Are you a CurrentMom? How current are you? What does that even mean to you? For me it represents the change in my outlook on life and parenting this year. What was the center of the change? Social media. I am knee deep in it now. Every day I am vlogging, blogging, tweeting, and updating my status. In short I am PARTICIPATING more than ever before. And let me tell you, it feels good. It actually feels GREAT!
Since I started having children 11 years ago my idea of parenting was complete and utter attention on my kids. When not working, everything that I have been doing and thinking about has been for or about them. They are growing up nurtured, supported and comfortable. All great things. But now that my kids are all in school the game has changed. My kids needs have changed. Thus my parenting should change as well. I realized this year as I watched children interact with each other and their friends that I was watching myself in a way. They were modeling my behavior. We talk about that when children are young. We talk about the importance of imprinting good behavior choices, like using ?please? and ?thank you? for example. But what I noticed as I watched my children mature into young adults right before my eyes was that my behavior, my totally immersed in my kids behavior was imprinting on them, and not necessarily in a good way. I wasn?t demonstrating balance. I wasn?t, in my own choices, showing them that SELF is just as important as community and family. Thus I realized that in order to be the PARENT that I truly wanted to be I needed to be the PERSON I was meant to be. That means making myself a priority too.
Stepping into the vast World of Social Media is helping me to achieve this. Not only am I enriching myself personally and professionally inline, but in real life too. Attending tweet-ups and social networking parties have been a great opportunity to spread my wings and reacquaint ME with MYSELF as an individual, and not just a Mom. The greatest steps that I have taken in this new direction of SELF have been taken at social media conferences. This Summer I attended Blogher and couldn?t believe the fulfillment that I discovered within it?s walls. I met so many wonderful people who inspired me to do more, and better. Recently I attended Blog World in Las Vegas. There I didn?t meet as many people, but what I did do was focus my energy and thus my mission. Thoroughly empowering.
This morning I woke up to find a tweet about another conference coming up next February, CurrentMom. The title itself really drew me in since it speaks so well to my efforts of this year. The conference is taking place in Fort Lauderdale Florida February 1-3, 2010. It?s geared at Mom entrepreneurs. CurrentMom 2010 features two tracks of programming, for entrepreneurs just getting started and those already in business who want to break through to the next level. General sessions will address the issues all mom business owners face. Learn how to start and grow your business. Enjoy Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa treatments — included with your registration. Explore partnerships with other entrepreneurial moms. Troubleshoot your business and marketing strategy. I don?t know yet if I will be able to attend, but it feels good to know that it?s out there. It?s an option…for me. And I am really loving these options.
SMILE On!
ML
Miss Lori can be found Musing from her Minivan at MissLori.TV , Wearetherealdeal.com and ChicagoMomsBlog. You can also see her Activating to Be Great at Miss Lori’s CAMPUS on Youtube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
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