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We were not very present this week in the blogosphere, nor on social networks. We needed to think about us and about our blog. The frosty temperatures were moreover convenient to our mini-retreat.
When we noticed that we begin to plan the moments when we HAD to be on the social networks, that we told ourselves that we absolutely HAD to read the articles of all blogs we follow, we said STOP : we are cats, after all !
We want to have a “good” blog, have fun to write it and to visit our blogging pals, meet new friends on various social networks, but have time too to do things we love to do : sleep, play, eat, be cute, put fur everywhere, walk in the garden, hunt, and snuggle with our humans.
The more you spend time online, the less you spend it to live small or big events, and the less you have adventures to be told on your blog. It’s a question of balance.
If as us you are not a professional blogger, what do you think of our reflection ?
we agree. With mum working and the long commute,there is not much
time left in the evening .Mum does not want to be online all evening,she wants to play with us.
We visit a few blogs early in the morning and a few more at night.
Then we have play time.
We also only blog a couple of times a week. It is a hard balance.
Purrs Georgia,Julie and JJ
My human pretty much lives inside the computer. She is lucky I am around to get her out of it occasionally.
Inside the computer ? Wow, you must have a big computer MOL ! Purrs
Too much time online gives Mum headaches and makes her anxious and irritable. That’s why I’m always getting her to take breaks for playtime and nap time. Humans need naps too!
Purrs xx
Athena
We sure aren’t professional bloggers……don’t do product reviews, etc……but it’s still sometimes hard to balance computer/real life because we do have a lot of blogging friends that we visit. Somewhere there’s a BALANCE but we haven’t found it yet!
Hugs, Pam and Angel Sam
We totally agree with you.
My Master and I, we feel the same.
We totally agree. That’s why we had to take a break for a few months at the end of 2016. The mom was so busy with work, so the free time she had was being spent working on the blog, on social media, or visiting other blogs. It was becoming too much of a chore and she didn’t have any free time to spend with us! So she decided to take a break. Now she is working less, so she has time to spend with us AND blog again 🙂 She is going to be sure to be more balanced with it this time around though.
Me and mum very much try to not let blogging get in the way of real life. If mum is bizzy with real life she will schedule something short in advance. Or we just skip a day or two here and there.
Mum also takes time to get out and do so stuff. So that means turning off the puter and going do stuff and meet people. Plus with all of the polly-ticks now, she feels better not reading all of the icky stuff on both sides.
We completely agree. I realized early on that the more time I spent blogging, the less time I had for Bear Cat, reading, etc. Losing time with Bear was the biggest issue for me. With blogging, there is always more you can do (find more blogs, read more blogs, improve your blog, networking, etc) … and it doesn’t take much to get caught in the swirl and never ending “I can do more” -ness. I cut back my blogging schedule and I only commit to reading as many blogs as I can on days I actually publish. It’s still too much … but it’s a start on trying to figure out where my boundaries should be.
Doing what works best for you is always, always the right answer!
Love that premise and try to follow it every day. I write to keep my paw in and love writing, but it is not my end all be all. Mama also doesn’t have time to spend her life helping me emote on paper, so to speak. She paints and writes and gardens (well, not now of course) and COOKS up a storm so I am in total agreement with your balanced blogging suggestion.
And yes, there are too many wonderful blogs to read all day long, alas.
Still, pick and choose and do different ones at different times. You can’t read the whole Oxford Dictionary, either.
We think this is a good reflection, a reassessment of priorities. Our Mom has a routine she sticks to on all days she can, but she realizes things will come up and other things will need to get done and she tries not to beat herself up over not being able to comment every blogging day. She also reminds herself how much harder it is for her to comment often during the warm summer months when she has so much garden work to do. So during this time, when it’s cold and wet outside, she’s more apt to spend two hours in the morning commenting on our cat friends’ blogs. She knows warmer weather is coming and with it, more time for other things.
completely agree – people and cats need to take time to unplug and learn to play and be in the moment
pixie & zorro…..we iz glad ya finded sum balance N we hope ya can keep it that way
de food gurlz for chew net that her can multte task { sneek round
blog land durin de werk week 🙂 }
we due knot go online on de nitez… ore week oh endz… ore when herz knot at werk… unless a “speshull” occassion warrantz it ~~~~~~~~
we haza blog onlee; noe facebook, instagram, twitter ore any other stuff ♥♥♥
Beautiful snow! We’ve written about unplugging recently on Facebook and we’re blogging much less. Life is too short and ultimately everything is forgotten so quickly online. Real life is what matters.
Your snow is lovely. We have not been on social media as much lately either. Too much negativity for me and we are very busy in our personal lives at this time. Enjoy your break ♥
You saw my status last week about “unplugging” didn’t you? (On Facebook)…..it’s almost what I wrote 😉
xoxo
Indeed, and it gave us food for thoughts 😉 Purrs
i totally agree! I feel overwhelmed sometimes trying to keep up! Don’t be scared to take a week or month off when you need to –when you come back we will all be here still. It is very important to actually enjoy life OFF the computer! I am a freelance writer and I need to remind myself to take more time off the computer!
Unplugging is important. I admire you for doing it.
And that’s why TW hasn’t been visiting as much as I’d like to visit. I keep wanting to play when she goes on the computer and she owes it to me and play with me. I’m getting older and each day should be dedicated to me.
We agree! If you are not having fun, then it is work
that is so true… and we try to find the balance… we have to spend time furst in real life to get something we can use to write a post… ;o)
We think you are more than right! Always make sure that you take time for yourself and to enjoy life.
I’m so glad you said that Claire. I have to step away from the computer and often feel guilty because I can’t comment on all the blogs I visit. I want to be with the girls first and hubby of course but I only have so much time and my commitments to other activities in real life have me interacting socially so these are a must. Thank you Clair I can breathe a little easier knowing there are plenty of folks like me that have trouble keeping up with all the activities on-line.
Jean
Yep, dat’s ‘zactly why we quit posting every day. We still post a little more than we can keep up with, but mommy has started taking days off and we just don’t do anythin’ with da catputer other than check emails. Mommy says sometimes business is business and just cuz ya’ take da day off doesn’t mean you don’t check da mail, real or virtual. big hugs
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
The way I see it is that your blog should do what YOU want it to do. It should fulfil what YOU want it to fulfil. It should serve the purpose YOU want it to serve. ‘Cause you know, it’s YOUR blog.
So if you wanna be on-line lots and lots, you should try to be on-line lots and lots. BUT… If you wanna be on-line for just a bit, you should be on-line for just a bit.
Every cat is different. So every blog is gonna be different, too. You need to make it work for YOU and you alone. You don’t need to fulfil anyone else’s expectations.
Purrs,
Seville