This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Guest Post Written By: Dr. Darren Bradley (Jena’s Husband)

Within 6 months of meeting Jena in physical therapy school at the University of Pittsburgh, I was completely in love and knew I wanted to marry this amazing girl someday. What was not to love? Her inner beauty matched her outer beauty, she was the life of any social gathering, she was very intelligent and she was exceptionally kind. Early on I saw how she could run circles around me with regards to mathematics, as this was her strong point during school. On the flipside, my expertise was in writing – I always had a natural knack to be able to sit down and the words just flowed onto the computer or paper (even with those awesome stacking multi point push up pencils – remember those? Anyone…anyone?).

So I was both surprised and intrigued when Jena first told me that she felt a strong urge to begin blogging. I was familiar with the basic concept, but had no clue as to the amount of work it took to start one the right way. I was quickly enlightened to the podcasts, webinars, youtube videos and other online resources that were required for Jena to learn how to create a blog from scratch.

Supporting Your Spouse

One might ask why I would support my wife while she took on a new venture in her life.

For one, I knew that if she felt that God was calling her to do this to make a difference in the world while at the same time taking care of 4 little girls under the age of 5 years old when she typically didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom during the day, that this idea had to have strong roots deep inside her heart.

Related: Jena’s “About Me” Page

Secondly, I was so proud of her to be willing to step out and take a risk. All of the sudden it was like a switch had flipped and she began to write long blog posts almost effortlessly. If you recall, I talked about how math was her thing and writing was my thing. But now she wanted to take what she would admit was the weakest part of her skill-set at one time and make it the main focus of her attention. Talk about being brave!

Believe In Your Spouse

Isn’t that just like God, how He can take your perceived weakness and use it as your strength? That way God gets the glory, not you.  Now I knew that sometimes our plans in life fail or don’t meet the expectations we originally have, but I didn’t care. This looked like a fun ride, Jena seemed like a Joan of Arc blogging machine (minus the burning at the stake part), and I wanted to hop on to the blog train!

Remember how I told you earlier how smart Jena is? Well I believe that not just someone’s physical beauty can be attractive, but so too can their intelligence/mental beauty and creativity. I found myself more drawn to her and attracted to her because I saw her being productive, being an entrepreneur, taking risks and stepping outside her comfort zone.

I grew up in a home where a hard work ethic was ingrained into us at a very early age. I was the kid who could spend my entire Thanksgiving break my senior year in high school studying European history at my parent’s kitchen island so that I could do well on an AP exam in the upcoming weeks ahead. But even I have a limit where I need to just sit and chill.

Jena is a whole different type of person. She is the energizer bunny with rechargeable batteries who has planned out when the batteries will lose their power and has 2 sets of backup batteries fully charged and ready to go so she does not miss a beat!

In my house, her work ethic is legendary. Somehow she relaxes by working. I am still trying to bottle that so I could sell it and make millions. I knew that she would put the hard work and effort into a new business or blog or idea and give it her absolute best. How could I not support that?

The Reality Of Starting A Blog

Now for all you spouses of bloggers out there who think your significant other will work a couple weeks, build a site, write some material and then sit back and collect checks so that you can sit in your man cave and “never again have to take off vacation time for the day the NCAA March Madness tournament starts because you were able to retire on her earnings” are in for a truly educational experience.

The more Jena learned about blogging and worked on the blog, the more she realized she had to learn and do. The more she had to learn and do, the longer she stayed up at night or during the day on her computer working. Translation = less time for me (cue sad Charlie Brown music.)

Blogging Takes Hard Work

I knew it would take work, I knew I would have to sacrifice time with her, but I didn’t realize it meant this much time. That was a struggle for me initially. A part of me wanted to be selfish and have her focus on spending time with me. But I realized that with almost anything in life to be a success, it would take hard work. I needed to accept a season in my life where we might not be able to hang out and relax as much during the days/evenings for the sake of building the blog.

It is still hard at times when I ask her if she wants to hang out and she says she can’t because of her blogging deadline or project she is working on. But I understand why, I respect her for it, and I would want the same support for me if the roles were reversed. I am proud of her for finding something she is passionate about and pursuing it.

 Pursuing Happiness

I told you how I was a history nerd, right? Well think back to your freshman US history class or how you had to memorize the first couple sentences of the Declaration of Independence when you were in 4th grade. Remember the part about “life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness.”?

That’s the whole idea and awesome thing about living in our country. We have the opportunity to pursue something new, something exciting, something beneficial to ourselves and/or our families, something unknown. That is where some of life’s biggest adventures take place. Regardless of how big or small Jena’s blog gets, regardless of how much or how little she makes through affiliate programs, regardless of how many subscribers or Instagram followers or Facebook likes she has – she is a 100% success in my book.

It is impossible with all she is learning that this knowledge or material will be a waste. And I know God is going to reward her hard work now and/or down the road. I am so proud of her, she rocks!

“Spouse Of A New Blogger” Advice

So to all those newbie blogging spouses out there – don’t try to rationalize the whole thing. Don’t try to figure out how many months it will take for you to buy your dream truck off of the profit from your spouse’s blog. Just embrace it and hold on for the ride.

You married your spouse for a reason – to live life together. And supporting your spouse with their new blog will draw the two of you closer than ever before. And who knows, when you support your spouse and tell her how the more she works on the blog the better she looks in her skinny jeans, she might even invite you to write a guest post. =)

5 Ways To Encourage Your Beginner Blogger Wife During The Early Months As A New Blogger

1. The reflection from your computer screen really brings out the colors in your eyes.

2. My honey-do-lists are more enjoyable now that you write them in code. 

3. I love the smell of dry shampoo in the morning after you stayed up all night pinning.

4. I am so impressed that you now have 100 times more friends than I do.

5. You are the most Pinteresting person I know!

Comment below with your experiences being a spouse of a new blogger. Or maybe you are the new blogger and you’re reading this post thinking “I really wish my husband would read this,” then share it with him and let me know how he reacts by commenting below.

But I want to encourage you, as a new blogger to keep pursuing your dream. You’ve got this!

-Darren Bradley

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

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-Jena