So, It's Been a While...

Hi! Hello! How've ya been? So, it's been quite a while. You may (or may not) have noticed that I disappeared for a while. About that, well, when I came back from the US at the end of April I started back blogging as normal, but I began to feel sick. I casually mentioned it on Instagram, and when I wasn't getting better I decided to take a week to ten days off to rest up, get healthy again and maybe catch up and schedule some posts so I could be a little less stressed in the long run. One week lead to another without writing anything, then fast forward to October and here we are…

I've written three versions of this post. Once in June. Then again in both August and September. Honestly, I spent most of this time debating whether to come back at all. Each time I was about to post I would chicken out because I felt extremely guilty and embarrassed. And the more time that went by, the worse I felt. I did the one thing I said I'd never do: disappear without a proper explanation. For that, I'm very sorry. No excuses. It's all on me.

To everyone that's stuck around, thank you. Those words aren't not enough, I know that, but nothing else covers what I want to say other than thank you.

So, Alma, what have you been doing with your new-found freedom? Well, I'd love to sit here and ramble off a list of humanity-benefitting and life-long wishes that I accomplished, but honestly I just RELAXED. You don't realise how much stress blogging dishes out until it's removed. I played PC games I haven't played in years. I baked. And between both the Euro's and the Olympics, my TV time was well spent in couch-potato sports watching bliss. Then add Pokemon Go to the mix and my couch-potato ways got a sudden but much needed shake up. Yep, I'm a complete Pokemon nerd, and if I had this back in the '90s when the anime was everywhere… wow, I'd have been in heaven. Plus, my dog doesn't seem to mind the extra walks and exploring, so win/win!

I've been trying for a blogging/life balance for the longest time, and with taking a really long and unexpected break I'm determined to achieve it this time. I'm the kind of person that tends to pour all my energy into a project until it's either finished or I burn out, and I know this attitude isn't healthy. So, I'm going to try and change it. My blogging schedule might be a bit unpredictable from here on out, but I want to balance the freedom of life outside blogging with the bookish community that I missed while I was away. So, that's about it, and hopefully I'll be back to blogging as normal over the coming weeks. Thanks for sticking around!