How I Achieved a Goal I Didn’t Know I Had

It was a slow Sunday in mid-August. I was laying in bed – fighting the voice of my younger son calling out to me over and over; “mommy, I am hungry,” “mommy, what’s for breakfast,” “mommy, are you ever going to get out of bed?” I just laid there. I knew I should get up. But it was only 8:07 am and I just wanted to rest. My daughter came into my room and said to me: “Mom, it’s OK, you should get some more sleep. You did a lot this week. I will make him breakfast.” I thought to myself “this is awesome, now what do I do” as going back to sleep at this point was clearly not an option.

I was hit with a wave of ideas so I leaned over and grabbed my laptop (yes, I am on it so much that my laptop has become a permanent fixture on my night stand – sad, I know). I started typing and before I knew it, I churned out a new blog post; 6 Proven Methods for Inspiring Your Children to Behave. I had the content ready to publish on my blog and I paused. I had recently become a blogger with the Huffington Post and I only had one article up at that point. I re-read the post several times and decided that I would submit the post to HuffPost instead of publishing it to Memoirs of a Clueless Woman. I had no idea what that split decision would mean or what it would bring.

The post I wrote took about a month to get published because it was selected for feature placement on HuffPost Parents. Hold on. I need a moment.

Ok, I’m back. So, I almost hit the floor when I realized that my post was featured. On the HuffPost Parents front page there is a section on the left that says “More From Our Bloggers” and there I was – my face, my short bio, my post title. I couldn’t believe it. Then I saw the above post on Facebook and it hit me again; my post was featured on HuffPost Parents. I am still trying to believe it.

What’s most wild about this experience, being featured on HuffPost Parents, is that I did not even know how much I wanted this. I did not know how much I craved the feeling of validation. That a media publisher as large and as established as the Huffington Post would find this much value in my writing. That hundreds of people would like and share my post, and leave such positive comments, like the one below which was posted to the HuffPost Parents Facebook Post (above).

I never would have thought that a post I wrote one Sunday morning while I was supposed to be sleeping in would have led to this. And I am so happy that this is the path I landed on. That I realized how much I need to keep going. That I know I need to keep writing. And that people, both editors and readers, will find value in what I have to say. What is the goal I achieved and didn’t know I had? Validation. I tell myself over and over that I don’t need it but in reality it’s something I wanted more than anything. And now that I have it, I have been humbled. I am so grateful for the chance to share my voice with the world. So that is what I will continue to do.

If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment to check out my post, 6 Proven Methods for Inspiring Your Children to Behave; and I would love any comments, likes, and shares. 😀

I want to hear from you!

Have you ever achieved a goal you didn’t know that you had? Please leave me a comment below and let’s have a discussion.