Putting Myself Out There

A few years ago as the last Mothers of Preschoolers meeting of the year, I realized how incredibly blessed I had been to be part of such a wonderful mothers' group. I hadn't been a mother that long, but MOPS had become an important part in my journey as a mom. Later that day, I went onto their website and started browsing around and stumbled upon the Writer's Guidelines for MomSense Magazine.

"Could I actually write an article to be published?" I wondered. Once upon a time I had been a good writer, or at least my grades in school had indicated that I was. I decided to go for it and submitted an article for consideration. A couple of months later, I was elated to discover that indeed Momsense wanted to publish my article!

That was three years ago. This week, I got the same thrill. A couple of days ago, Melody, an out-of-town friend, sent me a Facebook message saying that she was reading Momsense and was shocked to find my name in the byline. I hadn't received a copy of the magazine yet, so it was a nice surprise to hear that someone, somewhere had actually read it!

Yesterday, my copy of the magazine showed up in my mailbox. It sure is fun to see my name in print and have a tangible evidence of a successful endeavor.

It's not always easy to put ourselves out there and try for something that seems out of reach. Rejection and/or failure hurts. But, if we don't try, we definitely won't find success. This is something that I need to keep reminding myself...not just in writing but in all areas of life. As my husband considers a career change and the relocation of our family, I'm thinking about the changes that will come to my life and the many ways that I will need to "put myself out there." It won't be easy, but I'm hopeful that I will find success.