I’m back.
I think.
I hope.
I’m grateful for friends who have encouraged me to return to this medium; grateful that they miss me writing and sharing on here. Believe me, it means a lot.
So why have I been gone?
1. Hope Trending
Did you hear about the Hope Trending series we did last October? Emotionally, it just about did me in. Really. I’m not great at multitasking. I don’t think anyone really is, anyway. But after months of 12 hour days working on this series, my cup was empty. Nothing else could fit in. This was a large initiative executed by a small team at Pioneer Memorial Church. The idea of fitting something else in…I just couldn’t do it. Some of this may seem a little dramatic, I know. But unless you have felt the weight of a large-scale event like this, it would be hard for you to understand.
2. Doctoral Program
Last year, because of Hope Trending, I was barely able to work on my D.Min program. I covenanted with myself, though, that this will be the year. All my classwork is done. The proposal is behind me. I’m currently in chapter two of my thesis/dissertation/project. I will be done by the end of this calendar year.
All that being said, I do want to share on here still. Might be shorter posts. There’s so much in the queue to write about.
3. Social Media
Publishing on a blog, particularly a self-hosted blog, requires a certain threshold of maintenance. You have to log in. Do the writing. Format images. Update plugins. The blogging world really is like a garden, and I didn’t have the emotional space for weeding and tending. As a side note, I’m getting a little annoyed by WordPress. Might be in the market for a different publishing platform; one in which I don’t have to worry about updating plugins or security and that has good SEO.
I haven’t totally been gone, though. I’ve been micro-blogging. 😉 Really. Social media has a very low threshold for jumping in, particularly Twitter. If you’re really pressed for time, it’s the perfect outlet. I noticed that my Facebook posts have gotten a little longer; a little more blog-like, which I think is good.
4. Fear
Finally, part of it is the fear of expectation. People don’t expect much out of a Facebook or Twitter post, and maybe it’s all in my head, but I have a sense that people expect a blog post to be more formal, and I’m a little afraid of that. I need to release myself from the fear of not writing “articles,” in-depth book reviews, and having great analysis. I used to have more time for that kind of writing, but I definitely don’t now. I need to tell myself that that’s ok. Hopefully, you’ll think it’s ok as well.
Bottom line: I’m aiming to blog once a week again, but they’ll probably be fairly short blog posts. We’ll see how it goes. Just trying to saddle up, jump on the horse, and not get bucked off.
Ok, here goes!
So what about you? Is there a habit you’ve fallen out of that you’d like to jump back into? What do you think is holding you back?
