Oh hey there to the few of you still reading! I hope this post finds you all healthy and happy and adjusting to dating things 2013. Seriously, how difficult is THAT to get used to? I am back. I was gone. It was obvious. This hiatus was necessary for many reasons. Hence the title of my post.
Every hiatus usually makes me feel sad. It also makes me feel like a slacker. This time I was actually able to take this hiatus without feeling the typical sadness or beating myself up. After almost 4 years of blogging I have become so accustomed to doing it and it always feels like something is missing from my life and my social self when this is gone. After a lot of thought during this time I realized the guilt is derived from my own expectations that I put in myself as “AliFoodFitFash”. I used to blog three times a day and have time to actively comment, email, tweet, facebook and engage all of my readers. Life changes and this just isn’t possible for me anymore. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist I have a total “all or nothing” attitude about my expectations of what I “should” do. Until a month ago when I thought “Ah, screw it”. I didn’t mean screw blogging, obviously because I am writing this post. I meant screw the guilt or feeling bad. I don’t NEED to blog three times a day to be a “good blogger”. A lot of Healthy Living Bloggers do that. In fact, most do. However, most of them view blogging as their full-time job. They view blogging as their “career”. Neither of those things are true for me. Blogging is a job, as in it contributes my income. But it is not my career or even close to being something I see as a full time gig. I might never be a full-time gig and I don’t know that I would want it to be. I am passionate about what I do. I love my job. More so than writing. Also, I like to think I am a much better guidance counselor than writer and I am sure you all would agree.
So, I decided to stop comparing myself to those bloggers. It is unfair to me. Plus, I think I reason people started reading Food, Fitness, Fashion to begin with is because they feel it is relatable. I work a full-time job outside of blogging. I actually always have worked a full-time job plus gone to school and/or had a part-time job the whole time I have been writing. The present day is no exception. I currently work a full-time job and a part-time job. I am hoping to get back to blogging more frequently with the my original goal in mind: to share how I live a healthy lifestyle while balancing it all. I hope showing you all how I manage it will help you find what ways work for you. I hope to continue to be real about the great days and the tough days. I hope to give you some fun and tasty recipes and some examples of challenging and effective workouts.
Anyhow this hiatus was brought to you by GREAT THINGS:
L: Learning- I had to learn a whole new school system and in a lot of ways a whole new job. I accepted pretty much my dream job as a Guidance Counselor in a district that I feel is a PREFECT fit for me. I started at the end of October and still feel like I learn something new every day. Learning so much so fast leaves little time, brain power or creativity for much else. I feel like I am feel less overwhelmed now, but that only took about 3 months!
C: Choices- At times I had to choose between blogging and my health. Let me explain. We are all aware that there are only a certain number of hours in the day. Some days I had to decide what was more important:
- Working out or blogging
- Sleeping or blogging
- Spending time with Adam and Oscar of blogging
- Relaxing or blogging
- Organizing and cleaning my house or blogging
In all of these instances I chose to do what I felt was more healthy for me at the time. And you guessed it, it was usually NOT blogging. How can I be an example of health without making sure my own health is a priority. That would hypocritical.
J: JOY-Yes, JOY! I am in a good place and sometimes I just want to take the time to enjoy it. I love my jobs- both of them! I finally feel like I got cut a break. I also worked REALLY hard to get where I am career-wise, health-wise and happiness-wise and I certainly deserve some time to sit back and soak it up.
Anyhow, thanks for STILL reading. I am grateful and thanks for your e-mails saying you missed me! As much as I enjoyed time off. Sometimes I girl likes to know she is missed.
See you all soon
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Twitter
I’m in the middle of a break too… for many of the same reasons you had. And it feels dang good! Extra sleep, more time with my family, yaaaaa, I could get used to this
It does feel good, right?! ENJOY the break!
Yay you’re back!! One of my favorite bloggers BECAUSE you, you know, have stuff to do other than blog.
Thanks! And thank you for understanding
Good for you, Ali. It’s great to hear from you and that things are going well! Xo
Thank you!
So happy to hear you are back!
Hi Ali!
THANK YOU! Loved the post! Hope you continue to work at finding that balance in your life–it’s a daily process, isn’t it? I’ll enjoy the posts when you have the time to do ‘em!
Take good care of yourself!
Kim
It is a daily process, especially in a job where every day is so different. Balance is always a work in progress.
It’s good to have you back Ali! And what a great post about the importance of finding balance in life. Because when it comes down to it, in order to blog about anything, we all need to find the time to actually LIVE life. It sounds like you are in a great place now and really enjoying life!
Very true! Thanks!
Welcome back! I feel like a lot of people are posting less frequently (I know I am) and I think Instagram really has something to do with that. Its like instant blogging. Good for you for taking some time to chill out and feeling good about it!
Thanks! How are you feeling, momma?!
This is exactly how I feel about blogging – thanks for this. I compare myself to a make-believe standard that doesn’t fit my lifestyle, and feel guilty when I inevitably fail. I want to get back to where it was fun to blog because it truly is a great outlet for me.
Im glad you connected with this. I feel like it is hard and comparing yourself just makes it worse.
I’m going to be honest and say that I’ve never read (or heard) of your blog before. But this post was amazing and I definitely am going to read more. I totally agree with everything you said. I love bloggers who blog three times a day. But their quality is different. Not good or bad. Just different. They talk about more day-to-day things. Those who blog less frequently tend to have more interesting posts just because they’ve had time to build up “interesting” things to talk about. Not bashing those 3-a-day blogs, because like I said, LOVE ‘EM.
Welcome back to blogging. Look forward to reading more from you!
Hi! Thanks for reading! I am glad you agree. I like all different styles of blogs too, so I am coming from the same place at you. My blog has gone through several transformations over the past 3 and a half years, just as I have so I’m allowing myself to just go with the flow. Hope to have more conversation with you in the future
You definitely deserve happiness. You have grown to be an amazing person and deserve everything great! So happy you were able to take time checked strictly for yourself. Missed you!
Thanks, Jackie!
Glad you’re back!! I think it’s hard to not compare yourself to other blogs, but that steals away the joy from the writing that you DO get to do. We should all blog for ourselves and not because it’s something we feel like we have to do. That being said, I love you as a blogger because you’re real, and I hope you’re back for awhile.
Agreed! It’s good to be back
Yeh..Looking forward to reading more.
Glad you’re back and all is well. As a fellow high school counselor I understand how overwhelming the job can be, and the learning curve is steep in the beginning. I’m so happy that you are enjoying the work and able to blog occasionally too. I really like your positive attitude and confidence and look forward to new posts. Hope you keep it up!
Yayyy! Very glad you’re back and you’re enjoying life! Can’t wait to see a pic of Oscar or two soon
You know what? I was checking every day to see if anything was here and then apparently stopped for like 10 days but I just felt like checking and BOOM new post! Always exciting. I’m so happy for you. I can’t wait to get settled in a dream job so that blogging can take a backseat. I really love it but I do it mainly because I have the time and creativity to devote to it and don’t have the job that satisfies me yet. Go ali!!!
Thanks, Jenna! You will find that dream job! Just stay positive!
We missed you, Ali!
Glad to hear that everything is going so well in your life! You deserve it!
Thanks!!!
Good for you! I work on the other side of the desk and am permitting myself a break for lunch right now. I sometimes feel guilty about letting things go during our busy season, but then I think about it for about 1.5 seconds and realize that the feeling is silly.
I was on your side of the desk for 4 years. So I totally get how crazy it gets for you guys to!!! Trying to keep your head above water (or paperwork) is difficult! Thanks for your hard work, it makes our jobs easier!