Reclaiming

Okay, let's get real here. I've been feeling anxious this past week, stressing out about how I need to do a blog post and make it interesting so people will read it - take and edit and include some pictures, link to some forums for our Nikon or for fellow non-traditional students out there, post a link on Facebook with some witty summary to entice more readers, etc. I was looking at all these other blogs I follow that have a common theme so then I started obsessing about figuring out a theme for this thing...Crafting? Well, if copycatting everybody else's ideas could count then okay, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't fly. Fashion? I'm almost positive nobody is interested in my daily t-shirt / running shorts / Teva sandals combination. Cooking / baking? I can hardly multitask with food preparation in the kitchen, much less attempt to photograph the process. It was getting to the point where I finally took a step back and said to myself, "Is this really what it's all about?"

No, no it's not.

I got caught up in the blogisphere [ it's a word, trust me ] and started focusing way too much on imitating other people's blogs rather than just making this what I intended it to be - for me and whoever in my life cared enough to read the crazy / jumbled / spontaneous / boring / exciting / ho hum thoughts of my day-to-day life. It's not about gaining readership or making money off ads or showcasing my [ albeit mediocre ] photography abilities. I may not lead the most interesting of lives, but I'd like to be able to look back on this one day and fondly remember where I was and what I was doing at this point in my life.

So, I'm reclaiming Chasing Peonies. It won't stress me out to write. It won't make me panic when I realize I haven't updated in over a week. It won't make me feel bad when I check my stats and don't see a high number. It won't it won't it won't.

Alright, it may [ and probably at times will ]. However, I will strive to just let this be what it is and progress in the way I feel most inspired. Sure, I'll still link it to Facebook. Yes, I might eventually post on a forum or two if I write about something super duper cool that I think may interest fellow nursing students or some other specific group of people. BUT I'm in no hurry right now nor do I have a certain timeline to do so. As my college apartment-mates would have said to me, "Calm the frick frack down!"

Whew, that's better now.

NPR