I love blogging. I love using my talents and sharing them with others. I love having a record of my projects and recipes. I actually go to my blog often to look up recipes or tutorials-- I don't have the memory capacity I used to.
The thing I love most about blogging is the friendships I've made along the way. So many ladies that I would have otherwise never met I now call friends. I love the communication I have with all of you readers. Like your comments on my most recent giveaway post. I was touched by your kind words.
Here's another example: I recently got this comment on my blog:
Erin, The writer of another blog that I read just announced that she's pregnant with her 10th child. I notice that you haven't been posting lately. It makes me wonder if you're about to be a mama again.I'm not pregnant again (thankfully!) but I loved this comment! I appreciated that she had noticed my absence and had taken the time to write to me about it. Thanks, Kathy!!
No matter, I hope you're away because you're well and out having fun!
At this point you are probably wondering why I am giving up blogging if I love it so much, right? Well last month I went on a girls trip with some friends. I was gone for four days. I have never left my kids for so long. I felt guilty for leaving but I had such a fantastic time! Being removed from my daily life gave me time to reflect and ponder the way I do things. And I wasn't happy with what I saw.
Try as I might, I have never been able to master balancing my priorities. Blogging takes a lot of time, more than I would have imagined, especially when you are a craft blogger. Creating something, photographing it, editing the pictures, uploading and writing the post (writing does not come naturally to me either). Just for one post. Tutorials are even more time consuming! I would set certain times of the day or evening that I could blog or do projects but I would often try to squeeze things in during the day. I would choose working on a project over playing with my kids more than I would like to admit. I found that even when I was with my family I would find myself thinking about blogging-- projects to do, ways to photograph or present the project, composing blog posts in my head. It was just too much a part of my life.
Over the last year or so I kept getting the feeling that I needed to quit blogging. I finally decided to listen to the prompting. My kids are the best things I have ever created. Being their mother and teaching them is by far the most important thing I will ever do in this life. They deserve 100% of my attention. That is not to say that I can't have other interests or hobbies but I need to cut back and so blogging is what I am cutting. Without blogging I will actually have more free time to craft when I feel like it.
At first I thought I would just remove the ads from my blog. In doing so I would no longer be contractually obligated to blog. I would blog when I felt like it, not on a schedule mandated by someone else. I removed the ads but after a few weeks of not posting I found that I was happier, more relaxed. Without the self-imposed pressure to create on a daily basis I was free to do other things. I have been playing more games with my kids, reading with the kids more, I have been exercising (!!), keeping the house cleaner, staying on top of laundry, I still have managed to create too. I sewed myself a cute new skirt and have plans for a few more. I have even started teaching Liam how to sew! He's doing awesome, by the way! I am spending very little time on my computer. I even unsubscribed from 90% of the blogs I had been reading. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing!
I still don't have enough hours in the day for everything I would like to do but I'm closer. I am getting more done and I am happier. This wasn't an easy choice. I know I will miss blogging, I already do, but I also know it was the right choice. In ten years it won't matter if I had a blog or not but my kids will be 18, 15, 13 and 11 (Yikes!) that is what is important. And that is what I want my focus to be.
I will be leaving the blog up. I will still be using it a reference I hope it will still be a source of inspiration for some out there. A big thank you to all who read and commented and supported. I will miss you! Love, Erin