Below is a letter from my heart to yours. I hope you enjoy it and walk away with some thoughts of your own.
Dear Blogger,
Can we get real for a minute? Can we talk about our blogs and the work that goes into them? If you’ve blogged for any length of time, you’ll know that blogging takes many hours and lots of time dedicated to interacting on social media and visiting other blogs. At least it does if you want others to read your blog.
I don’t know about you, but I initially started my blog as a hobby – as a way to pass time during a season of my life. If we’re being honest, I figured I’d grow bored with it in two months and it’d fall to the side like all of my other unfinished blogs. (Yep, this isn’t my first one. It’s just the only one that I’ve stuck with.) I never imagined that almost three years later I’d spend a lot of my free time working on blog related things – pictures, posts, interacting, social media…the list goes on and on.
I love blogging. I love creating images and interacting with other bloggers. I also love my friends and family. I’m pretty good at spending quality time with them but every now and then, I have to choose and the choice isn’t always easy especially when you’ve made a commitment to yourself to be consistent.
Last night was one of these nights. Normally, my husband goes to bed before me and I stay up working on the blog. I spend time next to him in bed while he plays on his phone and I read. When he’s ready to actually turn out the lights, I retreat back to my computer in the living room. On most nights, this works perfectly, but not last night. Last night, I retreated back into the living room and settled in to write two posts (one for here and one for The Coastie Couple). As I was searching for a picture for one of the posts, I realized my heart just wasn’t in it. My heart was lingering in the bed – wanting to fall asleep next to my husband.
I tried to push myself to do the posts because my goal lately has been to have the next day’s post scheduled before I head to bed. It’s worked quite well. I found that I just couldn’t do it though and I turned the computer off and headed to bed. At first, I felt a little guilty because I had let myself down in some ways – until I realized something. I may have stepped away from the blog for the night but I had stepped away for myself and what I find important. I stepped away for a good reason and for something that I value highly – family.
This is why I’m writing you today. I want you to remember that your blog will be there waiting in cyberspace at all times. Your blog is great and your readers love your content. The true followers will also forgive you if you go away for a bit for a good reason. The internet is great but it can never replace family and the people near and dear to you. Remember that when you’re making choices.
I want you to remember what’s important to you. What are your values? What makes you happiest? Your values and your happiness should come at the forefront of your life. Sometimes that means putting other things on hold and that’s OK.
I hope you’ll take some time away from your blog at some point to enjoy the life around you. After all, enjoying life is a great way to find new content for your blog!
Until we chat again,
Pam
P.S. In case you’re wondering, my post today was supposed to be about editorial calendars. Don’t worry – I moved around a couple of posts on my editorial calendar and you’ll be getting a backstage look at my editorial calendar next week!
