Celebrating Five Years of Blogging!

Our wonderful sister-in-law, Lindsey of Triple Lux Photography, took this photo of Stephen and me this summer!

I knew there was something special about today’s date: August 7^th… but I didn’t figure out what it was until WordPress reminded me of it: Today is my 5^th Blogaversary! I’ve had this blog for five whole years already. Thank you for reading, commenting, sharing, and growing with me.

Five years ago I had just went through my first serious breakup, and I needed something new in my life, so I finally just launched my blog. This blog is a place where I share thoughts and advice on transitioning well through life, and I have had SO MANY wonderful (and some painful) transitions through these five years:

When Do You Throw Away Old Journals?

You should only keep things that you want to enjoy and remember, right?  I learned this through a few years ago a family member paid me to read their old journals and pull out interesting tidbits about their life, then throw the journals away. I appreciated the money, but the emotional toll it took was not worth it. I read things I hadn’t wanted to read; some things should be written down and then THROWN AWAY! In light of that experience, it helped me to think about letting go of a bunch of old journals I had been keeping.

Well, for the past ten years with multiple moves, I kept lugging around these boxes of journals that I had written from age 13 to 23 while I was in junior high, high school, and college.  My husband encouraged me to scan the journals and then throw the hard copies away…when he first said that, I said, “No!” So I kept moving around those boxes a couple more years. We had space in the crawl space, so why not keep them…even though I didn’t want to read them…

Four Years of This Blog, Trees of Transition

Four years ago my heart still felt pretty mangled from my first big breakup, but having more free time inspired me to start my blog. I'm so glad I did! Thank you for your readership and follows (which is over 500 followers now…WOW!)

My first blog post relates my vision for this blog: I write to encourage, give resources, and inspire people as they go through life transitions.

School is Out! Happy First Day of Summer

Releasing my students into summer happened a couple of weeks ago (huzzah!). Seeing the room without 34 desks, chairs, and students made it feel huge. On my last day at school, I took time to just sit and my desk and write out that list of suggested books for the summer (see: Young Adult Fiction to Read This Summer)

My Wonderful “Pushy” Husband and How He Helped My Job Hunt

My siblings know that I won’t do something if I don’t want to (and I drove them nuts), but now I have a husband who is “pushy” in a kind and helpful way. Last summer when I had a job that I had tried every ladder to move up, but there was no upward mobility, and my husband told me, “Quit! I know you can find a full-time teaching job.” Stephen is not annoy-pushy, but he is firm and kind-pushy. If he thinks I should do something, he encourages me until I think I can do it. I didn’t have as much confidence as my husband, but I believed him, so I resigned my job at the end of the summer semester, and then started the full-time job of job hunting.

Blogging Goals: To Copy the Wife of an Ex-boy-friend (ish type of guy)

Motivation arises from all sorts of places. Seven years ago, this guy and I never officially dated in my mind (so he was a friend who was a boy, and I thought we had lots of potential but he didn’t initiate beyond friendship), and I still don’t know what it was in his mind. After being friends for ten months, it still hadn’t gotten clear, so I just ended the friendship without a discussion. (Now I know that is not the way to do things, but I was learning, okay?)

Two Tips: How to Find Lively, Interesting Writers on WordPress

Did you know you can watch the feed of what is getting published right now on WordPress? It’s under the “What’s Hot” section and the tab is called “Latest.” Did you know that each day there are several fellow bloggers who have the top blog on WordPress? We choose the top blog by reading it the most, but WordPress shows it to us. These two features have lead me to many intriguing bloggers and blog posts.

To find this fountain of interesting information, go to the WP Admin page, and look toward the bottom for the “What’s Hot” section. There you will see the tabs of top blog, top posts, and latest (blog posts being published).

Where do your readers come from? I have a few friends and family reading my blog, but many of those of you who post, like, and read my blog are people I have never met. I’ve connected with you through finding your blog under a certain tag, seeing an interesting comment you’ve posted, or I’ve found you through the WordPress “Latest” feed.

Be wise about what you click on because there are people who are posting degrading material, so a good rule of thumb for me is “Would I like to show this to my Mom?” If a post’s title makes you curious or hopeful, or hungry, click away.

Also, you might come across sad or desperate posts…there is so much life happening in each writer who blogs here. I’ve read posts written after break-ups or when very depressed. I try to post something hopeful on their wall, if they allow it.

