Sunday, October 28, 2012

to blog or not to blog

Today I am going to blog about blogging. Haha, great idea right? But really, I have not been seriously blogging for that long... I started getting serious about it in May of this year I believe, so I still consider myself a newbie. Why I blog... hmmm, I guess because I want to! I started blogging because I saw the potential to {interact, learn, have fun, be creative, and hopefully have some sort of impact on people}.


I have had lots of {interaction}. I have loved getting to know wonderful ladies and read super great blogs, the ladies on my sidebar to name a few.
I have {learned} a lot of fun fashion, craft, and recipes. I have experimented with different looks and hairstyles.
I have had lots of {fun}!
I feel like I have gotten to {be creative} and gotten lots of inspiration from other blogs.
Had an {impact} on lives? I am not quite sure, but I hope so.

I have enjoyed all of these things! But for a while there I felt like blogging was more work than fun.  I have just done blogging out of my heart and expression. I wanted to do it, I looked forward to working on the blog. However there has been times that has just not been the case. Maybe it was due to busyness, but I was in some sort of a funk. Some weeks I was lucky to muster up one blog post let alone go searching and reading around other blogs. I didn't want to do it. It just felt like one more thing on my list that I had to do.

Here's the truth, I don't ever want to feel obligated to blog, I want it to just come up out of me. I want it to be fun and energizing, not stressful and dragging. Obviously when you feel that way it is going to be apparent to all of your readers, so there came a time when I had to step away. I didn't make myself do anything with the blog. I took a break hoping my love would come alive and come out even more creatively than before. And I am excited and pleased to say I believe that it has worked. One reason being I have limited myself and kept myself consistent. I have committed to posting and putting a certain amount of time into the blog and I am not letting myself do more. In the past I started doing more than I could maintain weekly and it killed my excitement and joy of blogging, but no more my friends!

I have learned something about blogging and life in general through this little experience. We all need to be renewed and refreshed. Hello! That's why God created the system of the weekends! lol But really, who wants to go through life hating all of their obligations? Their jobs, their families, school... they can all be overwhelming from time to time. Rather than killing ourselves when we are empty of inspiration and have nothing to give, take a break. Renew. Refresh. Get filled up and fueled up. Now I know that you can't just peace out of work, school, or family, but you can take an hour, afternoon, day, weekend, and just be free. Find your passion and joy again. Blogging is the same way. Don't blog and post and tweet out of obligation to your readers. Just like you wouldn't drive your car on empty because you were obligated to be somewhere, don't pour out ideas, words of advice, fashion tips when YOU are running on "E." Take time away to be renewed and filled up so to speak, then the ideas and creativity will spill out.

How did you renew yourself this weekend? 
Have you ever had these kind of experiences with blogging?
P.S. I was over at Pamela's Heavenly Treats yesterday sharing a super fun and yummy treat! Head on over and check it out. Oh, and tell Pamela hi for me :D


8 comments:

  1. Oh girl, I think this happens to all bloggers. I'm actually just getting out of my funk now! Let's hope I don't fall back into it. I love blogging, but I never anticipated how time consuming it can be to maintain. A few weeks back I decided that rather than lose sleep or be stressed about blogging or keeping up with other blogs, I was just going to post and share what I have when I'm up to it. I don't want to feel like I have to do it and then end up posting things just for the heck of it. So far, so good. I'm just posting when I feel inspired to share!

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  2. I had a great weekend. We did a bunch of Halloween activities so we could get it out of the way before the storm hit.

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  3. This has happened to me before. Taking a break definitely does help. But I also think not putting pressure on yourself to post all the time or to do certain things helps as well!

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  4. Thanks for following! Love your blog :)

    I've learned to just blog about what inspires you and what you love!

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  5. I really love this post!So important to remember blogging isn't obligatory! Makes it so much fun!

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  6. Yes, yes, yes. I've had to take a few breaks from blogging in the past and I'm going through a "funk" right now, just trying to find my inspiration again. Great post, it's nice to know other bloggers go through the sane things!

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  7. I couldn't agree more! It helps to unplug and get away from everything once in a while. I love that you say to "find your passion and joy again." It's so important to fill our lives with meaningful stuff!

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  8. Love love LOVE this girl. I've done this before. it was a lot easier to do before I accepted paid sponsors. So now I feel obligated to them mostly. but I've changed the way I am doing some stuff.so that it is not so draining. I love writing and blogging. I hate when I'm doing "blog related stuff" and I don't get to write for weeks... :)

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