One Truth: I almost quit blogging every month.

I’m with you with the whole chucking the laptop out the window, especially my phone. I want to disconnect but can’t because I don’t want to miss anything, but by doing this I’m likely to miss something in real life. It’s one big weird online vortex. As you know I do it full time too, it’s hard to put it down and night and to be honest I don’t stop. Not good, I haven’t got the balance right but I’m getting there. It’s led to many creative projects and more coming up, but mostly I’ve met people that I may never had done in an office. Some not met but people I admire, I count you as one of them such people. Take it easy this week.

I guess I’m on the opposite end of where you are. I feel like I’m working so hard to reach my blogging goals that I love and soak up every minute of getting some exposure and growing my blog. That’s not to say you don’t love it too! I understand it’s a fine line of creativity and sharing your life that can be hard to navigate. The problem for me in regards to having kids is that I do view my blog as somewhat of a journal for them to one day look back on. While I don’t want to overexpose them, I do want them to be a big part of it. Regardless, I’m glad you don’t give up every month 😉

It’s a catch 22. On one hand I am right there with you wanting to share my life, my experiences, my creative talents…and on the other hand I want to hold on to my privacy from prying eyes, negative people and the general population as well. I had a personal blog about my family for years and although I still write about them I do not make it public anymore. I feared that my over sharing and would eventually come back to haunt me. Do I miss sharing with the world…absolutely but instead of sharing my life with the world I chose to share my life and my girls lives with those close to us instead, in personal connections. Like I said I still write about them…just for my own personal memory. It was such a hard decision but in my mind the privacy and peace of mind that I have gotten from it have far out weighted the constant need to keep people informed. I have to admit though I love reading other peoples blogs about their lives, their children their creativeness and inspirations. It’s wonderful to know there are others like me out there. I have enjoyed getting to know you on so many levels that if you did stop blogging it would almost feel like I am loosing a friend, however I completely understand if you stop for a need of privacy. I think in this age of social media, constant facebook, twitter and instagram updates we all crave a little privacy at some point.

I feel soooooo like you! I mean, I’m not a pro blogger, I’m actually on my first year trying to make it. I’ve had success stories and not so good moments, but even so, I find myself thinking about the exposure factor. I’m always asking people where they knew things from and they would say “your blog”. I guess that’s good because people read it, but it scares me a bit 😛 Positive thinking above all, and remember why you are blogging in the first place! (Oh, and great you put family first! That is a MUST!!)

me too! sometimes i’m so inspired and excited to blog and be part of the blogging community but then sometimes i feel like it starts sucking the real life out of me and i’m not focusing on what going on around me in my real life. i’ve definitely taken long breaks which helps me re-focus. it’s definitely funny to think about how long i plan on blogging for. will i still be blogging when i have kids? will blogging stil be a thing or will there be a new think everyone is doing to document their life and use for a creative outlet

As a reader, I actually don’t read many blogs. In fact Anna, yours is the only blog I consistently read (and not just because we’re related). 😉 I am a huge fan of your work and what you stand for. I love your honesty and openness to the public. However, I am not a fan of blogging in general. I’m not a fan of the internet, social media as a whole or technology for what it is. It has its place and I use it (i.e.-facebook to keep up with family and friends and for my etsy shop). Yet, everyone’s lives are so public now, no one has what I like to call a “real family.” Everyone in the world is their family and there is nothing sacred about their personal real-life family anymore. It’s always nice to read what you have to say about family matters, especially because it helps to know that I’m not the only one with the same struggles. I’ve even thought about going ahead and shutting down my shop because I do feel a shift in how much time I’m spending with Simon…and you mentioned that might happen. As a whole, if you were to give up blogging, I would be 100% in support of it. I would miss it, and I know you might too, but I think it would be for the betterment of you and your family as a whole. But for now, stay strong, enjoy it and I can’t wait for more. As always, just a thought! 🙂 Much love.

I’m glad you’re blogging but would totally understand if one day you felt like it was time to close up shop and focus on the family or on other real-time opportunities. I tend to think the social media in general are like a virtual bridge that can open new doors or allow us to meet new people (hello, networking — that’s how I got my job!!!) but I also think that real-time relationships or jobs or opportunities are the treasure at the end of the rainbow. Once we reach that treasure, it makes sense to scale back on the media use. I just think of it as inherently temporary, almost as a means to an end or as a complement or accessory, nothing more. I know we all have real lives and no one lives totally through the social networks… but there are degrees of involvement and reliance, and it seems healthy to me to eventually gravitate toward less virtual life and more real life.

i hear ya! blogging takes a LOT of work and it’s a huge commitment to constantly post and stay active in the blogging community. i was really sick last year and had to take more time to myself instead of visting a ton of blogs — im glad i did beacuase now i feel better and i realized that your health and family are the most important things. i LOVE blogging for it’s ability to inspire me to be creative and get social and i’ve met a ton of amazing people in real life bc of blogging —but i have had those days where im like “WHAT am i doing?!” ah well take the good with the bad i suppose. xo

Oh I think this is a hard one. I have a two month old and really truly do not want him to know that I post pictures of him on my blog or to know people swoon over him, etc etc. When he gets older and is more aware this might be harder to do, but I want him to know the value of privacy and to live a normal life. I think with blogging, it’s just one day at a time. 🙂

http://www.seashellsandeggshells.blogspot.com

i think i’m pretty public (and I don’t have kids) so it’s not the publicity thing that makes me want to chuck it all out the window…

for me it’s the handmade shop. I love it, I absolutely do, but I work full-time and most of the time, I am ex.hausted. somedays i wonder if i am just absolutely bananas.

