For This House
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
Every Season. Every Space. All for Him.
Writing papers was easily one of my least favorite things in school. I was a math and science kid with a brain for the STEM subjects more so than the arts of writing and creating.
But God certainly has a funny sense of humor, because while I thought I was going to college/university for a business degree, the communication department drew me in and is now written on my four-year degree.
However, putting words on [digital] paper is still not easy for me. I battle a lot of writer’s block and imposter syndrome before finally sitting down to write a blog. In the last nearly two years though, I’ve been making it a personal goal to write more often.
Starting For This House with my sisters was a big part of this personal goal coming to fruition. I now have two accountability partners to help me “keep on keeping on” with my goal.
Along the way, I’ve realized that writing regularly has so many personal benefits. It’s not easy, but it certainly has helped me grow in so many ways thus far. Here are just a few:
The simple act of moving your thoughts to paper (or screen) is a cathartic experience.
catharsis : elimination of a complex by bringing it to consciousness and affording it expression
~Merriam Webster Dictionary
Working through a big topic that requires deeper thinking, like “A Grown Girl’s Guide to Insecurity,” or further research, like “Tech-Wise Living,” helps you to truly round out a full idea and come to a thoughtful conclusion on your own.
In the age of atrophying attention spans, writing has become a way to train my brain to work through a complex challenge or break down an experience to understand the moments for growth.
When life is too much to handle or you find yourself in a high-stress pattern, getting your thoughts and feelings out of your head can help you figure out how to communicate what you’re feeling so others can step into it with you.
My family went through a traumatic health scare with our 2.5-year-old being in the ICU of 3 hospitals over 6 days—writing the experience down and reflecting on the key moments and influential people was so crucial for my husband and I to understand how it affected us, our marriage, and our relationship with our son as parents.
The scariest part of blogging in and of itself, is putting your raw and real thoughts out for the world to read. It can feel intimate. But, just like on social media, never write and publish something that you wouldn’t say out loud or discuss with others. People will read your thoughts and they will bring them up to you.
Since starting For This House, I have loved how the people in my sphere bring up the topics we write about. It creates the space for a great discussion on deeper thoughts that may not otherwise come up and helps me to understand others’ perspectives where they differ or support my own.
By putting my own raw thoughts out there, it has deepened my connection with people already in my life and opened doors to meet and engage with new people in ways I could have only imagined.
Are you looking for a writing community? We’d love to hear what parts of your story and passions you’re inspired to write about!
According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes about 10,000 hours to become a master at something. So, best get started right away!
Writing is that skill I want to refine, and while I’m many hours away from the so-called “master” level, here are a few of the tactical and tangible skills I’m building through blogging along the way:
The passion to keep learning and growing is always there for me! Finding the time to pursue it in these “little years” of mom life is the hard part. But doing these over and over again commit the skills to memory and helps me to refine them over time.
The best part of making a habit of writing regularly is seeing the growth and change in the writing over time. Whether you go back a week, month, or year, it’ll help give you perspective on where you started, and how far you’ve come.
Writing doesn’t have to be in public forum to go back and read; your journal will do! How beautiful and fulfilling to have a tangible record at your fingertips showing the progress you have made over time!
If after reading this you’re fired up on writing a blog of your own, we’d love to hear from you! We’ve got dedicated space in our content plan for contributors just like you, and we’ll do whatever we can to support you in working through your idea.
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the gift of written expression and the clarity and healing that follows.
Grant me wisdom as I share my personal life lessons, that my vulnerability might empower others and my reflections might glorify Your work in my life.
Help me to write with honesty and grace. May the words I share be a testament to Your transformative presence in the ordinary moments of my life.
Amen
Lauren is a founder of For This House. She is passionate about living authentically for Christ both personally and professionally. Lauren lives in British Columbia with her family of boys—big and small.