This summer I appear to have taken an unintentional break from blogging. I didn’t stop writing altogether. I have written some articles for a few publications and did some writing for a couple other projects that may or may not ever see the light of day. I did sit down and do a little blog writing, but I either didn’t finish the pieces or never got to the point of editing and posting. This wasn’t something planned, there were times when I felt like I should get a post up, but it all felt forced.

It wasn’t that writing felt like an arduous task. I think it was that after a brutal winter and wet spring when the sun finally came out, I couldn’t bring myself to spend any more time staring at a screen than absolutely necessary. I also find myself writing when I have a settled mind and this summer, as summers are, was busy. We paddle boarded, swam, and hiked. We went to barbecues, camped, and road-tripped. It seemed that we were on the move so much that our house was just a transition point in between summer fun. In the midst of all the playing, there is, of course, work that needs to be done, which resulted in marathon computer sessions working to complete tasks before the next adventure.

I’m not complaining, I love the summer fun, but I don’t think my brain was ever settled enough for quiet, deadline-free writing. Now that school is back in session, routines have once again formed, and my mind seems calmer. On this morning, my house is quiet, and I was naturally drawn back to my computer to do some writing. I have a couple deadlines for articles on the horizon but for the first time in months, it was a blog post that I felt like writing.

When I looked back and saw that May 31st was the last post, it got me thinking about taking breaks. I don’t think we do it enough. So many pieces of our lives have no end date, so our brains never get a rest. Yeah, we cram in vacations here and there, but those are just reprieves where the whole time, we know what we are heading back to. There are lots of things we can’t take breaks from, like paying the bills, caring for animals, raising our kids, and going to work. But I do think there are a lot of things we can take breaks from that we force ourselves to do because we feel like we have to.

Taking a break, whether it is something you enjoy or not, can bring energy back to it. Even mundane tasks can bring satisfaction when they haven’t been done for a while. My hope is that my break from blogging leads to consistently better writing that everyone that takes the time to read will enjoy. I also plan to find some other things to take breaks from in an effort to breathe new life into them. If you decide to take some breaks, reach out and let me know how they go.