The blogging world is fast-paced and sometimes it's hard to keep up with the demands it brings. In the back of my mind there's always the nagging thought that I must do more for my blog, and that I'm not doing enough. Some of the most common thoughts are:
I must be more organised with my posts
I must make a plan
I must do more on instagram
I must make my photos better
I need better lighting equipment
I must get more 'into' Twitter
I must be more Twitter active
I must cook more interesting recipes
These are, unfortunately, never-ending.
So back in late November, I took it upon myself to make a plan (a massive excel spreadsheet to be exact) and plan exactly what I was going to cook and bake for the next few months. Oh I knew what we'd be eating up until January - no surprises in this house! If I did this, I thought, I'd be completely on top of things and would be able to prepare bits of recipes in advance and really be organised, especially with Christmas coming around the corner as well. I'd also decided to do Vlogmas. I had all my posts planned for that too. I'd even started writing some. I'd even started chatting to people on Twitter (tackling one of my goals). Vlogmas began and I'd made a Christmas cake, Christmas puddings and mincemeat; all ready for the next few weeks. I was so prepared.
Day 2 of Vlogmas arrived and I submitted my post like normal. Unfortunately, that evening my Husband and I received some bad news about his Grandma - She wasn't well. So of course we travelled to Italy the next day on the first flight we could get. Two days later, we travelled back to the UK, only to then immediately travel back again as we found out whilst we were on the flight home, she'd sadly passed. The next day we returned to Italy for the funeral.
I realised afterwards, that from the moment we received the bad news, nothing else mattered to me more than supporting my Husband and his family. My blog went completely out of my mind, even after weeks of planning and preparation. It really goes to show that even if you are dedicated to doing something and have been preparing for it for weeks, family always will come first.
Since this happened, I haven't written a single blog post. I'm not saying I've been put off blogging because obviously I have no reason to be, I'm just feeling a bit out of the loop - anyone else ever feel like that?
I also don't quite know where to start. Because I work in Birmingham, a 45 minute train journey from where I live in Cheltenham, the evenings are often tiresome and I can't be bothered. However...
I've decided that I don't want my blog to be a must in my life, because in life, you never know what is going to come around the corner. I want to enjoy life, living in the now, rather than in what future blog post I should write. I'm not saying i'm not going to be posting consistently anymore, but i'm going to be posting a lot less that I have in the past few months. I'm going to put less pressure on myself to be perfect. And I hope the posts I do post, will be of a better quality (rather than me rushing it) - because that's what matters really, doesn't it?
Some things will stay the same however: I'm still going to be carrying on with the Learning with Larousse series, as I find it really interesting to be learning new techniques whilst sharing it with you guys. I'm also still going to be reviewing products and telling tales of the places we visit.
I don't want this post to seem like a downer because I see it more of a positive - don't let your blog own you - you own your blog instead.
P.S - you can expect a round-up post of bloggers to read in 2017 in the next few days. It's a post I was meant to post in Dec but wasn't able to - hope you like it! If you want to be included, let me know in the next day.
Have you ever had an epiphany like this before? Have you ever noticed how much your blog owns you when you step away from it for a few days?
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