Pull up a chair. We need to chat. If I were you, I’d pull up a chair that looks like this.
{via}
Here’s the deal. Back in the spring, when I began blogging here at A House in Holland, I had big plans. It all started when my husband casually mentioned that since I was doing so well with writing for other bloggers, I should do more with my own blog. That was all it took to get me up and running with plans and ideas and goals. I decided to step away from my original blog, A Trip to Holland, which was always meant to be more of a way to keep track of our family, and really pursue fame and fortune with a new blog–this one.
I totally kid about fame and fortune. But I did think it would be great to get more credit for the research and writing I’m so good at doing for other bloggers via my own space on the web. And I thought it would be fun to generate some income from my blog, too. So, I pulled together a new design and figured our big move across the country would be a great storyline and means of blogspiration to kick off the new blog.
It was! I’m still getting lots of traffic to my posts about staging our Indiana home for sell. That makes me feel good.
And it wasn’t. I underestimated the time and effort it was going to require not just to move and get settled in a new place, but also to help my children adjust to life in a new place. I already had commitments to the people who actually pay me to write–it just didn’t seem fair to my family to spend more time on the computer blogging for myself. So, as you probably noticed, I temporarily shelved my big plans for the blog and posted sporadically.
There was fall to look forward to, when my children would be back in school all day. I was convinced that once school started, I could take on the world–or at least the Tri-State area–with my own blogging. I came up with schedules and great ideas for crafts and recipes and all kinds of fun stuff. I was ready to amaze you.
And then….late last night….I was finally honest with myself. I don’t have time to amaze you. My days are packed as it is, just looking after my family and getting the freelance work done that I get paid to do. I’ve been living in our California home since June, and I still haven’t finished unpacking. All that time during the day when my kids are at school? Well, it’s just enough time to get the household chores and an article or two written. Once the kids are home, I’m very busy helping with homework and driving people to their activities. My blogging-for-me time was at night, after they were in bed. And it was starting to feel like one more thing that had to get done.
Guess what I’ve learned? I get resentful when my blog makes me lose sleep. And not getting enough sleep makes me grouchy. And a grouchy + resentful me doesn’t add up to the best wife and mom. To be perfectly honest with you, multi-tasking is simply not one of my talents.
So, this morning in the shower–where, no lie, I get the best inspiration–I decided it was time to just relax. To let go of the pressure to perform via this little blog. To tell myself it was okay to just focus on things that are more important right now. To tell myself that I wasn’t giving up, I was just moving on to something else.
I may pop in now and then to show off something I made or share a recipe. Sometimes it’s fun to have an audience, eh? (Even a virtual audience.) And I’ll probably send you off to look at things I’ve produced elsewhere as a freelance writer, occasionally. So {eye roll} things probably won’t be much different than they were all summer! Which means I really didn’t need to write a long soliloqy to tell you this. I guess writing it down is more therapeutic for me than anyone else.
Maybe someday the time will be right for me to take over the Tri-State area of the Blogosphere. But that time isn’t now. Feel free to continue to subscribe to A House in Holland for infrequent updates. I’ll continue to post sporadically over at our family/CHD awareness blog, A Trip to Holland. And I plan to keep enjoying all the delightful updates from other favorite blogs.
Best wishes!
