Why I Stopped Blogging

Last time I checked, Siri told me I walked an average of 10,000 steps per day. My first thought was "dang Gracie you FIT". But then I realized why I walked so often and why I genuinely love to. Whenever I walk to a certain destination, I'm always thinking about something - how to make thin crust pizza, ideas for Ma's birthday bash, if I could be a part of a weird "club", what club it would be (I'd be part of the Girls Actually Do Fart Awareness Club).  These walking thoughts become stories, my innermost ideas and quirks, and recently I've rekindled the urge to share these stories, in hopes that other people would relate, and in the end, I'd come back to these stories and find myself  seeing the growth of where I was and where I am now.

It's been a year since blogging. The 2 years I consistently blogged were amazing but also really stressful. I found myself only posting things I thought people would be pleased with, and anytime I felt like no one was present or engaged in this space I felt like giving up. My priorities also changed, in that I started running to different hobbies and different ways of fueling creativity.  These weren't and aren't bad hobbies, but were still significant with how I spent my time. Consistency was always a very hard skill to grasp; I'd get ridiculously excited about a project or idea, and once released, I'd totally forget about it and never maintain it.

Another reason I stopped was to really reflect on the intention of producing a blog. It's easy to look at other bloggers (specifically lifestyle and fashion bloggers) and believe I need things to be a good blogger - I need to show the newest fashion-forward pieces, I need to provide showcases of the best products out, I need viewers to want my life and produce the same things I do. 

What a scary, dangerous intention that is. To be honest, I don't want those things. I don't want to release posts about shopping hauls or materialistic goods. Not saying we shouldn't treat ourselves or have nice things, but I don't want to be the influence and face of consumption. Buy this and your life will be whole. Do this and you'll be happy. 

So I spent this past year delving into different creative spaces but also thinking about this blog - what it was created for, and how it could be a challenge and testament of being counter-cultural. I'm not here to drive consumption of the American people, nor am I here to display a perfect life of happiness and peace. I am here for me and for you, to share stories as personal record but if it happens that a post changes someone's life, I deem this blog worthy enough of publication.

So basically, I'm back, and ready to share more stories and random quirks my brain is too small to keep in storage. I'll be posting hopefully once a week or biweekly, with whatever creative brain children come out of the life that I live. Here's to putting my walking thoughts down on digital paper.

Live well and Spread Love!
XOXO Gracie