Winning Streak
Daily Prompt: What’s the longest stretch you’ve ever pulled off of posting daily to your blog? What did you learn about blogging through that achievement, and what made you break the streak?

In 2001 I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.  I started a blog as a way to bring purpose to my life — as a way to share my cancer experience with people.  I used LiveJournal at the time and found that it was a tremendous medium for connecting with a community of similar people going through life-threatening illnesses.  The support I received and was able to give others was a huge learning experience about the power of the Internet and writing.

After my treatments, I went back to work and found that my life issues were completely different, and I stopped blogging.  I pulled all of those entries out and printed it out thinking some day I’ll write a book about that experience, but the manuscript is buried away in a safe and will probably end up being amusement reading for someone long after I’m gone.

Now, 13 years later, I’m a retired cancer survivor and blogging in a new blog, again as a way to somehow connect to the world.  Cancer is still a huge part of my life, but so are the family and care issues of my mother and mother-in-law who are both near the end of their lives.  Depression and anxiety and my search for the meaning and purpose for my life drive this blog more than anything, I think.  Writing and taking photos and having people support me has been huge in encouraging me to explore myself through these mediums.