I've been doing a lot with my time lately, and when I do something that isn't productive I feel so terrible about it. Some days I'll come home from work and just sit on the couch for a few hours reading blogs until Vince comes home. When I'm finished with them, I rarely feel happy or better about myself despite what I've read! Because of this, I am going to try and limit my blog reading by a massive amount. If I don't come away from that blog feeling great or thought-inspire every time (because some blog posts won't be 'happy' ones, and that's ok!) then I won't read them.
In a way I feel bad because some of blogs I used to read are also readers of mine. I feel like I need to reciprocate their readership in a way, but do I really? Should I feel like I need to or should I just be fine knowing that they enjoy reading my blog? I feel like all the blogs I read are really great, but at the same time, not totally necessary in my life, given the amount of time it takes to read and comment. I'd rather live my real life, have a clean house, and spend time with my husband walking the dog!
I know there will be some days where I'll click back through blogs I used to read which are all on my blogger profile and 'catch up' on them but I don't think I need to be caught up on everything they post as soon as they post it. I need to focus more on my life!
When we moved over the summer we didn't have internet for a few weeks and I was WAY more productive. I wasn't able to sit on the couch and watch Netflix and I wasn't able to surf the Internet which left me with a lot of time to organize, create things, read, and just enjoy downtime. I really want that again!
I'm still going to blog because this is ultimately for me and this is my creative outlet, but I definitely feel the need to cut back on some reading. I feel so torn because there are a lot of people that I've really grown to love as I've gotten to know them over the Internet! But in the end? I come away from their blogs and in all reality my life isn't changed. Sure it's nice to see their pretty outfits or hear about the book they read, but it's not something that affects my life in a dramatic enough way for me to spend my time on it.
So here's a list of the few blogs I read that are absolutely fantastic, in alphabetical order (and keep in mind, I don't read blogs every day...I don't have time!):
2birds1blog - Abso-freaking-lutely hilarious. 100% inappropriate (for real) but 100% amazing.
Dooce - I read Heather Armstrongs book It Sucked and Then I Cried, and my life was changed. I saw depression in a whole new way and was at peace with it. Turns out, she also writes a blog and I spent months of my life reading every single post of hers and she is by far my favorite Internet person in the world. She is so extremely hilarious at times, yet so completely honest at other times. It's a great balance.
Emmy Suh - Every single one of her posts are a million miles long, but I love them nonetheless. They are so insanely funny and so heartfelt, and even though you realize you just spent a half hour reading her blog, you are ok with that. I wish I knew her in real life!
Enjoying the Small Things - Kelle Hampton has 2 daughters and one of them has down syndrome, but she doesn't focus on that; she just focuses on life! The way she writes makes every single ounce of life absolutely precious and I've never walked away from reading her blog without feeling over-the-moon ecstatic. She is just amazing and has love pouring out of her, and her blog is the first thing I check for a new post. And her pictures? Stunning. Such an inspiring lady...she's definitely my#2 most favorite person in the blogging world!
Luminous and Edible - I came across a link to her blog that was talking about how she's getting out of debt and I loved it. She outlined the process she used and it was inspiring! She posts about various things which is great.
PostSecret - If you aren't reading this yet, just go. Click it.
RunningWildly - This is a nursing blog, but she doesn't always write about nursing. It's great to read posts about the emotional side of nursing, because that's definitely the part I feel I'll have the most trouble with!
Tales of a School Zoned Nurse - Another nursing blog, obviously about a school nurse. It's such an eye opener to see how screwed up our school system is, especially when it comes to children's health. This lady is in charge of thousands of kids at a few schools...which means at any given time the other schools she is in charge of won't have a nurse at them. I would be outraged if my child was in school without a nurse present...especially if they were diabetic or had sever allergies!
The Rhythm Method - She's a lovely lovely writer and every single time I leave her blog I just think and think and think. Her posts are so full of so many great points!
