I started this post a week ago. It languished in draft while I navigated a crazy few days at the flower shop, worked through the weekend, and slept it all off on Sunday. Yesterday, I penciled in some “me time,” and ended up at a bookstore (I always end up at a bookstore) where I spotted this journal and decided I needed to finish, and publish, my thoughts on “unplugging.”
Prince Ea’s “Can We Autocorrect Humanity?” video is making the rounds on my Facebook newsfeed. It’s an important message wrapped in a beautiful delivery.
“Did you know the average person spends 4 years of his life looking down at his cell phone? Kind of ironic, ain’t it? How these touch-screens can make us lose touch…”
It seems especially timely for bloggers, considering Young House Love’s recent farewell post and the NYT article, “When Blogging Becomes a Slog.”
Erin Loechner (Design for Mankind) said,
“I need a little less online, and a little more in life.”
Erin wrote a post two years ago, “The Rebirth of Slow Blogging,” that echoes all my sentiments about blogging and social media as I approach my fifth year of writing A Pretty Penny.
Like all things in my life right now, I want to simplify blogging.
I want to write and share without worrying about a posting schedule, or promoting across my “channels,” or monitoring my traffic. I want a break from advertising and affiliate marketing and “curating” the perfect Pinterest boards. I want to fill my Instagram with pictures of my dog and messy (productive) flower shop and friends’ babies, instead of contrived images designed to drive the most “likes.”
I want to power down in the evenings and weekends. Make dinner for my husband. Read a book. Bake something. Watch my favorite sitcoms from the 90’s (I love you, TV Land). Binge on Netflix.
Most of all, I want to circle back to my original intentions for this blog. I want it to be fun; a creative outlet that makes me feel inspired, instead of obligated.
So I’m turning off the ads, turning down the pressure, and turning a new leaf in my blogging journey where less is more, and real life comes first.
Slow and steady.
What do you think?