A week ago I started writing a post to announce my intention to stop blogging. There were many reasons, not least among them I was starting to feel that my life was being consumed by blogging and the internet. My virtual life was, at times, feeling more real to me than my bricks and mortar life. I was becoming disconnected.
It was something I’d been pondering for a month, ever since we spent that week in Newcastle, exploring the familiar and new and getting to know family again. While we were there I snatched twenty minutes online here and there, and some days not at all. And I didn’t miss it one bit.
When we came back to Melbourne I made some changes. I used my mornings for knitting and sewing and reading and cleaning (etc.) and logged on only after I’d spent some time being productive. Evenings were set aside for my life with D. It was becoming easier to turn away from the switched on world. It was becoming easier not to switch it on at all.
So I started writing that post. I was close to publishing it, too.
Then I saw an incoming link on my stats page. The link was from Sherry and she’d nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award. Seeing that link, and reading her post, made me pause and reconsider. Maybe I shouldn’t give up blogging. Not yet; not now. Maybe all I need to do is approach it differently. I’m still considering my options.
While I’m doing that I will nominate five blogs which make me think. These are the people who, with one post, can set my mind spinning and doubling back on itself and have me looking at the familiar from new angles. They have opinions but they’re not forceful about it. They pose questions that don’t feel like questions but suddenly I find myself searching for answers.
Michael at Lacuna Moon (formerly Dead Cat Diaries). He’d probably say it’s all balderdash and the result of thinking too hard. If he does, he’s just being curmudgeonly and/or modest.
Henitsirk at Anthromama whose thoughts on parenting are applicable to everyone not just parents.
Janet at Muppinstuff who writes about life and living with an honesty and thoughtfulness I can only aspire to.
Ms Make Tea at Make Tea Not War who often gets me thinking so hard I wander off in a dream and forget to comment.
(Here I’m taking my inspiration from Sherry and nominating a new blogger) Miss V at the eponymous missv. I’m glad she started blogging; I’m hoping to see much more from her.
Here are the rules of participation for those of you I’ve tagged:
- If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
- Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
- Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.
Kerryn, I so understand how you feel. I often think I’m overly consumed by my blog, and reflecting on my life rather than living it. I also didn’t miss it at all when I took a 10-day blogging break, but then I got back and got back into it. I also think it’s time for me to set up some personal rules to keep it under control.
Well done on your Thinking Blogger award – you certainly always make me think!
PS I am glad you decided not to quit. I would miss the connection with you!
Kerryn, you are sweet! Now I have some thinking to do (no pun intended.)
I would sorely miss you if you decided to stop blogging. You have a distinctive voice and I enjoy reading your words very much. I think you’ve hit on a good balance where the internet is only one of many things you do each day. For me it sometimes becomes one of the only places I hear intelligent adult voices all day, and then I know life is becoming unbalanced. But I also find blogging an inspiration, both for my own creativity and in hearing the voices of others. So, I understand your conflicting feelings.
Thanks for the award, Kerryn. I hope you don’t give up though I understand where you are coming from. I quite often think about giving it up myself. It’s very easy for it to become too consuming, almost addicting. But, as you seem to be, I find only allowing myself a limited time to blog and consciously making it secondary to other activities helps to keep it in its proper perspective so it becomes life enhancing rather than consuming.
BTW I read & enjoy all your posts- just don’t always have time to comment.
[...] imagine my surprise as I read about Kerryn’s conundrum (”to blog or not to blog, that is the question!”) and see that she is re-evaluating her [...]
I am a curmudgeon and not very modest. Thanks Kerryn for the nom.
Is this the part where I say “bah!” and give a dismissing wave and walk away? I forget these things, having lost some of the fluff I stuff my head with…
Charlotte: Personal rules and boundaries are definitely the way to go. One of my biggest is no more posting on weekends. Commenting, yes, maybe, but no posting. It’s working for me so far.
When I was considering quitting I realised that the thing I’d miss most about blogging is the interaction with people.
Henitsirk: Only sweet sometimes
Just ask D…
You said: “But I also find blogging an inspiration, both for my own creativity and in hearing the voices of others.” Oh, I hear you. Taking the most basic and literal interpretation of this, I wouldn’t be knitting or sewing again if it weren’t for blogging. I just had to prove to myself that I could still do what I saw other people doing.
Ms Make Tea: You are most welcome. I don’t think I’ll be quitting any time soon as I enjoy the sense of community. But finding that balance and perspective is important and having found some, I’m finding that I’m enjoying my non-virtual life more.
Michael: No, no walking away, not until the orchestra starts to play you off the stage. And I don’t think that has happened yet
I am glad you are not quitting, Kerryn. I would miss you,
Thanks Kerryn! I feel very honoured especially since I’m so new to this blogging thing. I have to say that your blog definitely makes me think – it’s a great combination of fine writing, insight and honesty.
Getting disconnected from the ‘real’ world is something I worry about also. There’s a fine balance between the inspiration and intellectual stimulation you can get from participating in a blogging community and the time and mind space suck that can occur. I read an interesting post about this issue over at Keri Smith’s blog this week.
Link to post on Keri Smith’s blog:
http://www.kerismith.com/blog/archives/000479.html
Thanks Lizzy. No chance of me quitting in the forseeable future, not now I have my personal rules.
Miss V: Thanks for that link — it seems a lot of people are having a similar experience to me and that it really does come down to managing your time and expectations. I’m going to be pondering the points her post raised for quite a while.
[...] blogs that make me think Jump to Comments I’m blushing right now because Kerryn has tagged my blog as one that makes her think. Kudos aside, one of the great things about this [...]
Thank you Kerryn!
I’m so behind on my blog reading as off line life has been chaotic and intense lately. Sometimes I have those thoughts about quitting, and I read them quite a lot and them some bloggers actually do quit!!!
However I love being part of this big conversation that I can drift in and out off as time permits. Glad you decided to stay.
You’re welcome
I love it too and it was a huge factor in deciding to keep going. I’d miss everyone if I stopped.