Over the last few weeks, I have found myself stepping back more from the blogosphere and trying to be offline a little more. As much as I love my blog and being part of the blogging community, there are times when it takes too much of my attention. The run-up to Christmas always feels like a very busy time – the calendar filled with lots of fun things to look forward to, plus an ever-growing to-do list of all the preparations needed before the big day itself. It can be all too easy to start feeling overwhelmed by it all and that is when I need to stop and remind myself what tasks are really important and what I can let go of. There might be many blog posts in my head just waiting to be written down but there are only so many hours in the day and other things need to be my priority right now. That’s not to say that all will be quiet on the blogging front from now until Christmas but it will almost certainly be a little slower.
Things I have loved this week:
- Performing in the concert with my hubby and managing to get through it all despite my voice not quite being in full working order. I did still manage to hit the high notes in The Flower Duet and the top C at the end of One Day More though and thankfully I didn’t suffer too much the next day as a result of pushing it so hard!
- Spending time with my mum who came to stay for a few days and looked after Jessica and Sophie while hubby and I were doing the concert.
- Going on a “puddle hunt” with the girls and watching their excitement at jumping up and down in all the “muddy puddles” they found along the way.
- Having an afternoon playing board games.
- Going to the Christmas craft afternoon at church and making Christmas cards with the girls.
- A lovely introduction to my #coolmumclub: Meet the Members guest post from Mum Muddling Through in which she describes my blog posts as “simple yet moving [and] filled with love”
- Spending an afternoon with one of my close friends from my university days and seeing our four girls enjoying time together.
I’ve been reading about quite a few people who are stepping back and taking time to be offline, which makes total sense in December. To be honest I’m not sure what time I’m going to have to fit in all the things that are buzzing my head!!
The best thing about Christmas is family time, so have fun enjoying it. Time goes by too quickly to waste it
xx
Thanks Tracey – it can be hard to fit it all in at this time of year, can’t it? Hope you’re managing to enjoy family time at the moment too x
It is a busy time, and I’m feeling it both on the blog and at home. I’m hoping to do less, too, next month as I want to concentrate on having fun with the family. So pleased the concert went well and puddle jumping is always fun! Thanks for sharing with #WotW x
Thanks Jocelyn, hope you’re managing to slow down a little too x
I know what you mean about being offline more. I feel I can’t keep up with Twitter at the moment so neglecting it. So much going on! As always looks like a fun week. So glad you and hubby could sing and nice to do something together! Christmas is really on its way eh?? Xx #happydays
Thanks Sarah – I feel like I’m really neglecting the blog and social media at the moment, but it is nice to focus on other things at the moment! 🙂
What a fun and lovely week and a great compliment from mum muddling through. Glad your voice held up! I think you are so right to go offline I am going to try and do the same but I am rather addicted! #happydays
Thanks Catie – it is very addictive isn’t it – I definitely find it hard to step away from the blog at times! 🙂
I come at this not from the perspective of a parent, but simply someone who has spent most of their post-university life being connected in some way — both for work, where I spend most of my time thinking about Internet-related issues, as well as at home. It struck me a few years back that I lived in a world edged mainly by beeps and nudges — an incoming email demanding my attention, or the phone ringing, or whatever else it might be — and that this was so horribly distracting and ruinous to deep thought. I could do a lot of things, but rarely could anything be done to any depth because, not long after getting started, something else would ping in and demand attention. My concentration was destroyed — whereas once I could sit and read and make notes for a morning without a problem, now more than 10 minutes without feeling a need to just look at my email account felt like a long time.
I appreciate that time may not wholly be on your side for reading, but there is a rather good book by William Powers called “Hamlet’s BlackBerry”, which explores a need for disconnectedness, and it is something I try to re-read every couple of years. It has encouraged me to keep a check on how “connected” I feel I need to be, and to become better at focussing on the task at hand, rather than flitting between things. Email alerts got switched off, for example, so that email became a slave to me, once again, rather than me a slave to it. I installed a piece of software called Isolator, which meant that what was on my screen was all I could see, to remove the temptation of checking Twitter. I disconnected from Facebook and went through and deleted all my content — although, not perhaps that surprisingly given Facebook’s revenue model, it appears to still be there.
I’m in the middle of a “bad” phase at the moment, largely since I wanted to experiment with an Apple Watch and one of the relatively few things that it is good at is notifications, and so I am currently plagued by notifications for pretty much everything. Perhaps, reflecting on your post, I should switch all those off too — or, at least, the more trivial ones — and try to regain some of that calm and focus that I have lost.
It is so easy to get distracted by all those notifications isn’t it – I switch them off on most of my devices too – I hate the pressure I feel when I have those little red bubbles popping up all over the place. Checking social media is probably the biggest distraction for me, especially if I’m trying to avoid doing something. So lovely to see you last weekend and look forward to catching up again soon x
Puddle hunting sounds like so much fun, nothing like splashing around and getting muddy! I love that description of your blog 🙂 #HappyDays
Debbie
Thanks Debbie – it’s so lovely to see the girls enjoying something so simple! 🙂
Puddle jumping looked like great fun! Its been the sort of weather for board games this week too x #happydays
Thanks Julie – can’t beat an afternoon playing board games on a rainy day! 🙂
A puddle hunt sounds like so much fun!! You & your hubby look great in the concert – I’m glad your voice was able to hit all of the notes. I’ve been struggling with blogging too – there’s so much else going on this time of year! #HappyDays x
Thanks Becky – definitely hard to keep up with blogging with everything else that is going on at this time of year! 🙂
It sounds like you have had many highlights this week hun. Well done for stepping back a little if you feel the balance wasn’t right x
Thanks Aby – it’s been quite nice having a bit more time offline! 🙂
It sounds like you have had a lovely week and what a great word for the week too – Christmas is such an exciting but busy time and there is just so much to do. We love puddle jumping here =)
Thanks Jenni – puddle jumping is lots of fun isn’t it? So lovely to watch little ones enjoying it so much 🙂
Oh look at you up there! Well done you!!! I know what you mean about blogging at this time of year, I am totally done with it at the moment but still have a few commitments. Next year I think I may step back a little more. Thanks for sharing your happy. #HappyDaysLinky x