My story
Hello! I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog. My name is Anita and by trade I am a dual licensed Speech-Language Pathologist and social worker. I worked as a licensed social worker for 16 years prior to my mid-life crisis where I stepped out on a limb, gave it all up and went to graduate school. I was 39 years old when I started my graduate school journey. A few years, loss of sleep and many tears later, I graduated with my Masters of Arts degree in Speech-Language Pathology.
As a social worker, all but 6 months of that career was working with adults, and as an SLP my entire career is working with adults. I specialize in the medical arena, working with people who have neurological deficits due to acute insults or degenerative diseases. Heck, I could talk all year about what I do for a living because most people have no idea what Speech Pathologists do! But, you’re not here to learn about that craziness!
What about writing?
My entire life I’ve always loved to write. I remember when I was in grade school, one of our 5th grade (I think it was 5th grade) assignments was to write a book. At that age, I was big into scary movies, so I wrote a book about murder. Yes, as a child. The funny part is, the main characters were twins named Rob and Bob. Apparently, I didn’t know those nicknames were short for the same name of Robert. That’s what we call a “classic Anita-ism”.
We all have bucket lists, and one of my promises to myself was to publish a book. I started one several times, even got fairly far at one point. I wrote a how-to scrapbook book, before technology stepped in and created programs that made digital books with little effort. But that was OK, because when my career changed and I ended up working as a travel Speech-Language Pathologist, I started blogging about my weekend adventures. I figured since I traveled all the way across the country alone – with my 2 cats- I might as well turn it into a story. I blogged to not only capture my memories, but also to use as a tracker in case anything happened to me. You know, so the cops would know where I last visited. I watched those investigation shows..
I ended up turning my blog into my very first ebook. It wasn’t easy and it still took a few years after I returned from my travels, but I got it done. Though my passion for writing didn’t fade after that major accomplishment! I thought about blogging for several years but I felt so scattered in my thoughts about topics and niches, I couldn’t nail enough down to be a consistent blogger. The year 2020 changed all that.
2020
What happened in 2020 that made me finally move forward with blogging? Well, the year 2019 was full of loss. Actually, the past few years held loss. My dad was killed in a traumatic accident, my grandmother had a stroke (age 97) and passed and my mother in law was taken by cancer. They weren’t the only losses we endured, and I know as we age this is what happens. But, these events brought about a sense of urgency. Now is the time to do what needs to be done. Whether I become a successful blogger or not, as long as I can write and share information that I feel is important, then I know I have used my words for good, not evil. This world needs a little more good.
What next?
My first 10 posts have clearly demonstrated my struggles of finding that niche that I need to sustain for years to come. After some trial and error, I’ve finally landed what interests me the most, what brings me joy and fills my brain with memories. Travel. I can’t yet travel to exotic places and share pictures of myself blogging on a hammock at ocean side (mostly because there are few trees lining the beach, am I right?), but I have been to several states and a few countries. I have personal experience with international travel, packing tips, road trip tips and plenty of “don’t do what I did” stories. If this blog does become successful, then yes, I will definitely share pictures of me blogging by the ocean, on the beach, writing “wish you were here”.
That’s a wrap
To sum up, I like to write. I enjoy spreading knowledge and humor. I hope to connect with many of you on a personal level. If my posts can provide you worthy information, then that is truly a mission accomplished.
Thanks for reading, and like always, feel free to leave me a comment. I need to know you’re out there!