Just over 13 years ago, I started this blog. At the time, I thought it was going to be an online journal. I would share my journey as a mother, a military spouse, and a creator of organized chaos with creative solutions. I was surviving a struggle that I thought others might relate to. I felt oddly compelled to share. At the time, this was a new development in how the internet was used. Brand yourself online, tell-all, and hope to go viral. Maybe, if you were lucky, you could score some financial gain from your efforts. Since then, this has become a phenomenon that is commonplace throughout the virtual world.

I was an avid Pinterest user from the beginning. Gifted with extreme creativity, I was able to DIY some of the things I pinned and shared them with the “class” as they were finished. I listed meals that were easy to make because I am not a culinary artist at all. If I can make it, so can you. Life takes a village, so let’s share our successes to empower others to try as well. Let’s encourage one another! I was on a roll.

Enter the trolls. I’m not talking about the plastic pygmy bellied toys with fluorescent hair, or the sing-song movies with Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick. I’m talking about the people that can’t keep their yap shut and must rain their negativity on the most positively intentioned of us that dare share. My trolls arrived just after I survived a miscarriage, a troubled pregnancy, and was entering a battle with post-partum depression that would almost end me. My focus had to turn inward to rebuild and find the light in a very dark phase. I was not scared off by the trolls. I found larger monsters within my own mind that required defeat. I paused my blog.

There was one major post that I wrote between then and now. Arguably, it was the reason this blog still exists at all. You see, when I was in the depths of my battle with PPD, two things saved me. One was a mother that dared to call me out. The other was reading a blog post about a woman that went before me through the valley of the shadow of PPD. She wrote about her experience. She shared how her tribe rallied to push her while she had to learn to push herself. She described a period of years that she was merely surviving. She spoke to my innermost fears. I refused to become her. Her words and the words of my mother came together to light a flame within me. I. Would. Fight. My children, husband, family, and my self deserved better. These monsters needed slaying, and I needed to be the one to do it because these monsters were mine and mine alone. During that battle, I wrote an article that I posted here that I hoped someone like me would find it. From then until now, I did not take down my blog even though it was dormant because if there was someone out there that needed my message the way I needed the post that motivated me to fight, I was and am here for them.

During my blogging hiatus, I fought. I fought like hell in a battle that was within my self. There were highs and lows. I stood on the border of the shadow and the sunshine. I danced in the rain. I cried in the sun. It was not easy. It was worth it. It made me who I am now. I spent quality time in therapy. It wasn’t pretty, but sometimes the ugly underbelly of life is where we find our grit and our self-esteem. I survived and am who I am today because of that journey. Someone once said that only those that have been in the dark can truly appreciate the light. I feel that in deep places in my core.

I cannot explain it fully, but I feel strongly called to return to the village community that I began here at wickedkate.com 13 years ago. I cannot explain it. Whether it’s the universe, God, intuition, or something altogether different, I know it’s time.

The world is in transition. Covid-19 is making everyone uncomfortable by forcing change. We are left without a choice to reevaluate the way we live. Alteration and transition have been thrust upon us. We cannot go back, and the future is uncertain. That can be really scary. It can also be really exciting. Perhaps this is not the apocalypse or conspiracy toward the downfall of our culture. Perhaps this is the time for us to be resurrected to a stronger and more exceptional existence. Where others see damnation, I see the opportunity for our culture to come together and problem solve. I see the death of “well that’s how we’ve always done it” in the pursuit of “what is the best way to do this”? I see the opening of mind and hearts. It is this light flowing through the crack in the hardened shell of negativity that I want to enflame.

As a survivor of depression, anxiety, and endless transitions, I became a warrior. When fighting like hell, I enlisted those that had gone before. I read from authors that declared their understanding of things I did not comprehend. I found a good therapist and spent some quality time over five years sorting out my stuff. I fought endlessly for my children to receive the support they needed when others didn’t understand their challenges. I humbled myself to recognize that I did not know, and could not know certain things. I found those that did and became a grasshopper to the senseis that exist. With their help, I continue to fail forward.  I invite you to do the same.

The rebirth of WickedKate is not about selling out my personal privacy or story.  While my children and marriage offer a depth of laughter and tears that friends have often told us would become a blockbuster sitcom or movie, I respect those relationships and refuse to sacrifice any of those relationships on the altar of popularity or in the pursuit of viral recognition.

I refuse to allow this community to become a place that is sexualized, politicized, agist, or otherwise confrontational. There are enough spaces on the internet for that to live. If you want to be a troll, please find another bridge. Political Polly, Arrogant Arnold, Negative Neil, Racist Rebecca, and all “Karen”s of the world, can rain on someone else’s parade. You are the only ones not welcome here. All others, regardless of age, sex, gender, culture, creed, ethnicity, political party, color, race, religion, or belief system, are welcome to make yourself comfortable.

To be clear, in NO WAY do I declare myself better than anyone else, but I will be darned if I bow to someone else’s existence as more important than my own. You shouldn’t either. I’m not talking about “I would die for my kids” or “I would take a bullet for that guy” situations. I’m talking about valuing the opinions of others more than the ones you create after you use critical thinking to decide for yourself.

My vision for WickedKate is a community of HUMANS willing to fail forward together in pursuit of open-ended growth. I’m looking for villagers that are both exceptional in areas they are willing and entirely ordinary in other areas they are open to learning. I’m looking for villagers that are accepting of others, willing to take personal responsibility for their own journey, and willing to help raise awareness in their areas of expertise. My own village saves me on a daily basis. I do not take responsibility for your growth and do not expect every post to be the end of any conversation. Please read each, and then use your own discernment, to decide on the footsteps along your own journey. This community is food for thought, and should not ever be seen as the last word.
This site will act as a crack in the darkness allowing villagers to shine their light through to those in the dark willing to be open to alternative solutions and considerations. 

The WickedKate community as an opportunity to shine a light of positivity and encouragement in a world that is hurting, afraid, and lost. It is a way to invite others to open their minds to consider alternative viewpoints. I see it as an invitation to join my village for the betterment of all that reside in this virtual space. This will not be limited to feel-good posts and crafty bits. Those posts will exist, but they are the penguins on the iceberg in the sea of opportunity that will reside here. In no way am I saying that I have anything figured out completely. Life is an ongoing journey where goals and understanding bloom eternal. The only constant in this life is that it will always change. Our understanding must grow to meet that change in order to adapt and overcome the hills on the way. So too will the purpose of WickedKate pivot as the audience requires.

I invite you to submit content that is inspiring, helpful, necessary, and otherwise enlightening. Find others that understand that which you find difficult. Support others with the knowledge you have gained from your own experience. I envision a lighthouse that is built to guide others away from dark and rocky shores. The world is filled with transition. This site will make me accountable to be a part of the solution.

I do not promise for daily, weekly, or even consistent posting. I’ve learned that setting a strict bar on scheduling the meeting of goals reduces my creativity, depletes my motivation, and creates a shame situation when unmet. I will however promise that the content you find here will be supportive, enlightening, and leave you with something to think about moving forward.

The world is in transition. We must adapt to overcome. Let’s work together to find the next solution. Let us be courageous in the pursuit of our best selves. Life takes a village. Welcome back to mine. Together, we can do this.