For years I kept coming back to the idea of starting a blog, but something always made me hesitate. Sometimes it was feeling too busy already, sometimes it was not knowing what my niche was or what I could add that wasn't already out there, and sometimes it was unfamiliarity with the technology.
Mondays Anywhere as an idea was born not long after my daughter. When my chapter as a stay-at-home mom began it wasn't long before I missed my classroom and that got me thinking about blogging again.
It wasn't that I suddenly had more free time--it's remarkable how long simple household tasks can take when trying to accomplish them in the quiet moments between newborn feedings and changings--but all my time was now occupied with physical tasks and I was left craving mental activity. Teaching full-time had left me too mentally tired to want to take on educational blogging in my free time, but mothering required a different kind of energy and I still had "teacher energy" leftover that needed an outlet.
Whenever I considered blogging I knew that I would want the freedom to alternate writing for an audience of teachers, parents and other TCKs. Having a blog with the word "anywhere" in the very title, to me, implies a sense of freedom. Wherever I find myself, whether geographically in the world, professionally, emotionally, experientially, or spiritually, I want to write from that place.
Right now I am an expat, a mother, and an educator (even if my daughter is my only student these days) so I will start there.
Why Mondays?
Mondays are the first day of the work or school week (in many parts of the world, though not all). This may make them unpopular to some, but I have always found the feeling of starting a new week exhilarating.
(To be honest, I find starting just about anything new to be exciting. My husband has described himself on his own blog as a "serial starter of side projects," and this is certainly one thing we have in common. Whether or not we stick with the project long enough to amount to anything is another story...)
At any rate, in my imagination, Mondays offer the promise of a fresh start and all the exciting possibilities of the week ahead.
It has still taken me a couple YEARS of Mondays to actually finish this post and launch this blog. I am now looking forward to the birth of my second child in a few months and hoping that I will actually get something published before my son arrives.
My husband has been a constant encouragement and help during what has become an almost three year journey just to start this project, and I am so thankful for his technical assistance, moral support, and all the times he has given me to get away and write.
Finding creative and expressive outlets during this transition from full-time teacher to full-time mom has been a challenge, but having projects like Mondays Anywhere, even if I can only work on them a little at a time, has felt like a Monday morning full of promise and possibility ahead.
I hope that wherever you are, whether you are a teacher, a parent, an expat, or a TCK yourself, you will find something refreshing here too.
