Wednesday 7 September 2011

An off-line life

It's opener there in the wide open air.

said Dr Seuss.  And while I'm not normally a Dr Seuss fan (I think, like Bugsy Malone and pink biscuits, you have to have loved him as a child to appreciate him as an adult), there's something about The Places You'll Go that has resonated since I first read it, not that long ago, when I was a mother of a mere three.

Because that's where I've been. Off-line and out there.  Since I last posted, over six weeks ago, back in the distant country that was July, Summer, sunshine and short sleeves, I have been, well, nowhere very exciting.  But just out there, in the wide open air.  And not here. Not on the computer.  Not online. 

That's a lie, of course, because I suspect that you have to make a conscious effort really to be off-line, and I wasn't doing that. I just wasn't actively here.  I wasn't actually even passively here either.  I read comments on my blog, because I get emails with them in, and I get them on my phone, but that was it.  I didn't read other people's blogs, and I certainly didn't write my own.

So if anyone's done anything really exciting over the last six weeks, do please let me know.  I'm going to try and catch up, but I'm bound to miss something.

And I enjoyed it. Without realising it, somehow blogging had become a chore. Another job to be done, to be squeezed into the lack of hours in my day. This blog is my space, and I was starting to resent it.  I wanted to be doing something else: talking to my children, or my husband; reading a book; cuddling my baby; unpacking a box.

And I started to forget about this blog, and when I did find myself reminded, to think of it with a bit of a jolt, and a slight feeling of dread.  That dread you get when you know there's something you have to do but you can't quite make yourself do it.

So I pushed it to the back of my mind and turned the computer off, ignored my emails and let it, and my mind, gather dust.

But then, a little while ago, about last week, I found myself writing posts in my head, and wondering what was going on in here, online, and so I am back, blowing the dust off and flexing my knuckles.

Now I've just got to think of something to write about.

6 comments:

  1. Good for you. And you know what they say, a rest is as good as a change. Or something x

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  2. Sometimes it's good to have a break. Welcome back x

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  3. Whenever we go away on holiday I always take a break from blogging/FB/Twitter etc and it's brilliant. Going cold turkey helps me establish what's important in my family life yet when the time was right I came back to the online life, much refreshed.
    Looking forward to reading your posts again.

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  4. Good for you. It's always important to get the master/slave relationship right with a blog.

    You were missed, mind.

    And don't bother trying to catch up. It's an impossible task. Just pick up from here on, and if something momentous has happened, you'll soon catch on.

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  5. I think that a break is really good for the soul. Nice to see you back though!

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  6. Thank you all for being pleased to see me back - am particularly bemused and delighted that by not blogging at all for a month I have gone rocketing up the Tots 100! I'm wondering whether if I stopped blogging altogether I'd be number 1 this time next year?!

    And Trish - that's exactly what happened, I meant to say, but forgot (see what a month off has done to me?) that we went on holiday, had no computer (and I am too stingy to pay ridiculous roaming charges) and when we came back I just didn't fancy it... weird. Back now though. Be afraid!

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I know. I'm sorry. I hate these word recognition, are you a robot, guff things too, but having just got rid of a large number of ungrammatical and poorly spelt adverts for all sorts of things I don't want, and especially don't want on my blog, I'm hoping that this will mean that only lovely people, of the actually a person variety, will comment.

So please do. Comments are great...