Taking Breaks

A couple weeks back, I took a short blogging break. It was not intentional, so I did not write about it here, although I did mention on my Twitter account that there wouldn't be new posts on the blog. I simply didn't have anything to write about.

Another thing I did, about a week ago now, was post an update saying that I would not be posting every weekday anymore.

Between that break -- that lasted less than a week -- and giving myself a bit of breathing room, my blogging slump disappeared. Honestly, I began posting that very same week of my "break." I pre-scheduled the posts (this being one of them!) to give myself even more room to breathe.

This happens every time I take away pressure. It works with nearly everything -- reading, writing, blogging. But I never seem to remember it until I'm so far into a slump that it's my only option.

Like I say, that week-long break was not intentional. I just realized that I had nothing to discuss, and so I could not write a discussion post for that week. Nor did a have a Top Ten Tuesday pre-scheduled, or my typical Waiting on Wednesday post. I felt very blah about it all and just didn't want to blog.

I think I babbled a lot here, but my main message in this post is that breaks are incredibly helpful. They don't mean that we will never blog again. It's not letting anyone down if a blog goes without posts for a week, or even longer. The person who cares the most is the blogger who runs the blog -- not the readers, or whoever else we're trying to please.

So, I'm going to try very hard for stress-free blogging from now on. The main goal for the blog right now is quality content, not posts every day. And if that means taking a break for a week, or a month, then that is what will happen.

And if you guys are feeling stressed out by blogging and need a break -- take it! You'll probably thank yourself later.