Some of you may be wondering where I've been for the past two days. Well, many of you know that my birthday was last week {thank you all for the birthday wishes and kind words}. What you may not have known was that this Saturday, Hubby and I will celebrate 5 years of marriage! The reason I share that is because we've spent the last two days on a mini-vacation to a nearby city to celebrate these two recent/upcoming events. And, let me tell you, as a stay-at-home mom, it was so nice to have about 48 hours where there wasn't one single meal to make, dish to wash, article of clothing to fold, spill to clean up... you get the idea. I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a wife, mother, and homemaker, but it's just nice to be able to take a break from all that. Needless to say, while spending time with my hubby, blogging was the furthest thing from my mind.
Now that you know why I was a bit MIA this week, let's move on with today's post:
This past Friday, instead of doing my usual Friday Favorites post {where I share what inspired me that week}, I made some blogging confessions: my struggle with comparison and conformity. Now that you all know about that, I'd like to confess something else. But, before I do, please allow me to explain WHY I'm sharing all of this with you...
Blogging, if done on any level above personal journaling {i.e. your seeking out followers and commenters; you may or may not be looking to blog professionally, meaning: bring in an income}, can take up a LOT of time. I mean, more than anything, you've got to provide quality, consistent content; which take plenty of time in and of itself. Beyond that, they say you have to include original professional-looking images {and for those of us without the right camera, this could be a problem}. Plus, you've got to have an amazing blog design and you have to do everything with your own unique spin {which is easier said than done when there are literally thousands, if not millions, of blogs out there}.
In addition to keeping up with a blog, most of us have families and homes that require our attention as well. Problem is, we may be doing a great job with maintaining our blog, while our family and home suffers. Husbands deserve our affection and attention. Children need our love and direction. The job of managing our home is a full-time job: cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, organizing, decorating...
So, having said all that, my confession to you is this: I am struggling with keeping all of these plates spinning. Thing is, I feel like God is calling me to this blog in order to minister to other women. But, He has first called me to be a wife, mother, and homemaker. Hence the problem.
If I allow it to, blogging can easily overtake my life. Suddenly, I find myself trying to give everything in my life 100%, but it turns out that I'm not really giving anything my full efforts. If I dedicate myself to the blog as much as I'd like to, my family and my home suffers. If I dedicate myself to my family and my home, I feel the need to minister to others through the written word.
Before I go on, let me just say that I am not quitting the blog. I don't think that's the answer. Not for me anyway. Now, for some of you, quitting your blog and getting back to your first calling of wife, mother, and/or homemaker may be exactly what God is asking you to do. However, in my case, I don't believe that God wants me to quit. I simply believe He's trying to work with me on my lack of time management skills. {I love to organize STUFF; I'm not so great with organizing my time}.
So, yes, Domestic Bliss Diaries is here to stay, but with a slight change: I am going to try to commit myself to posting 3 times per week. This won't be forever {I know some of you enjoy daily posts}, but it will be until I can learn to properly manage my time in such a way that I can be a good steward of this blog while also being a good steward of my family and my home, as well. This means that I probably won't have weekly posts like I used to {Monday Motivation and Friday Favorites}, at least not until I go back to posting five days a week. What I will do instead of include those types of posts as part of the posting schedule without limiting it to once a week. After all, another thing I'm challenging myself with as I transition to a three-posts-per-week schedule is to avoid "forced content" {writing just to write}.
Now that I've made these confessions {comparison, conformity, and now, struggling to balance}, I hope you will stick with me as I regroup and make Domestic Bliss Diaries into something that {1} brings glory to God and {2} helps us all to become better wives, mothers, and homemakers. Thank you all for sticking with me. I look forward to what's in store for the future!
Tell me, do you ever find it difficult to balance blogging and family/home responsibilities? How do YOU balance it all?
Blessings,
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