Have you ever had that burning deep down inside you to tell your story? Do you have a passion that drives you? Have you ever wanted to help others by sharing your experiences and struggles to encourage them? Well, I have for years now. Just last month, I started blogging for the first time after overcoming my initial fears and steep learning curve to build my website. It has all been daunting yet extremely rewarding.

One of my main motivations to start blogging was to be helpful to others. My husband and I had experienced a great deal over the last 3-½ years living in our RV, and we had leaned on others in the RV community to steer past potential hazards.  We knew our lifestyle was unique, but turns out there are many others doing the same thing! After some research, I found that there are actually a lot of working RVers, in their mid-thirties with kids, taking to the lifestyle. Learning that I was not alone was great! I learned that sharing truly is caring, and the RV community does it best. Equally as great was how other bloggers opened up about taboo topics such as being a stepmom or supporting women in combat, my two other passions. It was so helpful to me to know I was not alone.

I was very torn about which topics to cover; my thought process was that RVing was what I do, being a stepmom is what I am and being in the military is what I was. All three topics were inextricably linked to my life’s journey, so I decided to cover all three; thus my blog is a lifestyle blog about my life over the last decade and how it is continuing on the actual road and on the road of life. My goal is to shape my experiences into helpful tips, strategies, stories, and informative posts to assist others in life. I want to be an encourager and a coach to those like me and those wanting to take on the full RV lifestyle.

At first I thought I wanted to start a book, but the thought of taking years to get it completed and onto the shelves (if I could ever push all the way through to the end) made me throw in the towel before I even started. Every time I started typing, I would become stuck and overwhelmed. A book seemed like too much for me even though I was not on Active Duty anymore, and I was, for the first time in a decade, unemployed. Additionally, I had no idea if I would be any good at writing. I knew my content would be interesting and maybe even controversial, but mainly I feared putting myself out there for public scrutiny. I thought to myself “I want so badly to speak on these important issues that affect our country, women, and any American wanting to lead a minimal yet extraordinary life traveling the country, but should I be the one to write it?” Criticism of topics I hold so close to my heart bore the potential to really hurt me if I put them out there. I was very hung up on if I should write.

Now that I have gained some courage and realize that no matter the haters, neither naysayers nor cynics, this information needs to be put out there for others to judge and learn for themselves. This information could really help someone along his or her path and be very revealing to others. Honestly, being a spokesperson for controversial topics such as women in the military or combat and stepmom life makes for a challenge for someone as private and introverted as I am. Talking about fulltime RV life is the easy part. But this is my story and I have lived it with open arms, and, thus, I want share what I have learned and experienced to encourage other struggling through their stories, and I hope they can gain strength and wisdom from my writings.

Life on the road comes with many challenges, ups and downs, and moments of struggle. It is not all sunshine and rainbows. My husband and I are gone from our families for long periods, and we miss many life events we would have loved to experience whether when I was serving with the military or when we decided to travel. We setout to make a better life for ourselves other than just a 9 to 5 job we had both done for so long. Why would I not want to share that with the public that may dream of a life different from the 9 to 5 grind, and I can do it in my mid-thirties? I know that before I made the switch to fulltime RV travel, I was miserable with my job and so was my husband unhappy with it. We want people to know that they do not have to wait until they retire before they can go travel the US and live their best life now. But I want to be realistic about the challenges. Nothing worth having in life is easy, as they say.

Another thing that I considered when I started was what audience I would write to and how it might impact my family. I knew my topics would appeal to military personnel and veterans. Helping that group of people has been my passion as a leader for over 10 years, and when I decided to part ways with it, it was the toughest decision of my life. I feel very strongly about all military and veteran affairs, and I still have an intense passion for the progression of woman in the military. It is something I do not think I will ever be able to let go. The impact of military service lasts a lifetime.

When it came to my family, the topic of being a stepmom is still taboo in many circles, and my life as a stepmom has been very challenging. I hesitated for many months to write on the topic and considered how it would affect my family by doing so. I want to shed light on the topic and help over 68% percent of the current US population to feel proud about the stepparent role. Blended families are cropping up everyday in America at a rate faster than first marriages. It is a new reality for so many, and I wanted to share what I have learned about it all.

So here I am world, take it or leave it, this is my voice and I hope it inspires others to gain their voices, strive for their best lives, sense of community, self-worth, knowledge on issues, and ultimately make a better world for everyone! I hope you enjoy my journey, and I want you to reach out to me wherever and whenever you desire. I value your candor, feedback and experiences in these areas. Happy travels!