Do you remember the movie the Truman Show? I feel like we put our kids on a sort of reality show and they have no clue:) I think it’s weird but still do it

I admire people that blog for a living but I just couldn’t do it. I have a personal blog where I document the lives if my two boys. That is private and doing that is fun and now I’d like to take it into print form as a way to save it but that itself is a challenge. I love how you’re able to share your family and all the things that you admire and love. It’s fun reading your point of view but I don’t blame you about how you almost quit.nit has to be tough. Whatever you decide to do with your blog, whatever changes you make, it all a process.

Yep, I often feel like throwing the computer out the window! But so much of it is fulfilling and great. But yeah, if I knew this is how busy I’d be before I started blogging, would I still have done it??? Maybe not, but I think that would have been a shame, since I know I’ve created (and will create) amazing things! You, too!!!

I totally understand where you are coming from! I’ve had that urge once in a month too. Things get a lot overwhelming and i’m a melancholic mind just like you 🙂

Somethings some just simply end! or not! good luck to whatever you do in your life

OMG! I totally get where you are coming from. All my free time is dedicated to my blog. I have to pay close attention to what I miss out on because of it. Let’s not even talk about the viral picture that I was telling you about. I keep thinking to myself… what have I done! It’s making me take a step back and look at everything.

I completely agree, which is why I took a huge step back from blogging after having by second child. I still read my favorite blogs and I still think about blogging all the time, but I also enjoy just living life and not worrying about capturing every single moment to share publicly.

I don’t blog, so I can offer advice from that perspective! I do love reading what people write, though. And I think there is a place for talented writers like you. You’ve created a niche blog with the fashion and the photography that allows you to be able to share as little or as much about your family as you want. I know lots of bloggers who, as their children have gotten older, tend to write more general posts about faith and family, rather than specific posts about their kids. I think this holds true especially for people whose kids are middle school and high school age. Those kids can read their blog and the Moms tend to err on the side of protecting their privacy. Which is the right thing to do.

Great post dear. I also feel the same many times though my blog is not as big as yours. Sometimes blogging feels so much time and energy consuming. I feel like quitting. But after few hours, my mood will change again and I will start thinking about my next post, Blame it all on blogging. It is addictive when you take it the right way.

I am happy that you have decided to continue doing this for now. good luck dear.

cheers,
Janika

I think it’s possible to live privately and still blog, but it comes with a handful or MORE of challenges. I blog privately…in a way. My blog is public, but none of my friends know I blog (just family). I don’t share photos of myself or my child or our family. And while I think it sometimes limits the growth of my blog, it’s a privacy I enjoy keeping, even if it means a blog that reaches a smaller audience.
xo
Eleanor

Hi Anna,

I really enjoyed reading your post on whether or not to continue Blogging. I initially started it as a hobby, a way of doing something with my random musings & photographs. Part of you thinks, really? Should I do this? Nobody is going to read it anyway so why not. But then you see bloggers who are really successful & think well maybe I should give up because I’m not as good as them. One of the reasons might possibly be because I don’t share much of myself on there, sure I share stories & events, photographs etc but I don’t put my family, or even myself on there. Maybe I care too much about what people think but there’s also the privacy issue. You should be interested in someone for their talent and how inspirational they are to their audience, not because you want to compare yourself to the girl in the photographs with the latest Phillip Lim handbag. Sure I would love to be more successful but I would like to obtain it in a way that is more comfortable to me. You’re right that finding the balance is so hard. Maybe one day you find a balance you get comfortable with but I’m just going to keep writing & enjoy blogging for the few readers I do have!

Natasha x

I’d like to think of myself as the {far less successful} Michael Jordan of blogging. I quit and stage a comeback on a quarterly basis.

Hi Anna, I have been following you in Instagram and Twitter for a few months – and stumble onto certain blog posts here and there. I always wonder how moms blog – the past three years of my blogging life have been in an unmarried relationship with no children and very few people to think about exposing, other than myself. I am now engaged, house hunting and plan to have as many children as I am able 🙂 Last Friday, I shut down my blog after three crazy years – and I did it mostly because I want a private life again and I want one now more than ever. I want to instagram things and tweet things like my friends do – like my wedding plans and my wedding and then my new home and then my children and their happy moments – but only randomly with no catch, with no links, with no strangers peering in. It was so hard to finalize that decision, but I found your post today and felt better immediately. Maybe because you share my feelings and put them so well – or maybe just knowing I’m not alone in that feeling. I just wanted to let you know, XO Jenna