I know that quite a few bloggers are taking ti easy today, recovering with a reading hangover from yesterday and the 24-hour readathon. This is the first time since I started blogging that I haven't participated. It felt a bit odd to not be as involved (I still hosted a mini-challenge, but didn't pick up a book yesterday). I know I have said it before, but I have felt so removed from my blog and my original intentions that I am struggling with coming back to blogging...and finding the time to read, let alone write entries.
This past week was incredibly stressful-meetings, grading, conferences, Homecoming festivities...I am still recuperating and probably will be for the rest of the week. I also had to get my self-evaluation done for school and will be having my first formal observation on Wednesday (hello nerves....). I've been busy and happy.
I was also excited to spend the whole day yesterday and a good chunk of this morning with Matt. Since school started, we have been working completely opposite schedules. I get up at 5:15 when he has just come to bed. I go off to school and don't get home till after 4 most days. He leaves for work at 2:30, so we miss each other. The only time I see him is on Saturday mornings before he leaves for work and on Sundays. So, it was nice to see him ALL day yesterday and spend some quality time with him. We drove up to Michigan State for the game, saw some old friends, ate delicious food, and sped back home to chaperone Homecoming. It was fun to see all the kids dressed up. When our shift was over, we went out for a nice dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching baseball. We both really needed that time together, so it was worth missing the readathon. :)
I'm still trying to decide what I want to do on the blog. I miss the blogging community, but I am over some aspects of it-the pressure to consistently post, the pressure to be overly social on twitter, the pressure to READ and write all the time...I don't want to stop blogging...but I am tempted to just delete this space and start over...I don't know. I'm just unsure if I want to write about the same things. And since I got my job and since unemployment was the reason I started blogging here in the first place, I feel like this just isn't as important.
Anyway, I didn't mean to whine-just thinking out loud.
Do whatever makes you happy, Allie dear. :) And time with Matt is definitely happy time!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely do what makes you happy! But maybe let your readers know if there is somewhere else to find you instead :) So glad you got some time with your husband, that scheduling would suck.
ReplyDeleteWrite what you want when you want. I don't necessarily think you have to start over to do that. My blogging goes in shifts, and I'm perfectly ok with that. I don't do it for money or a zillion followers, so I blog about what I want to. I enjoy it that way.
ReplyDeleteWell, you know how I've stopped and restarted according to how I feel, quite often over the last few months. It took me a really long time to get back into book blogging. If you do decide to start over again - here or elsewhere - let me know where you're going, k? Doesn't matter what you're talking about, you're one of those friends I defnitely want to stay in contact with.
ReplyDeleteI can so relate to those sentiments, in fact I have stopped and re-started blogging in the past, the pressure to keep up constant posts was one of the reasons for that. In the last tweleve months I re-started the original blog but I no longer feel the same pressure to constantly keep up reading and posting, (doing that takes the enjoyment out of it), I do love blogging but I am a lot more comfortable with setting my own agenda and timetable these days. Like you I originaly started a blog while between jobs but with the demands of work and further study, in additon to dealing with some major personal challenges blogging ended up becoming a bit of a chore, instead of relaxation it became just another stress and yet I could not completely give it up. I think ultimately blogging should be fun and we should be comfortable with how and when we do it, maybe sometimes finding the comfortable balance might take some trial and error, breaks and re-starts but ultimately you should do what you want when you want.
ReplyDeleteI just discovered you yesterday through the readathon and I already love your blog :) I'd hate to see you disappear. But I totally understand the feeling. I've gone through the same thing before…felt blogging starting to change…the book blogging world starting to change…and finally I just said that I don't CARE lol. And it's really worked for me since then. I basically blog now when I want to and when there's something that I feel like talking about and all of my good blogging friends have stuck around and I cherish those relationships. Same with twitter…I tweet when I have something to say now, lol. I totally get you on the opposite schedule thing with your significant other too :( My partner's name is Matt and we work wonky schedules too and I hate barely getting to see each other..it really is hard. Enjoy as much time as y'all get together!! And as for blogging, do what makes you happy!
ReplyDeleteI can relate to your post and to the comments above. If we start to blog in quiet times, and then life fills up again, what then?
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame if what began as a pleasure ends up a chore. As the others have said, there's a lot to be said for reading and blogging as and when the fancy takes us.
Friends will always be pleased to see new blog posts, whenever they appear. After all, behind every blog there's a person not a machine. It's the ebb and flow that makes life interesting.
Your words: "I'm still trying to decide what I want to do on the blog. I miss the blogging community, but I am over some aspects of it-the pressure to consistently post, the pressure to be overly social on twitter, the pressure to READ and write all the time...I don't want to stop blogging...but I am tempted to just delete this space and start over...I don't know. I'm just unsure if I want to write about the same things. And since I got my job and since unemployment was the reason I started blogging here in the first place, I feel like this just isn't as important."
ReplyDeleteSounded exactly like me. I stopped taking care of my blog for a long time. I said goodbye so many times and almost took it down more than a few times. Changed sites often. I lost a lot of readers along the way during all the indecisive meandering. But my husband pushed me not to close the blog down. He told me to just let it be and just stop stressing myself over posting/commenting/etc. My initial intent with the blog, years ago, was just to keep track of my favourite passages and just see the beauty of life reflected through the books I read. Sometimes I felt people expect for me to write reviews when I don't know how to do that.
While taking my long, winding breaks, I was trying to just go with the flow of my life and my reading self, going back to the essential. I'm so grateful to my husband for pushing me not to close the blog down, as now I'm blogging again and so glad to be doing so. I found a rhythm in my blog, of just "reading and smelling the roses" along the way. And I'm liking that my blog now is a true reflection of my reading life, not an attempt to blog about what others expect of me.
It's perfectly understandable for you to try to internalize why you have this blog and what you want out of it and it's perfectly understandable for you to feel all these things. Take time out and just let it flow. Blog whenever you want to, don't blog when you don't feel like it. Don't comment if you don't like it. Just don't close the blog down. Not just yet. Keep it here and maybe in a year or two you'll realize you want to get back to it every now and then.
I started blogging, too, when I was unemployed. When I began working again, that's when I felt the pressure. But now, I've eased up to the point where I don't stress myself out with the blog. It's there but it's also not there. But I'm really, really glad it's there when I need it to be.
Aw, don't feel pressured! I really feel like there's absolutely no point in feeling pressured or stressed over your blog, because it's a hobby, and, you know, they're supposed to be fun! We'll still be here whenever you feel like you want to post, and if you don't want to then that's fine!
ReplyDeleteBut anyway. Do whatever makes you happy, is my main thought. :)
I would say what makes you happy, not just as far as blogging is concerned but in life.
ReplyDeleteIf you do start your blog over, please do tell us where we can find you again.