Hello my lovely friends! A HUGE thank you for all your kind and supportive comments on yesterday’s blog post about how I’ve been feeling uninspired and overwhelmed lately with regards to blogging. After publishing that post, I decided to treat myself to a solo run (I know, shocking – this extrovert rarely runs alone!) to sort through my thoughts a bit. I left the watch at home and just enjoyed the fresh air, doing some running, some walking, and taking it all in.
Between the time to think on the run and all your wonderful and helpful comments, I got some great insight into why I’ve been feeling so meh lately about blogging. Here’s what I think has been going on, in a nutshell:
1) Read something online about how I need to stop wasting time posting lifestyle/random/unsearchable (on Google) posts and write entirely evergreen/fancy/social media friendly/polished magazine-esque posts that will get more traffic.
2) Decide I need to start doing what the articles say, but don’t feel excited by the thought of writing all evergreen (this term just means posts that can be shared anytime and have more longevity than lifestyle posts – basically tips posts, how to posts, recipe posts, that sort of thing – not personal “here’s what I’m up to” content) posts.
3) Try to give myself more time/space to write evergreen posts (by skipping a day of blogging, or by trying to open up more time in my schedule), but feel so overwhelmed by all that goes with those posts (graphics, perfect content and photos, social media scheduling across all platforms, blah blah) that I don’t want to do it.
4) Write a lifestyle post instead but rather than enjoy it because it’s what I like, I feel guilty because it’s not what everyone says I “should” be doing (in terms of getting more traffic/growing my brand).
5) Rinse and repeat.
So. For awhile I thought I was just burned out on blogging in general, but I’ve realized it was actually just feeling burned out and tired of all the pressure I was putting on myself to make my blog into something that I resisted because it isn’t what I want or enjoy.
Because you know what? I love writing random/fun/entertaining/whatever posts that aren’t going to be shared on social media much or searched for on Google. I love sharing photos that I took in a quick second while actually enjoying life rather than spending 2 hours setting up a perfect shot. And I love inspiring you guys by showing you how I actually balance healthy living with fun/indulgence in a realistic, unpolished way.
I guess this is just a long way of saying that you probably won’t see much of a change in the content here on the blog, since I was never really doing what I was “supposed” to be doing in terms of more polished posts all the time anyway, but I will be enjoying it much more behind the scenes, and hopefully that will come through in my posts. 🙂 I’m sure I’ll still share some more polished/evergreen posts, but I’m just going to do it when I feel like it/am inspired rather than trying to force it or do it all the time, and then feeling guilty when I don’t.
One more thing – I’m going to start sharing whatever I feel like on Instagram, too. That’s another place I’ve felt like I couldn’t share things I wanted to because they weren’t curated or “pretty” enough. Screw that. I started today with my new “post whatever I feel like/think is fun even if it isn’t perfectly shot or curated” and I’m excited about it already – it will be fun to just do what I want again vs. feeling like I have to fit into some mold that isn’t me.
Aaaaaanyway. Thank you guys so much for being here, and for taking the time yesterday to let me know that you’ve been enjoying and connecting with me and this blog. To be honest, that’s all that matters. If traffic continues to go down because I stick with lifestyle blogging vs. fancy magazine-style blogging, so be it. I’ll just be happy if I know that I’m making a difference to you guys, even if there are only a few of you. 🙂
And now – back to your regularly scheduled random post with less than stellar photos – my favorite. 😉
I was up early this morning to hit a strength class with Chelsea via ClassPass!
We’ve been loving Madabolic in Arlington – it’s like CrossFit but minus the Olympic lifting, which is perfect for us. Today’s workout was a circuit featuring lots of weighted lunges and also the cool move I’m doing in the photos above. Starting in a table top position with your knees off the ground, twist one way and lift your top arm straight up and your bottom leg out to the side (don’t let it touch the ground). Such a great core workout, and it feels like break dancing so that’s fun too. 😉
Post-workout breakfast was a banana muffin (more on these in the new year – SO GOOD – I had one pre-workout too – don’t forget to eat before a workout my friends!), and, once I showered, some fried eggs with microwave wilted spinach (throw spinach on a plate, microwave 30 seconds) and half an avocado. Plus a whole milk latte, duh.
The rest of the morning was spent packing and wrapping up work because Matt and I are currently on the road to Pittsburgh for the Christmas festivities! We took a break before lunch to take a nice walk because it’s amaaaaazing outside today. The sun felt so good – and so did the warmer temps!
Back at the house, Zara supervised while we packed. (Don’t worry, someone is coming to stay with her while we are gone!)
Yep – the entire right side of my bag is workout clothes. #priorities Looking forward to some fun runs with Matt and yoga classes with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law over the next week!
The other big highlight this week was getting to see two of my good friends from high school! I love the holidays because friends are always in town visiting. 🙂 Dinah (in the middle) arrived on Monday and I’m so glad we overlapped a bit! Seeing these ladies makes my heart so happy.
The three of us met up for happy hour and some appetizers on Tuesday night at True Food Kitchen in the Mosaic District. They other ladies stuck with tea but I was really in the mood for a sparkling rose so I went with it. 🙂 Delicious!
As you can see, we also shared some appetizers – the tofu and cashew lettuce wraps and the kale avocado dip with pita chips. Both were AMAZING! After lingering over those we decided the next logical step was obviously dessert. 🙂 We shared the squash pie (my fave – like pumpkin pie) and the flourless chocolate cake with ice cream. I’m not huge into chocolate (I know, weird), but the pie is soooo good – I ate basically all of it while Lara and Dinah tackled the choclate. 😉
By the time I made it home around 8 Matt had just finished making dinner, but I decided to save my portion because I was sufficiently satisfied and full from my meet up with the ladies! I enjoyed it the next day instead – a Sun Basket (<—affiliate link for 3 free meals) meal of a pork chop and a yummy quinoa salad. I threw some spinach underneath it too.
It was just as good the next day! And also massive – I ended up saving half and finishing it off for lunch today, with the addition of avocado. Yum.
And now, I’m going to sign off and relax as we make our way north. I’m taking tomorrow off to enjoy the break but will be back next week to share some of our Pittsburgh holiday adventures! Have a wonderful Christmas/holiday/weekend/whatever you want to celebrate – and thank you again so much for being here! xoxo