The Traveling PhoBlogWriPher - Sara is such a kind soul and is another person who just loves life! I'm a little jealous of her, because she and her husband are soon going to start traveling the country in their Winnebago Brave! You have to check her blog out if you haven't already, she's so amazing!
The Bloggess - Another one of those slightly inappropriate blogs, but it's just too funny to ignore!
Welcome to Sara's Organized Chaos - Her blog is so 'everywhere' that I can't help but love it. In one post she's explaining how her and her husband are working through his infidelity, the next she's talking about her cake decorating class, the next she's doing a book review. I love that she posts on such an array of topics and she's SO funny in the process.
Blogs of Note: These are ones that I check about once a week on Sundays because I like to be caught up on them, just not every day! I also like reading a few posts at once because they tend to be short:
Holly's House (Not a Perfect Mom's Blog)
The Ivory Tower Library
Just Let Me Finish This Chapter...
The Meanest Mom
Peachy Keen
Take-Hart
I also regularly check my family members blogs, but notice how I've cut out a lot of the 'big' blogs that I used to read? While I love what each individual posts, I'm so sick of the sponsors and the sponsor posts! I know some people make their blog a business, but I end up clicking 'Mark as Read' on most of their posts even though I didn't read it. It makes me sad, but it drives me nuts to go to the blog, knowing what it used to be when it was sponsor-free. It makes me think about sponsorship and I wonder if I'd ever do it (granted that my blog had many readers.) I really love the way Kelle at Enjoying the Small Things incorporates her sponsors though, it's so much better! I feel like it's appropriate to have a sponsor and giveaways, but to have multiple posts a month dedicated to them? It's just too much for me! And honestly, do I want a pair of Blowfish shoes(Not to pick on Blowfish, but they are everywhere right now! haha), and will I really be the lucky winner out of 4,000 others?
Anyways, did I mention I've got an iPhone now? I must say, having it makes blog reading so much easier(along with many other things in life, seriously). If I'm waiting for a prescription or am on break at work I can pull out my phone and read a few posts instead of sitting there doing nothing! Then, when I get home I don't have any to read and can focus on other things!
So, I think I mentioned all the blogs I read, and if not, I'll update it later!
Thanks so much for including me! I was reading it thinking "I'm probably not going to be one of the ones she has time to keep reading but I won't mind. We're not even traveling right now." So thank you, thank you thank you! I'm checking all of these out even though I just did a big purge myself. I am also pretty over big blogs and have been over sponsor posts from the get-go! I sponsored a blog in October and I'm sponsoring one in December, but almost immediately after I paid for it I thought about it and decided I'm just not interested in going that route. I have thought about having sponsors while we're traveling just to help us along during the rough jobless months, but I'd much prefer to publish a book and encourage people to buy it. =]
ReplyDeleteI recently got rid of almost 100 blog subscriptions in Reader. A lot of them I used to like and now just click "Mark all as read." Some of them were personal blogs for people that I knew a long time ago but don't really have a relationship with now. Dave made me do it, but now I'm really glad I did. I have more time and I don't feel bad about the time that I spend blogging.
ReplyDeleteNo, I love your blog!!
ReplyDeleteI prefer you publish a book too, but alas, if you have sponsors I promise to not unfollow you hahaha I just think there's a right and wrong way of going about it and what most people are doing now doesn't seem like the right way to me. It drives me nuts, except Kelle Hamptons!
Holy smokes, that's so many! And some of the ones I unfollowed were old relationships as well. I think I followed them mostly because I felt obligated to! And you are one of the blogs I follow by the way, I just wasn't sure if you wanted me to post a link to it! I know Erin doesn't like that. =)
ReplyDeleteMeh, I don't care if you link to it or not. It doesn't matter to me either way. And yeah, some of them I felt obligated to follow. Some of them I just had more interest in a while ago, and just forgot that I could unsubscribe once the interest ebbed.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but I much prefer to just not go that route at all.