Apparently, some of my readers have a sense of humour almost as twisted as mine. Over the past couple of weeks, I have taken a break from regular posting and was quite amused to receive several emails from loyal readers asking if I had actually died and failed to set my dead man’s switch or let my executor know how to post a notice on my blog. The short answer is no- I’m still alive, and now back to regular posting.
So what happened? Well, I left on vacation about two weeks ago and had a number of articles lined up to automatically post- or at least I thought I did. But I didn’t. I found myself in the middle of a great vacation getting ready to hit the slopes, but worrying about my blog and trying to figure out why my scheduled posts weren’t appearing. That’s not cool. My blog was eating into valuable vacation time that could have been spent humiliating myself on the bunny slope.
When I started this blog, I had just left a large law firm that I felt demanded too much in exchange for too little. Yet ironically, the blog that was to chronicle my journey away from such silliness began to consume almost as much time as the job that inspired it. Instead of spending my nights reviewing documents and drafting agreements, I was spending my evenings writing and researching new posts and trying to develop and market my blog. I had not given myself more free time, I had just exchanged one mistress for another.
There are many reasons why people blog- for many, it’s a way to share thoughts and passion on a given subject. For others, it is a profit-motivated endeavour. My intention was never just to generate income with my blog, but as ad revenue and daily views increased this aspect came to prominence, and with it came the drive to expand further. I was a blog sell-out. The more I thought about how to increase profitability, the less I enjoyed blogging. I felt compelled to churn out daily posts not because I had something to say, but because that’s what you need to do to grow readership and climb up the Google ladder. When my hobby was becoming a source of stress rather than joy, I knew it was time to step back and reevaluate my motivations, and hence the brief sabbatical.
“Balance” isn’t something that you can achieve once and then forget about. It’s an ongoing goal that requires diligence and constant attention. I’m now back from my Trudeau-esque walk in the snow, passions renewed and vision focused. I enjoy blogging too much to abandon it, and I want to keep it that way by writing about subjects that interest me and at times when I’m inspired, not by being mired in blogging best practices from the experts. Thanks to my readers for hanging in there!
You might also enjoy:
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You scared me there… for a second I thought it was a goodbye post!
So did I! I would’ve forgiven you for depriving me, of course, but I would’ve missed your sense of humour, not to mention the interesting articles!
I say, post when you want to post, and spend your valuable evenings with your lovely wife and cats.
It’s always great to take a break every once in a while, otherwise you get stale.
Sometimes life can get in the way, too!