You may or may not have noticed but I have been MIA since about the beginning of December. I have posted a few reviews but have done almost no blog hopping.
This past holiday season I was super busy and it was pretty stressful. Besides the holidays season stuff itself, the company I work for got bought out, and I had to re-home one of my dogs. I had too much going on and blogging was super low on my priority list.
Luckily, even though my company was bought out, it is sounding like they are planning on keeping most of the employees, so, at least for now, I still have a job and it doesn’t sound like much will be changing for me. And I successfully re-homed Belle! She is now happily living with my Aunt and Uncle and she will be much happier there where she will be the only dog and not get into fights with her sister. Things are starting to ease up, and I can finally breath a bit.
And now that I can finally relax I can figure out what to do about blogging. I don’t want to go back to the amount of blogging I was doing before. It was super stressful and honestly I wasn’t really enjoying it anymore. I wanted to write posts regularly but because I was getting so many comments I didn’t have time to comment back. I love looking at everyone’s blogs, but I just didn’t have the time to both write as many posts as I wanted and comment back too!
And to top it off, because I was so stressed about blogging, it was effecting my reading! I kept finding myself in more and more slumps. And the whole purpose of this blog is to supplement my enjoy of reading, and it was contradicting that. I still love blogging and am going to keep doing it but I am going to cut waaaay back. For now I am just planning on doing reviews, so I’ll maybe do a post every other week or so. That way I can have plenty of time to comment back and see everyone’s awesome posts without feeling like I am being buried.
Last thing, I just want to thank everyone in the book blogging community because you guys are amazing. I love this community and am honored to be a part of it! Just because I can’t devote as much time to blogging anymore has nothing to do with the community or you wonderful people, and everything to do with my overly busy schedule. I am looking forward catching up on all your blogs! (tho give me time haha it will take a while!)
Perfectly Tolerable 
Take your time! It can take a while to figure out a good balance for all the things. I’m glad to hear that the real life stuff is hopefully a bit less stressful than it was!
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Thank you ❤ Haha I am terrible with time management too so finding a good balance is important! And even since I wrote this, my stress levels have been getting better!
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Take care of yourself! I have noticed I get into reading slumps to when I think about reading in relation to my blogging. Or pressure myself to read too much or whatever- I think other bloggers get that and understand.
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For some reason when I feel like I have to read then I don’t want to read! Even if I chose the book to read in the first place 🤣 Thank you ❤ And I love that everyone is so understand!
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I have noticed. But try to remember that reading and reviewing should be enjoyable, not stressful. As Sarah said, just “take care of yourself.”
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Thank you ❤ I am working on taking care of myself and my stress levels are definitely going down and I am enjoying reading!
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Girl same! I moved from New York to Arizona during the holidays and I have spent almost all of January looking for a job so blogging took a way backseat. Best of luck for you though! I hope things start slowing down and working themselves out for you!
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Oh man! Thats a big move! I hope you are loving your new place! And thank you ❤ I'm definitely starting to find a new routine and its helping!
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Take all the time you need! 🖤
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❤ Thank You ❤
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There’s nothing wrong with that!! You come first and if it’s stressing you out, you need to do what’s best. I’m sorry you had to re-home your dog but glad your baby isn’t far away! Also, glad you get to keep your job!! I’m just now getting back into it but I agree… reading should come first and the blogging just a bonus, when you have the time! I have been absent so long but there’s still a few bloggers that didn’t forget me & we won’t forget you either! Take it easy, hun! ❤️❤️❤️
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Hallo, Hallo Brittany,
You reached a moment on your blog I had reached with mine approx. 4 years ago; I have been at a stage of burning out or restructuring my time and how I wanted to spend it countless times since I first started blogging. The biggiest hurdles are exactly what you were oultining – how to find the proper balance between life online & life offline; the rest are just details. For me? I had to scale back the blog tours I was hosting but I also had to be mindful of what I couldn’t do anymore.. such as participating in Twitter chats at the scale of joining I had back then (nearly 2 to 3 per day) as my migraines were fiercely affecting that particular engagement. I also had to let ‘slide’ the visiting of book blogs but I tried to stay visible online – via Twitter and visit whenever I could, etc. So, I truly get where you are right now.
