Balance
If you are a regular reader you may have noticed that I haven't been "plugged in" as often over the last few weeks. It seems that life took a turn for busy and it hasn't stopped. I'm learning a lot about myself as a parent, wife, friend and blogger.
A couple of months ago the ladies at our church approached me about doing a short talk on social media and identity at our retreat. I was excited because it gave me a project to work on and I hoped I could share valuable information with the ladies that would attend. What happened though is the Lord started speaking to me about social media, our family and my identity.
I'm a task oriented person but tend to be disorganized. I know lots of bloggers plan their posts weeks or even months in advance. I tend to be a spur of the moment kind of blogger and because of that if I haven't posted in a while I start to feel anxious. When I started to feel like I "needed" to blog, sometimes family would end up taking a backseat to just "posting really quick" and I didn't like that. It's one thing to delay dinner for a few moments to get a good shot of my baked mushrooms (that amazing recipe is coming up) but it's another thing to choose blogging over my boys.
So the boys won. And they'll continue to win. So sometimes I won't be around as much. It might take me a little longer to answer my email or respond to your sweet comments. But I'm reading them. And I will. I just might be playing trains or baking cheese crackers or reading to my guys. I don't want all of their memories of me to include my smartphone or my computer.
This may mean my blog doesn't grow. Or I don't get new readers. And I'm ok with that. Ultimately this is my place to record memories of our life as a family. To hash out things God is teaching me. To share my love of cooking. To get support is this crazy parenting journey. To have accountability with my weight loss. To have fun with posting what I'm wearing and things that I enjoy. It's my real version of our storybook life. And I like that.
A couple of months ago the ladies at our church approached me about doing a short talk on social media and identity at our retreat. I was excited because it gave me a project to work on and I hoped I could share valuable information with the ladies that would attend. What happened though is the Lord started speaking to me about social media, our family and my identity.
I'm a task oriented person but tend to be disorganized. I know lots of bloggers plan their posts weeks or even months in advance. I tend to be a spur of the moment kind of blogger and because of that if I haven't posted in a while I start to feel anxious. When I started to feel like I "needed" to blog, sometimes family would end up taking a backseat to just "posting really quick" and I didn't like that. It's one thing to delay dinner for a few moments to get a good shot of my baked mushrooms (that amazing recipe is coming up) but it's another thing to choose blogging over my boys.
So the boys won. And they'll continue to win. So sometimes I won't be around as much. It might take me a little longer to answer my email or respond to your sweet comments. But I'm reading them. And I will. I just might be playing trains or baking cheese crackers or reading to my guys. I don't want all of their memories of me to include my smartphone or my computer.
This may mean my blog doesn't grow. Or I don't get new readers. And I'm ok with that. Ultimately this is my place to record memories of our life as a family. To hash out things God is teaching me. To share my love of cooking. To get support is this crazy parenting journey. To have accountability with my weight loss. To have fun with posting what I'm wearing and things that I enjoy. It's my real version of our storybook life. And I like that.
Absolutely! I need to work on being less 'plugged in' myself. Liam is already well-versed on iPad use. However, I don't want him to think we are always on our computers or phones. :)
ReplyDeleteI think it's so important to put blogging in it's proper place - and that's after our families!
ReplyDeletei think we bloggers put so much pressure on ourselves...I've finally come to peace with letting go of blogging 5 days a week. I blog when I can and I'm sure no one loses sleep over missing a post! lol
ReplyDeleteI think this is wonderful! I have learned recently that it okay not post everyday or respond to every comment right away. Our blogs are such a special way to document our lives and finding that balance between blog and real life is important! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I have just blogged about this topic too! Screen time for me now happens when both boys are in bed, as opposed to me :just checking my messages" five times a day!
ReplyDelete