This time of year is perfect for reflecting. I recently reflected on my entry into the Blogosphere, but I also want to reflect on my new role as a full-time Blogger.

In early 2010, I left my job at the end of my maternity leave, and landed a work-at-home role that was more flexible to my new mommy lifestyle. Or so I thought.

Taking care of a baby and working at the same time was strife with challenges. Juggling laundry, a crying baby and 2pm conference calls left me frazzled and frumpy. In retrospect, I was still figuring out how to be a Mom and thus struggled to figure out how to be a working Mom. No childcare left me without a separation between the two and I was too tired to figure out how to create it.

In the interim, I was tweeting and learning about social media. It was an escape from the stress and kept me occupied during the long and lonely hours of breastfeeding. I loved the people I was chatting with, the community I was learning about, and the individuals I began to meet. It was my online escape that turned into a dream; a dream of my own website lurking in my head.

Fast forward to the fall of 2010. The company for which I began to work for earlier in the year was in turmoil and a lay-off was imminent. Rather than feeling sorrow for the loss, I used it as an opportunity focus full-time on Charlene Chronicles.

It wasn’t something that happened overnight nor did it happen on its own. I plowed personal resources into business cards, domain names, a custom wordpress theme and a logo design. I spent many a night wondering what I could offer in the Blogosphere and what would be my niche. I networked and I wrote. I pitched and I promoted. All for the love for Blogging.

I have been called a Mommy Blogger, a Lawgger, a Bloggie Newbie and other not-so-flattering names. I have been spammed, I have been insulted, I have been rejected and ignored, and I have been chastised. Yet not once have I regretted.

I am now being invited to Blogger events and have even landed a speaker role at the super fabulous BlissDom Blogger conference. I have close to 900 Twitter followers (hey, it’s something), a growing Facebook page and readership. Ask me one year ago today if I believed this is where I would be and I would have cracked a rib laughing.

I am still laughing, but not in disbelief. I laugh because I am happy at this turn-of-life event. Perhaps close family/friends have no idea what I am doing, or why I have taken this sharp turn in my life. Yet, I often find it’s those sharp turns that get us to where we really need to be, and where I can be is with my growing baby boy.

One year ago today, my personal status quo began to change when I packed up my stuff and left my corporate desk. And for now, I am really glad it did.

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