Hi, fellow Steemians! After scouring through Steemit for a few days I think it’s finally time that I introduce myself. My name is Stephanie, I am a young Mom of two – my oldest will be 8 in a month and my youngest will be 2 in three months. I’m hoping to bring a lot to this community, mostly related to my experiences with childhood, adulthood, parenthood, mental health, and trauma. All of the things I have gone through in life have taught me an immense amount, and I’d like to try to share some of this wisdom with others.

My goals are to hopefully add perspective to others’ lives & maybe even be able to provide tools or strategies that were previously unknown to them. I want to be an advocate for mental health, and the many people who are going through the many various conditions. I hope to share my story with others to maybe inspire someone, as well as help me heal. I strongly believe and feel that I have a lot to offer this world, and lately have been thinking a lot about starting a blog. Even if I only reach a handful of people or only one person finds hope or help in my blog, I will still have succeeded greatly.

I am aiming to post 2 to 3 times a week - at the moment I do not have one specific subject, and the posts will likely be more closely related to what is happening in my own life & those around me, at least while I get off the ground in the blogging world. I am also working towards having a theme for the week or month that my posts would be centered around or related to, but for the interim it might seem a little scattered while I organize my thoughts. I hope you can bear with me through this learning journey that I am about to embark on!

Now that I have expressed my motivations and goals behind this blog, I feel I should share a little bit more about myself and my experiences.

My life tends to be fairly crazy and chaotic, but you’d never know it by seeing or meeting me. I am an extremely empathic and emotional person and I feel things incredibly deeply. Growing up, my family operated from a much less emotional place and would tend to push that on me. I was often told I was ‘too emotional.’ For as long as I can remember, I’d always envisioned myself having a family of my own when I grew up – myself being the mom, a Dad, and a few children. Part of this would become a reality far sooner than I could have expected, as I became pregnant at 17. Two weeks after my 18th birthday, my beautiful daughter A was born.

At the time of A’s birth, I lived with my Mom (S) because A’s father and I had broken up. I wasn’t aware of how unsupportive S and my Step Dad were towards me until it was too late. When A was about a year and a half, S & Step Dad took my daughter from me when I was moving into my own place. This projected me towards a deeply emotional path full of pain and hurt. It was also full of growth & learning.

Almost 7 years later, and she still does not live with me. Our judicial system needs significant work and I have unfortunately been immensely negatively impacted by it. I haven’t stopped fighting for her, and I never will.

I met my son’s Dad about 4 – 5 years ago [which is a complicated story in and of itself] which eventually lead to the conception of our amazing little boy K. It’s safe to say that just as A had saved me at 18, K has saved me again at 24 when he was born and he continues to do so every single day. K has helped heal me in many ways, he teaches me new things daily, and he is the reason I can get up and smile every day after 10/15+ years of depression. I have a renewed spark for life again & it’s largely because little K has reminded me how to be happy & love again.

K’s Dad (D) and I split up when he was around 6 months old - but I have to toot my own horn and admit that we are amazing at co parenting together. I couldn’t have asked for a better Dad for our son or a better person to co parent with. We haven’t had huge co parenting hurdles to jump over, and I can even safely say that we are friends. This is such a change in pace for me, so it’s quite the sigh of relief knowing there’s no struggle or upset for our son to be immersed in.

D and I have one common goal, and that is our son’s happiness. We also both strongly feel that our son should see us and know both of us as his family, that despite the fact we are separated, we both are still his family. It may seem silly to some, but D & I came from broken families & after the trauma with my daughter we see how important it is for K to have his family without conditions.

I have some rather large goals for my immediate and not so immediate future, and I am beyond excited for the beginning, middle, and end. These next few years are hopefully going to open up so many doors for us, and I’m excited to be able to start sharing this new adventure with everyone. If you have read this far, I really, genuinely appreciate it and I want to thank you very much.

Love & Happiness to you all. ✨