50 Guest Blogs (Part II)

Happy Friday! This week has seemed to be the week for vulnerable posts for me, so I thought I would end the week on a bit happier note. 🙂 I’ve been busy, chucking away at my 50 Guest Blogs in 2013 goal. I wanted to take some time to highlight some of the awesome bloggers who have graciously let me take over their blog for a day. See Guest Blogs 1 – 6 here.

7. On Reading, Validation, and Embracing Your Passions (Walking with Nora)

Nora is one of my dearest friends and someone I greatly admire. (She’s also been my go-to girl to vent to when I’m frustrated about work or guys or life in general. She’s a gem, really.) Nora offered her blog for me to guest post on, leaving the topic open and I decided to write about a hobby we both hold dear to our hearts: reading. I am an avid reader, a bookworm to the extreme, and I wrote about embracing being a bookworm and being passionate about books and reading. I spent a lot of years being embarrassed that I loved reading so much and over the past few years I’ve begun to realize how silly that is. Hiding what you love to do because you’re afraid of what people may think is ridiculous.

“And isn’t that what reading is all about? Making the reader feel something – big or small? Taking our minds off the troubles of today and transporting them to a different place? Reading has become more and more about me, and less and less about what others think of me.”

8. On Careers, Doubts, and Understanding Self-Worth (Seattle Stevie)

Stephanie left the topic open for me so I decided to talk about my journey to discovering that my self-worth cannot be found in my career. I went through a bit of a quarter-life crisis when I started my first post-collegiate job as it was hard adjusting myself to a brand-new career and work atmosphere. I had moments where I was so incredibly happy and moments where I was so miserable I was leaving work in tears on a regular basis. I’m still trying to figure out what I want from my career but I’ve stopped placing my self-worth in what I do.

“I can’t pinpoint the day or what caused me to fall into downward spiral of self-doubt and unease with my life but it happened. I felt as if I wasn’t measuring up. I was falling short, not using my full potential, and  jealous of the super cool jobs those around me had.”

9. A Passion For Cruising (Considering the Campbells)

Molly left the topic open for me so I decided to blog about one of my favorite loves: cruising. Of course, this was posted right around the time Carnival was having issues with their ships so the timing couldn’t have been better, right? Yeah. I wrote about why I love cruising and gave three big reasons why I think everyone should take a cruise at least once in their life. Don’t knock it until you try it, right?

“…every time I get on a ship, it feels like I become whole again. I feel at home on cruise ships. I feel alive.”

10. Some Thoughts on Memorizing Scripture Verses (Life According to Amanda)

I can’t remember how I met Amanda but I’ve been following her on Twitter for a while now and when she signed up to let me guest post on her blog, I grasped a faith-related topic quickly. Since we’re both doing Beth Moore’s Scripture Memorizing Challenge this year, I thought writing about why I felt memorizing Scripture was important. I’ll be the first to admit I am not nearly as well-versed in Scripture as I should be, having grown up in church all my life. But I’m looking forward to changing that and finding my mindset change as I grab hold of verses that hold meaning to me this year.

“I want to be that girl who can whip out a verse to comfort a loved one, but I haven’t made it a priority. In essence, I suppose I have not felt that memorizing Scripture is a worthwhile investment of my time.”

11. On Being a Messy Christian (With Faith and Grace)

Allison is one of my close blogging friends and we went back and forth on topics to talk about. She was most interested in me writing a post around the title of her blog so I set to writing a piece that is now one of my favorite posts I’ve written. It centers on the book Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli which transformed the way I view my faith. And it caused me to do some deep thinking about my faith and what I want from it. I love this post. You should read it. Yes.

“Sometimes, I forget how fiercely God loves me. How necessary I am to Him. I forget that I am part of His plan and He has never forgotten about me.”

12. Sitting On Dreams (Adorkable Me)

Erini left the topic open for me so I perused her blog to get a feel for what she writes about and how to connect my writing to it. In the end, I decided to talk about finding and cultivating your passion. I have always known that writing is my number one passion but never really thought about pursuing it as anything other than a pleasurable hobby. I talk about my path to discovering that this passion is something I want as more than a hobby – I want it to be my career.

“I am a writer to the bones of my body. Writing is what makes me me. I am lost when I don’t have a place to create.”

I still have lots of spots left for guest posting. If you’d be so inclined to let me take over your blog for one day for a guest post, please let me know in the comments, tweet at me, or fill out my form. I will love you forever and ever, amen.