Stepping back and a Give-away

I will be hosting a give-away (this one is pretty neat) so be sure to come check on May 1 to see how to enter.

After that, I think I'm probably going to take a step back and re-evaluate things going on. I don't imagine that it will take me to long to decide the direction I want to take and I really hope you stick around while I make this decision. I know a lot of us, me included, started blogging as a way to either vent about situations we could not control, or to have a creative outlet, or a little of both.

Then, I discovered "following" and "followers" and I was hooked. I've made so many great friends here and I have a ton of support that I never thought I'd ever have. You all have touched my life and given me a new outlook in many areas many times over. You've become my extended family in a way and I value your thoughts, friendship, and opinions.

Problem is, I began to value the opinions of others instead of staying true to what I wanted (and sometimes needed) to post. I began to watch what I said, or how I said it, so I wouldn't upset people or give the wrong impression. As a professional communicator, I would get upset with myself if someone didn't understand what I meant or took it the wrong way. I wondered how I could have said it differently so that it would have been clearer.

Then, I decided screw this, and went back to writing what I felt I needed to write. I may have cost myself a follower or two but that is the risk I was willing to take. There are bloggers out there that I follow - and who still show as following me - that must be also taking a break because I never see updates from them. I miss seeing posts from them and hearing from them. But, they must have decided that IRL has to take precedence over blogosphere.

I don't want to leave my blogging friends because I do value your friendship and opinions. Sometimes, you give me a new perspective on something that I couldn't see. Having an outsider, or a second set of eyes, offer a different point of view is often very refreshing. We don't always have to agree on things but having the freedom to express an opinion and know that both parties are adult enough to understand that a difference of opinion does not mean that you no longer need, or want, that person in your life.

My life is also much busier now. Hard to believe since I'm driving half the distance but there are so many other things that I need to also do. Ron is not well and I know that people are tired of hearing about his health issues. So, I will be probably changing that up a bit so it's not "all" about him and his issues. We shall see. LOL - my life may be too boring to write about if I don't write about Ron. Not that I intended to splash his troubles all over the blog world or anything, but that's sort of how it ended up. There are many things I can't talk to my family about so I came here. There are things that I couldn't bring myself to discuss with Ron because of how it affects him, so I came here. There are fears, dreams, and thoughts that I could not bear to verbalize to anyone, so I brought them here.

So, I'll do the give-away here (and will be posted on my other blogs as well) and then probably take a week or so to try and figure things out. Like I said, I hope that you all will stick around to see the outcome.

Have a great week!