Becoming a mom is really hard. Being a mom is really hard. Being a type A ‘I can do it all by myself thank you very much’ and then applying that to motherhood… in my case led to depression because I didn’t ask for the help I needed when I needed it. (Lack of sleep and the chemical/hormonal changes that happen during pregnancy and the post partum period also led to depression…it’s really a perfect storm.)

So, how do you ask for help? To be honest I’m still trying to figure this out and it is literally a daily battle to ask for help. I have made it a mid-year resolution to try to ask for help every day. It could be a small thing or a big thing. To be fair this is only my second day on this resolution – but it was amazing what a difference it made in my mindset yesterday when at work I asked someone to take the lead on something that I typically would have ran with. It was done faster and better. What’s hard for me to remember sometimes is that I am not perfect, and God gave me (and each of us) a set of capabilities. Me trying to do something outside of those capabilities is not the best. Note – there are things that have to get done that you don’t need a God-given capability for. Like grocery shopping. I am sure there are some people who are better than others at grocery shopping. At the end of the day, if you accomplish grocery shopping then you’ve accomplished the goal. One of the hardest things for me to do was to figure out what I could outsource, and then not beat myself up for outsourcing those things. While my husband was deployed and I had a small infant at home, those things became:

• Prime Now for Grocery Shopping
• WAG for dog walking
• Cleaning person for the deep cleaning
  

What things have you mommas outsourced? Any tips?

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.