I’m Back – Lessons from My Break
I’m baaaacckkk!! Hello friends! It’s good to be here. I have missed you. Taking off from blogging for five weeks did my soul good. I am re-energized, full of goals, ideas and inspiration.
In case you are curious, I thought I would share some lessons that I learned.
Blog Lessons
Lesson #1: My blog won’t tank: This is the biggest one. Despite seeing other bloggers take breaks, I was fearful that if I would stop writing people would stop coming. This was simply not true. I worked with my virtual assistant to schedule daily Facebook posts and tweets and that combined with Google and Pinterest traffic helped my traffic to stay the same, if not higher than when I am daily blogging. It also helped that I took off in the month before Easter because this post gets a TON of traffic every year.
Lesson #2: I can’t do it on my own: While I do the bulk of my site work myself, having a few trusted partners makes a big difference. Thanks to the work of my virtual assistant and my sister, I was able to be more checked out than might have otherwise been possible.
Lesson #3: I need space to dream: This break gave me the space to dream about other projects and content. I realized that I do not give myself that space often enough and I need to. I’m excited about some new things I have coming down the pike.
Lesson #4: I don’t need to blog daily: I used to think that I needed to blog daily. Since The Fringe Hours released and I had Ezra, I cut back some on my content. This break was a reminder that I don’t have to blog daily to be a successful creator.
Lesson #5: I love blogging: This might go without saying, but I really love blogging. Telling stories, taking photos, connecting with the community here and on social media is a real passion of mine. I missed it!
Personal Lessons
Lesson #1: Self-care matters: I wrote a book on the importance of self-care, but frankly, I had neglected myself, especially in the past few months. Self-care impacts every area of our lives. This blogging break allowed me to reprioritize how I was spending my time and be more intentional in doing the things that I love. I read more, got more sleep and took better care of myself.
Lesson #2: Less is more: Having less to do means more space, more peace, more rest. I know this is obvious, but the saying holds true — less is more.
Lesson #3: Days off are non-negotiable: Before taking this break, I went months without taking a day off. I literally worked 7 days a week, week after week. Not anymore. I have seen the benefits of truly taking days off and it has made a world of difference.
Lesson #4: I need sleep: I have always needed a lot of sleep, but lately I had been burning the candle at both ends. This break gave me more margin and I often prioritized getting more sleep, which did my body good.
Family Lessons
Lesson #1: Routines matter: During my break I became more aware of the routines we have in our home and how much they matter to our kids. Family movie night, game nights, reading together, etc. These every day routines matter. While I have always known that and appreciated the every day, there was something during this month that made me acutely aware of our routines and their value in our children’s upbringing.
Lesson #2: Special time with Mommy is important: Typically on weekends, I usually spend a half day working on writing and blog work. This past month I only did that once. Instead, I filled those half days with fun excursions with the kids. Breakfast at IHOP, mornings at the park, jaunts to the bookstore — these simple times together were really special. Moving forward, I want to become more intentional about having those times regularly and not squeezed in as a need-to-do, but a want-to-do.
Lesson #3: Family vacations rock: I ended up taking an extra week off so that I wouldn’t be worrying about The Mom Creative while we were in Chattanooga for spring break (more coming about our trip soon). It was a great decision. Matthew and I chatted about this blogging break and he said that he had noticed how, particularly in the last week, I was fully present. And I was.
I’m still processing the impact of this break and the changes I want to make personally and professionally, but I know I’m glad to be writing here again. You all were missed!
Tell me, have you ever taken an intentional break from something? How did it impact you and others in your life?
I’ve been anxious to hear how it went! Sounds like it was a fruitful time off. 🙂
Welcome back! What a great reminder. we get a charge (and kudos) out of our accomplishments, but only when balanced with rest and relationships can those accomplishments make us happy. We KNOW this but it’s so hard to take concrete steps toward living this way. Congrats on taking such a big step.
So many great takeaways. Your post is definitely inspiring me to enjoy more real life experiences off line.
I love this idea and would like to try it myself for May or June. Well you be posting any more details on how long it took you to set up the blog for this break, and any specific tasks or issues your VA handled?
Thank you!
No, I don’t have plans to right now. I knew for several months that I would be taking the break in February or March. There really wasn’t anything to “set up” ahead of time. My VA helped with scheduling tweets and Facebook posts during the time away so that I wouldn’t go totally silent. I kept up with email throughout the month and managed sponsored opportunities around the break. Hope that helps.
That makes sense! 🙂 right now I’m just trying to do that part where posts around a longer break like that! 🙂 thank you!
Being “truly” present for our kids is something my husband and I have been praying about. We both work full time and in doing so our house gets the “leftover”. My heart breaks when I think about my kids in the mix of that. My kids mean the world to me. As they get a little more independent, I see myself letting them just be reading or what not. One way that we have tired to fix this is no electronics at dinner unless it’s movie night. Another is my daughter loves to read so even if I am washing dishes she will read to me and then we talk about the chapter. This way she is out of her room and with the family.
Thanks for this post, Jessica! I am currently taking a
small break from blogging as well, and you
summed up beautifully the benefits I have
been experiencing (some without realizing it!).
Thank you for the reminder that our rest is just as
important as our work!
A few years back I reverted from a smart phone to a “feature” phone– it allows me to text, take and share pictures and of course make/receive phone calls. This made it so I’m not constantly checking email or any of the other myriad of distractions/addictions brought on by the possession of a cell phone.
More often than not I am someplace with wifi so I can access the internet with my ipad or smaller tablet. Of course at home I have a multitude of internet capable devices that I use with wifi. I also have a pay-as-you-go mobile hotspot, so if I REALLY need internet access while I’m on the road or someplace that doesn’t offer free wifi, I can pay for data for my hotspot and connect whichever device I desire to it.
I seem to have set a fairly good example to my 12 year old daughter. This past holiday season she was gifted a low-end, inexpensive smartphone. She, unlike most of her peers is not “married” to that device. As often as not it is forgotten in her bedroom while she is going through her daily processes at home. The main time she uses it is when she goes outside to play with her friends or goes to a friend’s house.