I'm Back!

Hey, everyone!

Sorry for the extended absence.  This absence was filled with sickness, soul searching and general "what is the purpose of my blog and, while we're at it, my life?" questioning.  While all of this was going on, not only did I pretty much stop cooking (especially when I wasn't, ya know, eating anything outside of rice and white bread) but I only did what I haaaaad to do, like laundry and bathing.  You know.  The essentials.

Anyway, I'm back now.  Back with a lot of new ideas.

See, here's the thing.  While I was thinking and questioning and bathing, I came to a startling conclusion.  Blogging just wasn't fun.  And see, the whole reason I started blogging in the first place was because it was supposed to be fun! At first it was.  I was making new friends, and learning new things not only from my fellow bloggers but also from tinkering around with my blog.  I cannot tell you how excited I was when I first figured out how to manipulate the code for my template.  It was empowering.

But then something shifted.  I got caught up in a bunch of blogging baggage.  How to increase my page hits.  How to attract new readers.  Did I gain any new followers? What was my niche and was I working it to the best of my ability? As a result, I was spending all of my free time (and, let's be honest here, a decent amount of my WORK time) visiting blogs, commenting, visiting Blog Frog, checking stats, participating in many many memes (thus even more visiting and commenting).  In short, I was on a treadmill and treadmills don't actually get you anywhere.

I stopped reading anything other than blogs, which if you know me you know is a big deal because books are a huge part of my life and I derive great pleasure from them.  I stopped writing anything other than blog entries and emails relating to blogging.  I had no desire to get anything done around the house.  I didn't even want to water my flowers.  Because I was busy blogging and I could never quite catch up.

And let's also address the fact that I painted myself into a corner when I decided to focus solely on food.  Don't get me wrong, clearly I love food and cooking it and eating it and sharing it with others.  But it just wasn't FUN anymore.  And I have so much more to offer than just food.  At least, I happen to think so.  I want to focus on my health (especially in light of the issues I've been having) and the changes I'm trying to make in my life, along with my kitchen experiments.  I want to set goals and reach them, and I want this blog to be a place to share my journey as opposed to a weight around my neck which makes life that much more complicated.

For the record, building a highly successful, profitable blog is a tremendous effort and I applaud anyone who's trying to do so.  Maybe one day things will be different and I'll give it another go.  But now is just not that time for me.

So, no more.  I am blogging for me again.  And I'm blogging without obligation.  This is going back to being a hobby instead of a 2nd full-time job.  I already have enough work to do in my life.  I want to go back to playing in my free time.

Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? ;-)