Description

Kristin shares how blogging has helped in her recovery from postpartum depression (PPD).

Transcript

When I was going through therapy while I was recovering from postpartum depression, my amazing therapist who I just loved at the time, she recommended that I write. And I didn’t really understand why she wanted me to do this. I really thought—and I was so busy with my babies at the time. I had a 16-month-old and a 3-month-old that I was trying to juggle, and she just very gently said, “You know, you really need to try to write a journal. I’d like you to consider this homework, a part of your therapy, and write once a day when you have a quiet time, maybe after the kids go to bed even if it’s a line or a couple of words. That’s it. But do it everyday.” So I did. I was very diligent and I bought a journal and I started writing and it was amazing. It was this incredible experience of not just the process of writing and physically getting my feelings out on paper, but later reading it and feeling—realizing what I was feeling and realizing that there’s so much in me that I need to express that I just wasn’t expressing, and that really changed my life. I became a writer after that. I actually joined a mom’s writing group and eventually started writing and making money from it. So that one act of writing in a journal totally changed my life. And eventually, I started in recent months, I started blogging about postpartum depression and it has been an incredible experience because not only have I been able to express myself in my blog that I’ve started a little community, I’ve met other women who visit my blog and leave comments. And it’s really amazing because I feel like I’m doing something great for others. I’m spreading awareness and trying to reach into other’s lives.