Is a blogging Break – good or bad?

I took a 4-week break from blogging and it was a very interesting experience. The first days felt odd; almost like I was suffering from blogging withdrawal -if there is such a thing to begin with.

The mouthy, invisible creature that seems to live on my shoulder, wasn’t helping me either; as usual, it was only there to annoy me when it whispered silly things in my ear. “What if you lose all your readers? Will you start all over again?”

I guess I had been infected with the “number game” after all. The number of readers, followers, likes, and comments are they really that important? How in the world did that happen? I thought I was immune and wouldn’t fall into the number trap.

Maybe it wasn’t so much about the numbers, but more about the daily interaction with bloggers from all over the world? So many special people, with some of them I really feel a connection and I look at them as friends. Odd isn’t it?

My blog was on my mind and so were my blogging friends. That lasted for about 5 days and only once did I tiptoe to my computer to check on my blog -after that, the withdrawal was over. I was cured.

I noticed right away, how many more hours the day seemed to have when I didn’t spend hour after hour in front of my computer, reading or writing.

As much as I missed the reading part and the interaction with my blogging friends, I did enjoy the writing break. It almost seemed that I needed to lean back for a while. No stories or writing ideas came to my mind; there was just a blank space that I filled with other things. I read a few books, which had been collecting dust on my nightstand, and I got a lot of other things done -in and around the house.

Somehow my blog drifted away during that time. Maybe blogging isn’t really anything I need and I just wasted my time writing silly little stories? I am not really a writer, so perhaps I took a break to step away for good? I was wondering about that.

Now I can see -and understand- why some of the bloggers don’t come back after they announced a blogging break. It does put things back into perspective and the disconnection from your own blog happens rather quickly.

Not feeling the need to write down what I was thinking and feeling, that lasted for about three weeks, then the muse awakened my sleepy brain and ideas for stories and poems popped up out of nowhere. The feeling that I needed -and wanted- to share some things on my blog came back and it made me smile. Maybe I am supposed to be blogging after all?

It was a good thing that I had set a time limit for my break; I think that saved me from falling into an abyss -that and all the ideas in my head.

I will listen closely to my need in the future, learning to identify the need for a blogging break -or any other break from a routine- is a very important step.

I am glad you all are still here! You are here, right?