Why I Took a Break From Blogging

If you've been following me for a while, then you most likely remember that I blogged over at Pictures & Paragraphs for years. (And if you're completely new to this space and to me, then Welcome! I'm so happy you're here!) I took an unofficial break from blogging halfway through 2017, popped back in for one day to announce our impending move to the PNW in early 2018, and then kept to Instagram for the rest of the year. In fact, if you've been following me this long, you probably deserve some kind of award! We've certainly been through some things together, haven't we? I love you all.

See, here's the thing though. I never intended to take a break... it just kinda happened that way. 2017 was a really weird year for me. I finished up my yoga teacher training in February and after that, pieces of my life just didn't seem to fit back into the puzzle. I tried to make them fit, but it took me a long time to realize that I was actually working on a completely different puzzle than the one those pieces were made for. I'll be completely honest with you and say that I felt pretty damn lost and dissatisfied for a while, and I couldn't find a way to put any of it into words that made any sort of sense to me, so I stopped looking for words and just did my best to work on that new puzzle. While 2017 was about looking at things from a different perspective, 2018 was the year I actually put that shift into action. And if you've been following along on Instagram for the past year or so, then you are well aware of the many changes 2018 brought about. All that crazy life stuff aside (that's a whole 'nother post in itself), blogging was one of those pieces that no longer fit; I felt as though I had lost my real motivation for it.

When I started blogging at P&P (which used to be called I'veSeenSomeThings... have you been around long enough to remember that?!) back in 2010, it was right after we moved to Philadelphia and purely a means to document our life so that our friends and family could keep up. That was back when blogs and the internet weren't overly curated - do you remember that?! Some of my posts didn't even have photos back then. And they were more like journal entries, documenting where we went, what we ate, general thoughts about our new circumstances, and simple recipes- not the endless lists, sponsored links, and pinterest-worthy photo overloads blogging seems to have morphed into since then. Somewhere along the way my focus shifted and my motivation waned. The blog became a dumping ground for cat photos, materialistic wish-lists, content for the sake of content, and the occasional but rare honest reflection. I didn't feel engaged anymore, and it showed.

So I stepped away for a bit. I soaked up the world and reflected on it, but I didn't write about it. I reevaluated my mindset about certain core values and intentions, and I shifted some things around. I paid attention to what was working and eliminated what no longer was. I focused wholeheartedly on getting back to speaking my truth, sharing it with friends, new acquaintances, and my yoga students. And somewhere along the way I rediscovered what it felt like to share myself with the world in a way that I could fully get behind. And when the time felt right, I decided to step back into the blogging space, but on my own terms.

And so here I am! It's 2019, I'm feeling good in my skin, in my thought-processes, and in my intentions. I'm also feeling really good about this new little corner of the interweb I've created for myself. P&P was a great space too, but there's a lot of history there, a lot of things that aren't relevant anymore. It was time to start fresh. I'm so excited to start sharing with you again! I can't tell you what to expect, because I'm not quite sure I know yet how this space is going to shape up... but I do know it's going to be wholeheartedly me, and I can't wait to find out where that takes us.