On Saying No: A Bloggy Confessional

Printable Credit: Shaun Groves

About two months ago, sort of on a whim, I decided try a few new things with my blog.

I created a Facebook page, added sponsor spots, launched a new monthly link party, won some sweet ad space on a couple of other blogs, hosted my first giveaway, and put together a cool printables partnership.

I jumped in with both feet into the big-ol'-blog-o-sphere partly out of curiosity, partly as a challenge, partly just for fun.

In the past two months, I have learned a ton about networking, growing, tweeting, sharing, and html-ing (i.e. cursing).

I have loved every minute.

But when I'm really honest with myself, I also know that a modern day around-the-clock blogging gig isn't for me.

I'm afraid that while I'm following everyone else's rules about what a blogger "should" do, I'm missing out on important moments that are right in front of me.

Following the lead of ladies like Angela @ Angela's Adventures, Ann Marie @ White House Black Shutters, and Diana @ The Girl Creative, I'm tossing it all out the window and making my own rules.

I'm learning to say no...in order to be able to say yes.

First, what I know to be true:

1) I love to blog.

2) My primary purpose for blogging is to celebrate my little family of five and record our adventures.

3) My secondary purpose for blogging is to encourage other women to live the full width of the life God has set before us.

4) A couple of not-even-close-to-being-purposes for blogging: to make money and to gain "clout". 

5) There are better uses of my time then spending endless amounts of time lost in the blog-o-sphere.

6) It's hard to be out there living the width when I'm staring at a computer screen all day.

7) I want my life to be fueled by freedom, not obligation.

Next, my plan going forward:

While the opportunities are seemingly endless in the blog-o-sphere, I am going to be more intentional and very selective in how I choose to spend my time in the future. I will continue to host link-ups, features, giveaways, special series, etc. but only as inspiration, opportunity, and free time arises and allows. My blog is a place of community and creativity and these types of posts help to foster those values, however, these posts will be fewer and farther between.

On saying yes...

I want my early am time to be spent immersed in my daily She Reads Truth reading. I want mornings around here to mean slowly drinking my coffee, meeting up with friends at the park, and creating space to live and breathe and slow down. I'd love to preserve my afternoons as a time for work (housework & "real" work) so that I can spend my evenings enjoying a family meal, playing in the yard, and not rushing through the bedtime routine. And my nights should be about relaxing with my husband, reflecting on the day, and preparing to do it all over again.

And if this means less time for other things, so be it. If it means saying no to good, but not-high-priority, opportunities, that's A-OK with me.

A few closing words: I want you to know that if you find yourself here, reading this blog, and you're not sure why you're here or how you go here or how to initiate a bloggy break-up, it's OK to go. No guilt. No worries. I promise not to be sad. I know what it's like to feel completely overwhelmed when you open up your Google Reader in the morning. Unsubscribe, un-follow, un-like. Please do what you need to do.

And just because I'm scaling back,  please don't think I'm going to fall off the face of the blog-o-sphere. I still have plenty of love to give, I'm just going to be a better steward of that love, and make sure that in all things (bloggy and otherwise), I am true, honest, and authentic.

I hope you stick around because I'm a community-oriented sort of girl, but if you don't that's OK too. We all have a limited amount of resources, especially in regards to time and energy, and I hope that we can all re-commit to using them well.

Learning to say no...in order to say yes.

Grace & peace, bloggy friends, grace & peace.