AI Didn’t Replace Me—It Helped Me Return to Myself

Reflections from a writer, mom, homeschooler, and stroke survivor

Writers often give AI a bad rap. And I get it. There’s valid concern about voice, originality, and creative ownership. But here’s the thing: for me, it hasn’t replaced my voice. It’s helped me find it again.

As a mom who homeschools three kids, is managing and planning a new to us homestead of 10 acres (we just moved here a month ago—hence why my writing took the back burner for a few weeks), writes, paints, photographs, cooks, and is recovering from a stroke—I don’t need another thing to do or remember. I need support. And that’s what I’ve found.

Photo by Emiliano Vittoriosi on Unsplash

Here’s a glimpse of how AI supports me in daily life:

• It helps me structure and refine my writing—acting like a gentle editor or coach

• It finds words I can’t recall by me describing to it information about the word I’m looking for

• It helps me reword or simplify everyday explanations I know people will eventually ask me—like how we homeschool or what my husband does for work—so I can practice responses that sometimes feel hard to form under pressure for me

• I’ve set it up to create daily word and poetry prompts as part of rebuilding my vocabulary post-stroke

• It identifies mystery plants I photograph

• It maps out my garden design and helps with plant timing, spacing, care, and integration into other parts of life

• It creates realistic meal plans and grocery lists

• It sets reminders and keeps me on track with the small details that otherwise slip through the cracks

• It’s helping me plan out pasture ideas and breaking down our homesteading ideas into doable tasks by steps and seasons

• It’s helping me plan out what animals to start with first in regards to our goals and land specifically

• I use it instead of Google for questions most of the time as I have my phone “dumbed” down so most of my apps are blocked, preventing me from wasting time and getting stuck scrolling or mindless reading of clickbait articles that pop up on the Google page.

It doesn’t create the work for me—it helps me create it and fine-tune it.

Homeschooling Help

AI supports me as I plan our family’s homeschool rhythm, offering ideas for themed lessons, gentle structure, and flexible academic planning that works around real life. It’s helped me incorporate more hands-on learning, like copywork from scripture, poetry, and art integration—all while honoring our values and goals. I can give it a general overview of what we did that day that wasn’t textbook learning, and it will pull out what skills and lessons those things that day taught during living our normal life. So much is learned in normal home living, it’s truly fascinating and encouraging to read about what specific things can be learned from just living life and embracing the lost art in keeping a home and homestead.

Co-op Class Planning

I also just wrapped up teaching a homeschool co-op class before our move, called Logic Unlocked, where kids explore critical thinking and teamwork through immersive escape rooms. AI helped me:

• Design full escape room experiences with puzzles, clues, storylines, and roles

• Map out rotations, adjust difficulty by age, and balance learning with fun

• Incorporate educational elements from STEM, history, geography, and art

• Create printable resources and editable documents

• Keep everything organized and engaging for both the kids and me

What It Doesn’t Do

It doesn’t take away my autonomy.

It doesn’t write for me.

It doesn’t erase my artistic voice or creative fingerprint.

It’s also not perfect. You need to fact check, for sure.

I’m also not here debating the potential copyright issues of how AI models were trained. I’m using it as a tool to help with my original work.

I’ve even had it retain a few of my published articles so it understands my voice and style. I put in my unedited drafts or jumbled thoughts, and it helps shape them into clarity—I repeat, just like any editor or writing coach would. That’s not artificial intelligence replacing me—that’s just intelligent assistance supporting me.

To me, it’s one of those tools where it’s all about how you use it and not letting it use you.

Especially after my stroke, when my brain fatigues easily or anxiety makes it hard to respond in the moment, this tool has been a lifeline. A bridge back to words, ideas, confidence, and clarity.

So no, it hasn’t dulled my creativity.

It’s helped me return to it—with more space, more direction, and more grace.

Thanks so much for reading!

If you’d like to support this little corner of the internet, every share, comment, or like is truly appreciated—it helps more than you know. 🌼

I’m also excited to share that I’ll be featured in

Dandelion Revolution Press

’s upcoming Bloom collection, where part of a poem I wrote will be published! I’ll be sharing the second half of that poem right here on Substack after the collection is released—so stay tuned.

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