Editor- Arianne To Think Is To Create

Editor- Arianne To Think is To Create

The Every Day Battle

Originally published on I Should Be Folding Laundry

Before reading this, you need to know that in February of this year, Beth, at 20 weeks along in her pregnancy with twin boys, went to the doctor and found that the babies no longer had heartbeats. She shares with us her journey in grief and recovery every day on her blog, and below is a little taste.

Ever since
my life has returned to “normal” I have found myself suppressing my
feelings and not sharing with anyone how I am really feeling. I think
I need to be brave, after all, I am a mother and wife, I’m supposed to
be brave, it’s what we do.

I put my make-up on each morning, I make my bed, I feed my kids, I
smile and try to laugh, but truthfully? I ache. My heart aches, my
body aches. I just can’t seem to figure out why this has happened.
It’s not that I think this type of thing should not have happened to
me, I just have a hard time believing it has happened to me.
I am so sad. But yet, I hide that sadness from others because I don’t
want to make others sad and I even find myself hiding the sadness from
me, somehow, because it never seems like a good time to be sad and it
never, ever seems like a good time to cry. There are places to go and
people to see and who wants to see someone crying? or someone who has
just cried their eyes out pleading for this to all be wrong, pleading
that maybe somehow, those babies are still alive in my belly, living
off of the orange juice and ice cream I loved to feed them.

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By Megan Jordan | August 11th, 2008 | Category: Anxiety, Depression, Author- I Should Be Folding Laundry, Channel- Overcoming Adversity, Children, Kids, Teenagers, Coping, Editor- Arianne To Think is To Create, Family, Loss, Grief, Mothers, Moms, Motherhood, Overcoming Adversity, Parenting, courage | 1 Comment »

Learning to Accept My Autistic Son

Originally published on Mother of Confusion

My son was born after midnight during the cooler days of May, before the Central Valley could blaze triple-digit temperatures.

The delivery room was packed full of people. The doctor, several
nurses, my husband, my parents and my mother-in-law were in attendance.
As my son emerged into the world, I expected him to gasp and then cry
about the abrupt ejection.

He did not.

Instead he was quiet and blue. The umbilical cord was wrapped around
his slender neck several times. Of course I didn’t know that yet, but
the jubilant faces of the others gave way to peaked, pinched
expressions.

When I asked what was wrong. The response was, “Nothing. Everything’s okay. It’s okay.”

The reassurances scared me. I was only 20-years-old, but already I knew people lied when things were really, really wrong.

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By Megan Jordan | July 24th, 2008 | Category: Author- Mother of Confusion, Autism, Birth, Bonding, Channel- Overcoming Adversity, Children, Kids, Teenagers, Coping, Editor- Arianne To Think is To Create, Education, School, Family, Mothers, Moms, Motherhood, Overcoming Adversity, Parenting, boys, special needs | 7 comments

The 5 Levels of Competitiveness in Social Media

Originally published on Social Impressions

As you become increasingly active in social
media, you will find a wide variety of competitiveness across the
board. Some want to be regarded as A-list bloggers, to reach a top
status on social bookmarking sites, and to have the most number of
friends on Facebook. While some can maintain genuine relationships with
people, others see them as part of their massive network. Competition
is usually healthy, depending on the amount of competitiveness involved.

Although there are many gray areas between each level, I have
observed roughly five main levels of social media competitiveness and
involvement.

Lurker

Lurkers exist online; they just aren’t visible. These people don’t
actually participate. They quietly watch the activity on their favorite
sites. They may identify core sites and users that they admire or enjoy
and follow them religiously. Even the most offensive of posts won’t
incite a comment from them. Although these lurkers might sign up for an
account on a social site, they are usually the users without an avatar.
Their activity on these sites is minimal, and their contribution is
non-existent.

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By Arianne To Think Is To Create | July 8th, 2008 | Category: Author- Social Impressions, Channel- Tech & MetaBlogging, Editor- Arianne To Think is To Create, Microblogging, Social Networking, Social Media, Web 2.0, Web/Tech, Women in Tech, blogging | 17 comments