You’re smart to recognise it and the shift you want to take with your blog and the direction of being a social reader. I think we all have these imbalances pop up and how we choose to alleviate the stresses we put on ourselves is up to each of us. In particular, I’ve had a mounting backlogue growing for awhile – this is the first year I had the health and the focus to do something about it. I’ve only been attempting it since my Dad was recovering from his stroke in 2017…
Time moves slowly and yet it moves fast too. Do what is right for you and find a bookish line of joy that gives you the most happiness. In other news, on my Top Ten Tuesday post today I shared my excitement for finding a variant of Pride and Prejudice – called Jane Austen’s Dragons! I am seriously over the moon finding it!
Did I ever tell you PRIDE Is my all-time favourite original story by Austen? Can’t remember… I’m also listening to Yuletide this week which is a full anthology of PRIDE retellings/after canon stories!! (by Quill Collective)
Visit whenever you can – this is why I leave the comments open on my blog – there is never a rush to visit and whenever you drop-by, if you leave a comment it will make me smile just knowing you enjoyed the post!!
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Breaks are good! And you know the book community will be here. Sometimes it gets so overwhelming, I know.
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Life can get hectic and that always takes priority over blogging and I think we all totally get that 🙂 As it is, it’s so easy to lose the balance between online/offline time and if it’s not ‘sparking joy’ for you anymore, then stepping back is definitely the best decision to take! You do you and we’re always gonna be here!
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You had a lot going on in a very short time. I am glad things are settling down for you Brittany and very happy that you were able to rehome your dog with people you know. Do what you are able and enjoy yourself. All you people thst still work have so much more happening in your lives than us retired folks. Glad you are coming up for air.
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Thanks for the update. I’m glad you came to a solution that works best for you. Yeah, blogging (and blog hopping) can take up a lot of time for sure.
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It is totally fine to take you time, and don’t stress about posting frequently or on a regular schedule or anything like that. We all understand that blogging can sometimes take up a lot of time, so there’s nothing wrong with taking a step back, taking a break, and/or re-evaluating your process and all of that. Figure out what’s best for you and then that is perfect for the rest of us; we totally get it.
Also, I’m glad that you get to keep your job, and you got your dog re-homed. That sounds like an immense relief. I look forward to seeing your reviews or whatever other posts you decide to do, whenever you decide to do them.
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Take your time and don’t stress! We will still be here. Blog hopping while balancing real life and posting is the hardest thing for me too. Especially as I enjoy reading all the blogs. I don’t even post much – once a week, but I give my all for those posts. I hope you can find your new normal and that it can be at a pace that works for you. And yay for Belle settling in well to her new home ^.^
Olivia-S @ Olivia’s Catastrophe
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This is definitely 1000% the blogger’s conundrum. It’s hard to do it all and keep up the pace for so long. I know a lot of folks who have cut back recently, some posting once a week. I say do whatever makes you comfortable and happy.
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I think cutting back really does help sometimes. We get tso caught up in posting/ rep[lying/ commenting that it can become like work haha. Good for you for making a change. and glad to hear you were able to re- home Belle. That’s awesome.
Good luck with work too!
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Cutting back is wise Brittany! And yes I wondered what happened to you! I am also cutting down on the posts this year as work is also very intense. I hope your dog will be very happy in her new house!
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We’re all different and it’s simply about finding the balance that works for you and makes you happy. I’ve been posting less myself, just like you, busy with other things so something has to give.
Lynn 😀
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Take care of yourself! I hope you’re feeling better. Be healthy and safe💕
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Thanks! I am feeling better ❤ I hope you are healthy and safe as well ❤
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