I’m not sure if this is the longest I’ve ever gone without blogging, but it’s definitely up there… I’d been away for more than four months when a post two weeks ago finally got me back in the game! Although this one was actually supposed to go live first; I just had a little scheduling snafu. Namely that I couldn’t figure out how to end this post and kept delaying on it, and I forgot that I’d already scheduled the other one. 😉 So as I step back in, I wanted to give a little explanation of why I’ve been gone, what I’ve been doing, and what my plans are for the future of this blog… I’m getting a bit more personal and vulnerable to give you an idea of where my head’s at as I move forward.
One Weird Year
In the last year plus, which has been crazy by anyone’s standards, it seems the whole world has changed. Overall, I feel like I (and my family) have weathered the storm fairly well, focusing on our faith in God and choosing not to live in fear, but uncertainty does begin to take a toll after a while. When schools shut down last spring, directly after we got home from a spring break trip to Florida, it seemed that with absolutely no input from us, experience after experience was taken from our kids (school, sports, time with friends, etc…). So Adam and I decided to focus on what we could control and create some fun memories for our kids.
We enjoyed the slower pace for a while, and I tackled decorating both of our kids’ rooms (Arabella’s reveal here and Kaden’s will hopefully be posted next week, way behind schedule). We took an amazing road trip to Charleston over the summer (read a bit more about that here), spent tons of time at the lake with my family, and were intentional about doing life with other families who were also choosing the “faith over fear” approach.
Our kids attend an amazing private Christian school, and we are so thankful that they went back to school full time in the fall.
I think humans tend to thrive off rhythm and routine, kids especially, and my children are no different. Being back in the classroom with their friends has been huge!
And now we are just three weeks away from summer!
Letting Go of Expectations
My parents moved to their Florida home for 6+ months out of the year this year, and they’ve been there since Thanksgiving. We were blessed to be able to visit them for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The timing of the first trip meant I missed the One Room Challenge deadline for finishing Kaden’s room, but I wouldn’t trade the memories for anything, so that’s ok. I struggled to release my perfectionistic self from the expectation to finish, but I finally realized the only person it REALLY mattered to was ME, and I gave myself permission to let go.
When we got home after Thanksgiving, I quickly decorated my home for Christmas, but I realized I was tired. I pushed so hard to finish Kaden’s room, missed the deadline, and it seemed I ran out of any and all steam to finish house projects. I barely managed to get my Christmas home tour up before the holidays. I think I was both physically tired from the work of Kaden’s room and then traveling, but also emotionally tired from all of the change we’ve experienced in the last year plus.
By the time Christmas was over, complete with some unexpected and challenging family dynamics, I was pretty spent.
The Last Few Months
Around the same time I was first noticing my lack of motivation, Pinterest changed their algorithm, and my blog traffic completely tanked, dropping back to page view levels I hadn’t seen since 2017. I began to wonder, is it worth blogging if no one even reads what I write?
By January, as we experienced some growth in our coaching and mentoring business, I intentionally shifted my focus in that direction and debated about shutting my blog down for good. Instead of making any hasty decisions, I decided to just take a break, focus on our main business, enjoy my kids, and let the idea of stepping away “crockpot” a bit in my brain. I also read a LOT, which was such a joy. I’ve realized I absolutely need to prioritize daily Bible, personal development, and fun reading time for myself… It keeps me sane!
I turned 40 in January and received the best gift ever from Adam… A week away on Anna Maria Island with some great girlfriends!
He rented us a house less than a block from the beach, and it was a blast. No demands placed on us, no schedules, just a carefree week of sun, sand, and surf in sunny Florida.
What an amazing gift to spend uninterrupted time with some of my favorite people!
February was fast and furious, with kids’ activities and catching up around the house taking most of my spare time. March brought spring break, and the kids missed a few extra days so we could have two weeks straight in Florida.
I honestly think I am most “me” when I am in Florida.
I don’t know when, but I will definitely own a home there someday. Depending on what life throws at us, it could be sooner rather than later! 😉
While we were there, we celebrated my dad’s 70th birthday, enjoyed a wild and bumpy boat ride, rented a golf cart as our wheels around AMI for a week, and created some awesome memories as a family!
Since we’ve been home, I’ve thrown birthday parties for both of my kids (with a second one for Arabella last weekend, because the first saw dwindling numbers due to the virus), and it amazes me how different boys and girls are.
He wanted a football party at the park with his buddies. Sooooo easy. She wanted an Aloha themed, fully decorated sleepover party at our house. Not quite as easy, especially since we did it twice!
Other things keeping me busy over the last month or so: I watched some of my sweet nieces and a nephew for a week, tried to catch up on housework and other things that have fallen through the cracks, worked hard on the final edits of my dad’s book, and spent increasingly more time on our growing business.
Plans for the Blog
I’ve also been thinking through the future of this blog. And to be honest, that’s where I get stuck. I was so close to walking away from it completely, but even this rambling post reminds me how cathartic writing is for me. So I don’t know where that leaves things. Stating that publicly on this page probably goes against every rule in the blogging handbook, and it may be the nail in the coffin for my already flailing numbers, but frankly, I don’t have much to lose by putting it out there. And it’s a bit freeing to let go of my need to follow the rules.
There is SO much I want to do. I truly love interior design and working with clients, but I don’t love the constantly changing marketing landscape that comes along with owning a design business. It’s a big time commitment, and I’m just not sure it’s where I should focus at this point in my life.
I love blogging, but the industry has shifted drastically. Most people want information in tiny, easily digestible bits, which is more readily found on Instagram. If you’ve read this far, you’re most likely the exception to the rule.
I absolutely love doing DIY projects around my house, and I don’t see that ever changing, so I’m sure I’ll continue to post about those a bit… But to be honest, there are tons of projects I’ve never blogged about, because sometimes the perfectionist in me has a hard time finding enough time for a photoshoot and typing up a post. I see other interiors blogs and wonder if these people ever sleep, or if they literally just breathe design and blogging. Or maybe I take a million times longer to create one post because of my perfectionism, but somehow I can’t seem to fit it all in the way others can. Which leads to an endless cycle of comparing and wondering why I fall short. And I just don’t need that right now.
In my goal to be intentional with my time and line my days up with my values, I feel like I still need a bit more time to process. In my head, I’m shifting toward a general lifestyle blog, continuing to share my love of interiors as well as some other interests, like travel, fashion, motherhood, and personal development… Maybe even the occasional book review every now and then? However, along with diversifying comes pressure to crank out more regular content, since it would be spread across a variety of topics, and I’m not sure the time factor in that scenario is realistic, especially with summer coming. I really aim to do life with my kids in the summer, since each year with them seems to fly by a bit faster than the last.
Helping my dad edit his book over the last year renewed a strong desire in me to write my own book, so that’s just one more “I want to” that may force me to reprioritize other areas of my life to carve out more time. I guess this post is just a very long and rambling way of saying that the future of this blog is not 100% clear. I felt I owed you loyal readers an explanation, and I hope this makes sense, but for now I’m keeping things open ended. I don’t blame you if you all bail, and I guess that will give me my answer, but if you’re along for the journey, I’d love to hear your thoughts on moving forward!
Can you relate to any of this? Has this last year forced you to reevaluate anything in your life? Have you refocused or reprioritized too? Drop a comment below or shoot me an email at kristen@arieandco.com to let me know!
