24 Hours

I've been choosing to spend the 24 hours that I have each day doing things a little differently than I normally do. 

It's made me a bad blogger but a better wife and mother. 

Lately I've been spending time away from the computer, which means I'm blogging less and doing other stuff more.  (I still have my iPhone and I'm "connected" to email, pinterest, facebook and instagram.  I haven't taken a complete hiatus from technology, ha!)  The other stuff that I've been preoccupied with instead of blogging includes: spending more time with my boys, reading, working out, gardening, doing a better job keeping the house clean and watching t.v.  Normally I would write on my blog and read/comment on other blogs after my kids were in bed at night.  Occasionally I'd find some time in the afternoon to blog, but instead of using my free time for blogging I've been hanging out with Will and Ben.  I still love blogging but right now my interests have changed.

The thing that's changed the most is the amount of reading I'm doing.  I've read more in the last month than I have in the last 6 years.  Before I had children, I used to read all the time.  My husband thinks I'm more easygoing when I'm not spending so much time on the computer.  I think he's right.  I'm definitely more relaxed.  Maybe there's something to reading and relaxing after all.  I'm not reading anything profound.  It's strictly for entertainment, which translates to lighthearted chick lit.  That's my current literary genre of choice.

Another reason I'm more relaxed is that my house is cleaner and better organized.  When my house is out of control, I'm in a terrible mood.  (Mark can testify to that!)  When I blog a lot I tend to ignore cleaning my house and that leads to a messy house.  Like I said, a messy house makes me a mental mess!  It's a vicious cycle.  Spending just a little more time on house work has really paid off for my mental health.

I realized there was a shift in how I prioritized my time when I stopped getting on the computer for consecutive days.  It took me a while to figure out what had specifically changed, but then it hit me--I was ignoring my blog.  Hopefully my blog friends don't think I'm ignoring them.  For those of us who are connected by other social networking websites, I'm thankful that we've been able to stay connected and in touch.  This summer I'll have more time to blog, but until then I'll have a mini-break.  Hopefully the blog break will leave me refreshed and eager to blog again just like I enjoyed it when I started blogging two years ago. 

Have any of you gone through a phase where you have taken a break from blogging?

I'd love to hear about it.  Share your thoughts.