Zenith and Zzzz….#atozchallenge

  Today is the end of the AtoZ challenge. Could we say the challenge has reached it’s zenith? Well maybe, if we are OK with seeing Z as the pinnacle of the alphabet.

But no. I think zenith probably has more to do with the challenge bit and not so much the AtoZ bit.

Getting to the end of any challenge feels a bit like climbing a mountain.

 

Marie on top of metaphorical mountain

So, here I am at the end of April sitting on top of my mountain.

Happy?? Yes of course. It’s Zenith day.

Hang on a sec, this feels wrong.  Let’s adjust the graphics.

Marie climbing up metaphorical mountain, helped by new bloggy friends!

Yes that’s much more like it. We did it!! Hurrah!!

There’s a great view from the top of this metaphorical mountain and I want to thank my bloggy friends for helping me get to the top of it. So what is it that I can see so clearly up here?

 A FEW THINGS

I hadn’t a clue about blogging when I started this challenge. It was all completely new to me. Without the challenge, I think I might have managed to post four pieces this year. I would have agonised over each one, ditched about a hundred possible ideas, because they weren’t good enough, and been so tentative and unsure about putting stuff, ‘out there’ in the scary world.

I would have thought that blogging was all about your own content, whether it was up to scratch or not. What I’ve learned is that, yes, content is important, but it’s not the whole deal.  Engagement is just as important AND it’s just so enjoyable engaging with people. Reading other blogs is like virtual travel. It gives you a unique insight into other people’s lives, cultures, joys, sadnesses. I find myself thinking about what other bloggers have said during the day, and recounting their stories over dinner at night to my family.

I’ve discovered that the blogging community is full of really talented, inspiring people who write brilliant, heart-felt, heart-warming, wise, funny content. At the start I might just have found this intimidating- as in, no, they’re all too good. I can’t do this.

But it’s not like that. The same people  who have awesome blogs are the one’s who threw out the ropes and helped me climb right up that mountain too.

They are kind enough to take time and check out new bloggers, like myself and leave a ‘like’ or a ‘comment’. And really it means the world. So, thank you, thank you, thank you to the  lovely people  (family members, friends and new friends)  I am getting to know through my blog. I can’t say how much this month of full on, daily blogging has meant to me. I feel sad that the month has come to an end. I shall miss my new found relationship with the alphabet, but hopefully not with this new community of people I’ve found. Having found a blog voice, I’m determined not to lose it.

Anyway, on Z day that’s what I see from my mountain top. It’s been a bit of climb. All this fresh air, clear skies. It’s making me sleepy… a snooze might be nice  ZZzzzz…ZZzzzz….