Stay In Touch

Posted on October 7th, 2013 by Tonia 5 Comments

Hello faithful readers who wait and wait and waaaaaait for me to once in a blue moon post! I love you. I miss you. Thanks for keeping me in your bookmarks and readers so that I can occasionally unload a random stream of consciousness on you. There is an explanation for my major blogging drop-off.

The thing is, that feeling I started having a while back hasn’t gone away. I don’t know what changed or why, but blogging just isn’t my jam anymore. It makes me sad, because Itty Bitty Impact was a big deal for me and I fondly look back at old posts and wish I could hammer out some new ones that would inspire and entertain and provoke discussion the way I used to be able to. There’s certainly plenty to write about. But something inside me is telling me to hold back. Keep the stories for myself. Have some secrets. Explore privacy. Protect this delicate bubble of experiences that is my little life.

I know you understand and are probably nodding your head like, “Yep, our generation doesn’t know the value of privacy. We over-share and we rank our experiences by how many ‘likes’ they receive from others.” But that’s not to say you shouldn’t blog or read blogs- I certainly read the shit out of them. I appreciate those who take the time to put thoughtful, well-written work out there on a regular basis. I wish I still could. But it just doesn’t feel good to me anymore. Maybe it will again later, but not right now.

That being said, it has been an amazing last few months since I checked in with you all. Life is good over here on the edge of the lake. And I would love for you to follow along on Instagram if you so choose. Comment with your IG handle and I will follow you. That way we can stay in touch until the next time I decide to randomly post on here {which might actually happen more often once winter sets in and I find myself routinely hunkered down on the couch with the ol’ laptop and some tea. That right there is a recipe for some good old-fashioned blog posts.}

Stay well and stay in touch.

5 Comments

  1. I am always happy when you post here, and since I follow you on IG and Twitter, if you post again, I hope you’ll just link to it like you have this time. The blog is nothing if not FOR YOU. If it isn’t interesting and nourishing for you, it almost certainly won’t be for your readers. I go through phases where I enjoy writing (I post to my main blog, which is private but not secret – holler if you ever want to read), and have started a public bike blog, too, as a resource for female cyclists in my local community. That said, I’ve taken big breaks and am sure I will again.

    I do think we share more, publicly, than we ever have before. But that’s also the way society works right now. And when it works, it allows people to make connections and build like-minded virtual communities to collectively problem-solve, support one another, and share information. That’s amazing. That said, it brings with it a counter-desire to log off sometimes, to hike into the woods and unplug from everything. And that’s a good thing, too. I think this is a more profound temptation when you are writing about living more simply and in a way that is more connected to the land. At some point, the resource you are creating is precisely the type of thing you want to escape from.

    Whatever you feel called to do and to share is good enough. I thank you for the resource and for the information you’ve provided over the years, and look forward to staying connected on IG and T!

  2. Tonia says:

    Rebecca, thank you for putting into words so perfectly all the swirling thoughts I’ve been having about this issue. You hit the nail on the head, and it feels good to be understood. I’m extremely grateful for the connections I’ve made through blogging and I’m usually the first to defend social media and the productive use of the internet in general when I hear people criticizing it and pointing out its downfalls (hi, dad). But like you said, the counter-desire to unplug is an important impulse to oblige and explore from time to time. I’ve been pretty plugged-in for many years and my “need” to “share” everything has started to bother me. I don’t want virtual life to trump real life or to have such a strong hold on me. And so here I am, obliging the need to step away for a while.

  3. Blogging_Sparrow says:

    This words have circled in my brain for a while and I did the extreme and deleted my blog. No backup no nothing it is gone. I felt like I had nothing new to add to the blogsphere and didn’t felt compelled to share my life and hobbies with “everyone”. I have my instagram and take little glimpses here and there we are after all social animals and the internet lets us build little communities when our own local communities seem lacking.

  4. Becky Duggan says:

    Hi Tonia,

    So good to hear from you. A full-blown blog isn’t necessary for me, but I would appreciate some pictures and a quick by-line every now and then just to know that all is well with you. Take care! :)

  5. Candice says:

    i totally respect your choice to not write, but i sure miss your posts! i’m gonna find ya on instagram =) @appalachianorange is me. xo!

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