Here are some examples of some what I found over the last week:

Friday, 3/6 I met: A Woman Blessed

The blog, A Woman Blessed, has beautiful, hopeful thoughts even though the author is passing through a very hard time over the past few months after her husband passing away.

Monday, 3/9 I came across: Girl Meets Herself

She has a lively way with words that make you interested and want to read more of her writing.

You can also see great posts by looking at the Top Posts of the day. Today one of the top posts is called “387 hours” (See: Baby Pragel).

A Mom with a tender little girl shared her joy that her daughter, beating the odds, has lived that many hours.

Wednesday, 3/11 This top post blogger drew me in: Blaise Foret

His unpacking of unhealthy religion helped me understand deeper some of the experiences I have gone through. Fear-driven organizations damage people. His most recent blog post is full of hope in the midst of him telling his tough story.

The top posts tend to be very emotional and inspiring or at least thought-provoking.

The latest posts show you who is publishing posts right now. I’ve come across writers who just started their blogs, so it has been neat to encourage them or follow them.

I hope you find some new friends, deeper inspiration, and encouragement from looking occasionally at the “Latest” tab; it’s like going on a miniature adventure!

Cheerio.

~M. H. Campbell

Copyright 2015

 

 

 

 

Are You a Lifelong Learner? Would You Share a Few of Your Thoughts With Me?

Why do you think you are so curious? Do you have at least ten minutes to take the time to type up three answers that will help me with my research on lifelong learners? I have three questions and a little background information for you to answer and then email back to me by this Saturday. Each time someone gives me their responses to these questions, I get even more excited! I’ve received responses from family and friends, and now I would appreciate hearing responses from people I do not know or do not know as well. Thank you for helping me out!

Here are the questions:

Name:

Date:

Lifelong Learner Questionnaire

1. Why do you love to learn?

2. How did your love for learning keep growing through and after your formal schooling?

3. How would you describe a “lifelong learner”? (Describe or list the main characteristics.)

Type of school attended for PreK-12th grade: Public_____Private_____Homeschool____

Highest Education Level Achieved and in what area:

Occupation:

Residence:

Waiver:
I give Mary H. Campbell permission to possibly use my answers in her writing about lifelong learners.

Signed:_____________________________________________Date:________________

Please return your answers to Mary at treesoftransitiondesigns@gmail.com by Saturday, February 28th, 2015.

What is a Tutee?

Is it fruity?
Does it have to do with a tutu or little girls dancing?
Is it two letter T’s?
Is it a cool T-shirts for a two-year-olds?

No, no, no! It’s the people a tutor tutors! It’s my students, since I’m a writing tutor.
I thank God for my tutees (and I hope they won’t be too fruity.) 🙂

By M. H. Campbell Copyright 2015

Why Do We Celebrate Christmas?

Why do we worry about the Christmas budget?
Why do we push to work at relationships with family, which can be
especially stressful at Christmas time?
Why do we stress out and wonder if someone will really like a gift we found?
Why do we place a live tree covered with glass ornaments in the center
of our living room?
Why do we clutter our houses with snowy models of villages and happy
snowmen and trees?
Why do we send cards to people we only hear from at Christmastime?
Why do we cook English toffee and bake sugar cookies to decorate with friends?
Why do we take hours to create gifts to give family and friends?
Why do we place figurines of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus under the tree?
Why do we celebrate this holiday with millions of people around the globe?
Why? Why?? Why???
Love.
It’s love.
Love caused God to send His only Son to earth, to be born as a human
to a poor teenage girl and her fiancé. (Jesus’ birth started Christmas.)

God loves humans so much He let His Son grow up, and die in order to
pay for the wrong-doing (sin ) of every human ever. We just have to
receive the gift of having our sins forgiven—it’s our choice.

God loves us so much, His son, Jesus, rose from the dead, went back to
heaven, and lives there, praying for us right now. Jesus is the source
where we can get unconditional love to extend to the friend that
offended us, the family member that betrayed us, and get the grace to
forgive ourselves for those things we did that are so hard to forget.

Love compels us to sacrifice, serve, and honor our family and friends
during this holiday season.
We celebrate Christmas because we love.
Love started Christmas, and we get to continue it.

By M. H. Campbell Copyright 2014