scope of the chronic illness community as a whole. 3. You won’t run out of ideas. If anything, your list will just keep getting longer and longer!One of my greatest fears in launching a blog was running out of things to write about each week. What would I do when I came to the end of my list of 50 topics and didn’t have anything left to say? Now I laugh when I look back and realize I actually lost sleep over this. If you have this same fear, trust me – your list of things to write about will be longer after a year of blogging than it is now! If you’re afraid that your niche is too small to support new content on a regular basis, this is a good thing! A focused niche will set your blog apart, and the worst case scenario? Your list of blog post ideas might actually be manageable. 4. Write for yourself, not anyone else.You’re bound to come across articles by bloggers bragging about their six-figure incomes and suggesting that all you need to do to be successful is take some Insta-worthy selfies wearing vegan CBD-infused eyeliner, and the sponsorships will come rolling in. Affiliate marketing can be a great opportunity for someone who has a decent following, but it only works if you actually believe in the products and brands you promote. You can’t build an engaged audience by selling yourself. First and foremost, write and create content that’s genuine and reflects you and your feelings. In the last year, I’ve become more comfortable opening up about my own experiences and sharing my personal opinion on my blog. At first, I was afraid to share anything that may be considered controversial or too personal. But that’s what blogging is all about. Forget about others’ opinions and stop worrying about how someone else might react to your own. When you write for yourself, your audience will appreciate your honesty and genuineness. If you’re a blogger yourself or you’ve considered starting a blog, I’d love to hear about your ideas! Leave me a comment or send me an email.
Need an excuse to pamper yourself over the holidays? See how many self-care activities you can complete and give yourself the best gift of all - a stress-free holiday season!
It's hard to believe the end of a year, a decade and a semester is upon us! I've survived my first semester of grad school and submitted my final project for my Presentational Speaking course. After spending the last few months watching dozens of Pecha Kucha presentations on topics ranging from tea farming to modern architecture, I created my own PK-style presentation titled Spoons, Shoes & The Power of Empathy. As I researched the spoon theory and other analogies that have been used to describe life with chronic illness and invisible disabilities, I was overwhelmed by the diversity of stories that have been told in an attempt to bring awareness and understanding to the issue. I couldn't possibly cover them all in one seven-minute video, but I hope this presentation serves as an effective introduction to the spoon theory and the importance of empathy for the disability community. Thanks for watching!
I remember flipping through a magazine when I was a sophomore or junior in high school and coming across an article about a celebrity who had started running local 5Ks. I think it was one of those teen magazines (I have no idea who the celebrity was). I wasn’t a particularly athletic kid, but I found myself thinking, “maybe I can be a runner. I don’t have to join a team, and I can wear cool shoes.” It seemed like a logical choice for a 16-year-old with no interest in organized sports or after-school practices. So I went to Kohl’s and bought a crappy pair of running shoes (something I wouldn’t be caught dead doing now that I work in a running store). I decided I would start by just running around the block. That seemed reasonable. But I quickly realized that I couldn’t even make it the 50 yards to the corner from my driveway. At 16, I had already been diagnosed with migraine disease, but it wasn’t well-controlled with medication. I wouldn’t know about the endometriosis that was making me anemic and sucking the oxygen from my muscles until almost fifteen years later. In the meantime, my doctor would give me an inhaler for what he assumed was exercise-induced asthma. Each time I’d hit the road to attempt a run, my lungs would seize and burn, making it impossible for me to do anything faster than a (very) slow jog. But I stuck with it. If it had been easy, I don’t know that I’d still be running today. Each time I went out, I tried to pass a few more houses before I had to stop and walk. Eventually, I was running a mile nonstop. I might have had a very loose definition of “running,” but I was putting one foot in front of the other. And you have to start somewhere. Most days, I came home from school with pain and swelling behind my right eye, some degree of nausea and severe sensitivity to light and sound. When you have a migraine flare, all you want to do is curl up in bed with the lights off. And while that’s a totally acceptable response to migraine, it wasn’t my response. After all, I was in the angsty throes of teenagerhood. Running became my way of saying “fuck you” to my illness (and some days, the world). I was doing the very thing that I shouldn’t be able to do. I was sticking my middle finger up in the face of a disabling disease. I was running out of spite.
I’ve run a lot of races since the Pumpkin Dash. In just a few weeks, I’ll run my longest race yet – the Hot Cider Hustle 15K in Detroit. And I’ll need all the motivation I can get to reach that caramel apple waiting for me at the 9.3-mile mark.
I know plenty of runners who repeat empowering mantras or wear shoelaces with inspiring quotes when they run. The only mantra that seems to work for me has always been “Fuck You.” So if you see me on the race course swearing under my breath, just know I’m not cursing the weather or cramping up. I’m in the zone. This is my mantra, my power move. |
My name is Maggie Morehart, and I'm the creator of Incurable. Learn more.
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