Over the past few months, I’ve participated in several blog carnivals. I’ve had a great time! Some great blog carnivals have been the Carnival of Natural Parenting, Authentic Parening Blog Carnival, and the Simply Living Blog Carnival. 

My top four favorite things about blog carnivals are:

Inspiration + Motivation

Even when writing is your passion, its easy to find your self with writers block. I feel like writing is a creative outlet for me and since I struggle with creative expression, its really important for me to keep up my writing practice. Blog carnivals are like writing prompts. Finding a new blog carnival is like challenging myself to write about something new. 

Build Community

Participating in a blog carnival means that you are part of a community of other bloggers that share an interest in a topic. In my case, most of the participants are parents. As a mom, having a community of other parents is important to me. I enjoy connecting, I enjoy support, I enjoy resources. 

Get a Different Perspective

In every community, there are differences of opinion. After I write for a blog carnival, I get to hear other peoples perspective on the same topic. I get to hear from parents who have multiple children or older children, teacher-parents, and all kinds of families. 

Reach a New Audience

I wouldn’t say this is my primary goal of doing blog carnivals, but as a blogger, I do enjoy when other people read my writing. New visitors - the other bloggers and their readers - are a great part of blog carnivals. 

2 RSVPs, 2 no-shows. No one showed up to this meetup. Instead, my daughter and I just spend an hour wandering around, walking in the grass, and investigating some just-her-sized rocks. Having no one show up for this first time got me thinking about some of the different aspects of organizing these meetups; from the little details to the more philosophical.

First, I started to reconsider the day and time of our meetups. At first, I thought Thursday afternoons were great so that families with older kids could attend and Thursdays wouldn’t compete with the many activities vying for families time on the weekends. However, it has started getting dark by 6:30 and cold even earlier, so I think this has started to scare off some of the families with younger kids. Based on our first meetup when both moms were 30 minutes late, I also suspect that families are running around between the time school get out until dinner, trying to get things like homework done.

It also enticed me to think about some of the bigger issues behind why this happened. Why, out of almost 1000 families in our meetup group (and in fact over 1 million people in our city), was I sitting alone with my daughter at the park on a beautiful afternoon. What are the underlying causes of lack of time spent in nature? This resource is a part of our community, but it goes underutilized.

I been learning about nonviolent communication (compassionate communication) for a while now, but I have yet to start using it within my language with others. Mostly because I'm afraid that my conversations will sound awkward, forced, or unnatural because I still feel insecure of my understanding about how to express myself using NVC. I'm also worry that by expressing my emotions to others, it will bring up conversations that I'm not really ready to have.

However, I have started using it with my self - in my own internal dialogues and whenever I find myself putting a lot of attention to a situation (past, present, or future). It's then that I think to myself "I'm feeling really (angry, sad, hopeful, disappointed, nervous) about blank. Why? What needs do I have that are/aren't being fulfilled by this situation?" 

I'm hoping that I can find a space to practice NVC in a safe community space. I think this might give me the reassurance and reaffirmation that I need before using NVC at the 'next level' with other. I reached out to two local practice groups that I found online, but neither have responded to my requests. I'm really feeling a need for connection and support within an NVC community, that I have yet to find.