Why I Called It Holler Girl Rising

I’ve started over more times than I ever planned to.

There have been seasons of my life when starting over wasn’t some inspirational choice. It was survival. There were times when life looked nothing like I thought it would, when I had to figure out what came next while still being a mother, paying bills, raising kids, going back to school, building a career, and trying to create something better for all of us.

And somehow, through all of it, I kept going.

That is where Holler Girl Rising comes from.

I’m an Appalachian woman, and this place is part of who I am. Appalachia is more than mountains and pretty photographs. It’s family, history, humor, struggle, resilience, old houses, river towns, front porches, people who know your family before they know you, and a way of looking at the world that can be difficult to explain unless you’ve lived it.

I’m proud of where I come from.

But the “rising” part matters just as much.

I’m still becoming the woman I want to be.

I’m raising my children. I’m earning my social work degree. I’m building a career centered around helping people. I’m working toward owning a home. I’m learning about money and credit and all kinds of things I wish someone had taught me years ago. I’m dreaming bigger than I used to allow myself to dream.

And none of it is happening in a perfectly straight line.

That’s what I want this space to be about.

I want to write about starting over. Motherhood. Appalachia. Going back to college as an adult. Social work. Money. Homeownership. Faith. Growth. Beautiful old things. Hard things. Funny things. And probably some things that don’t fit neatly into any category at all.

I don’t want Holler Girl Rising to be a place where I pretend I have everything figured out.

I’d rather document what happens while I’m figuring it out.

Maybe someone reading this is rebuilding too.

Maybe you’re starting school again. Leaving something behind. Raising children while trying to find yourself. Trying to buy your first home. Changing careers. Recovering from a difficult chapter. Or maybe you’ve simply reached that point where you know you want something different from the life you’ve been living.

If that’s you, I hope you’ll stay.

Because I don’t think rising means that you never fall.

Sometimes it simply means that you keep getting back up.

Welcome to Holler Girl Rising.

This is the beginning.