Yesterday I posted here on my blog. Three hours or so later, I binned the post. Something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t unhappy with the writing itself. I hadn’t rushed through it- in fact I had planned this post several days before. The content was interesting, I thought. The subject matter was something that resonated with me. So, what was the problem? I’m still not entirely sure, but it was enough to make me want to whip it off my blog site shortly after publication. I could go so far as to say it didn’t feel authentic, but maybe it just wasn’t what I wanted to write about.
I know I’m out of practice following a long hiatus, and that no doubt affects my confidence a bit. I feel like I’m still in the starting blocks here, yet to find my groove and the necessary traction to carry me along. I had a sixteen-month gap between April 2021 and August this year when I started blogging again. I hadn’t really even expected to be back here following that lengthy break, but here we are again. Am I happy to be back? Yes, I am, especially when I see some of the familiar blogging faces and discover some new ones which I’ve tagged to follow. I’ve never had a large following on WordPress but it’s reassuring and heart-warming to see that most if not all of my followers are still there, plus one or two more over the past few weeks.
Speaking of blogging breaks, I’ve seen bloggers continue to comment on other people’s blogs even after they have left their own in entirety or are on ‘blog sabbatical’ themselves. I think opting out for a while can offer you a kind of freedom to observe and engage with other bloggers on a different level- if you’re not blogging it gives you more time to explore other blogger’s sites, play around with the WordPress search bars for new posts and sites, and go through the Discover section in the Reader. But I did none of those things during my extended break. I stepped away completely due to reasons which I won’t detail here. Save to say that the period between March 2021 and late August this year has involved huge changes and challenges, some of which I have coped with better than others. Blogging moved onto the back burner as I turned my attention to other things that needed me more. The real heartbreak came with the sudden and shocking passing of a younger family member earlier this year. There are no words for this.
I think a blogger’s needs can change over time, extended gaps between posts or otherwise. Sometimes we just need a break. Our circumstances change, times change, and even if we know that our values have not really changed, we are sometimes forced to change our priorities and our focus in life because of the things that happen. These kinds of changes may or may not impact on our blogs and the things we find ourselves writing about. Sometimes we question whether our blogs still reflect what is really in our hearts and minds, and we feel the urge to take a step back for a while. This is never a bad thing.
And even when those curve balls come, those one’s that hit you right in the solar plexus, leaving you windless and speechless, you need to try and lean into the trajectory, lean into the tail of that curve ball, and eventually settle back into your groove. Or maybe even find a brand new one♥
Your World in Your Hands 