A Story of Perseverance Born From A Lifetime of Anxiety and Depression

Hello! My name is Meg Flint. 

Where to begin…

I started writing as a kid. Some of my earliest pieces were little stories and plays for me and my neighborhood friends. But as I began to enter my teenage years, writing became an outlet and a way of coping. Often times I would write poems or music lyrics about feeling sad, being misunderstood, and feeling like I was somehow less than everyone else. At the time I wasn’t diagnosed with anxiety or depression, but looking back now I’m pretty sure it existed somewhere within my soul.

I liked writing so much in high school that when I graduated I went straight to college and majored in English. My focus was Creative Writing. Every day for four years straight I was reading and writing daily. Writing was easy for me, so it was no surprise that I graduated from Salisbury University four years later with flying colors. But after I graduated I had no clue what I was going to do with my degree. I was burnt out from the constant push for new written pieces for school. I had read so many books back-to-back that I didn’t even want to read for fun anymore. I stopped writing altogether, and started looking for work elsewhere. I didn’t know it at the time, but where I landed next would define my life for the next 7 years. And it would introduce me face-to-face with my anxiety and depression for the first time ever.

While working at a restaurant in Ocean City, MD, I discovered that I had a passion for food and people. I loved my job, and worked my way up to become Food & Beverage Manager. I went back to college and got my Associate’s degree in Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Management. At this point I thought I was set and ready for life with a clear career path ahead of me. I was wrong, though.

From 2011 until 2015, I had three anxiety attacks. All of them occurred while I was working in the restaurant business. I was going through some major life changes at this time, too, and so I was forced to face a side of myself that I had never met before. I took antidepressants for the first time. I ended major relationships and found new ones that would change my future. It was one of the most tumultuous times of my life. And yet it taught me a lot, too.

Fast forward to 2014, on the very last day of the year, when I gave birth to my first daughter. Becoming a parent changes everything. Suddenly that job that I loved so much became something that I dreaded instead. I ended up back on antidepressants for the second time in my life. I was torn between motherhood and work. I had worked so hard to better myself for my career, yet there I was hating every second of it. I wanted to be at home with my daughter but it just wasn’t possible. While I never hit rock bottom, it was a really tough time for me.

In 2016 I married my husband. Our family was growing and establishing itself more and more each day. I was still working in the food service industry, and it was still draining the life out of me. In 2017, right before the birth of my second daughter, I left the restaurant industry altogether. It was now time for my new career: stay-at-home parent. And here I am, still a stay-at-home Mom in 2023.

In 2022, during pandemic times, I found my way back to writing. I was struggling as a stay-at-home Mom. The goal was for me to return to work when our kids started school, and yet there I was, still at home. One night as I sat at our table an idea popped into my head, and I ran with it. I started a blog, Eastern Shore Eating, in which I explored the food culture and restaurants of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It was going really well. I hadn’t started making money from it, but I was getting new opportunities that I never thought I’d get. I felt like I had purpose again. But in August of 2022 my husband got his dream job with his dream company. So we packed up and headed to North Carolina.

Eastern Shore Eating made no sense in North Carolina. It was based solely around the culture of a place that I wasn’t living in anymore. Once again I found myself in a darker place, struggling with self-doubt and negative self-talk. In November 2022, I made the decision to end Eastern Shore Eating completely. I’m not going to lie, I felt like I had failed. I think my husband could tell I was struggling, because what he suggested next would bring me to where I am today.

In December 2022, with the help of my tech-savvy husband, I launched meg-flint.com. Meg-flint.com is my third baby. Although my site is still fairly new, I am so proud of how far I’ve come with it. And I love that I get to connect with my readers in ways that I couldn’t with my previous blog. I have found a new passion for learning and growing that I didn’t find with Eastern Shore Eating. My mind feels alive again.

It is my goal to share my stories with this community so that I can inspire and encourage other people out there that might be feeling like I did just a short time ago. So many mothers go through each day feeling like they’re barely surviving, not recognizing the woman in the mirror anymore. And while some of my readers may not be mothers, they are people, too. All people have feelings, and if I can inspire just one person to go out and fight for themselves, then I have done what I am here to do. So grab your cup of coffee, find your cozy spot, and gear up as we fight through this thing called life TOGETHER. Welcome to the community!