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I’m back!
I’m Back!
If you follow Ralph Carlson Blog you know that I maintain a 5 post per week schedule- one post per each week day. If you are a faithful readers, you have noticed that on Tuesday April 19, 2011, there was no post. If you were eager to learn something about Healthy Aging, the topic for Tuesday posts you were disappointed. What happened to knock me off schedule? It’s simple. I just didn’t feel like it.
It wasn’t for lack or preparation. The draft was waiting for final edits. It required only a small amount of effort to make it a final and publish. But I didn’t do it. The why is more complicated.
I was being Outrageous.
Outrageous Retirement Lifestyle is where you do things because you believe in yourself and go with your passions. Sometimes, however, those passions get diminished. Life intercedes-sometimes even in trivial ways and the spark goes out. It happens to the best of us. It’s a test because no one can stay on top of their game with passion, 24/7. It doesn’t matter what is the cause. It could be a family tragedy or something trivial. What is important is the impact on your passion- and how you deal with it.
Do you plow through and hate it or back up and start again?
Yesterday was one of those days for me. After a promising start, it went downhill until I was happy to close it out and go to sleep. So it’s over. Now what?
I could have awaken today driven to make that blog post happen. I didn’t. Instead I took the day off.
Did it work?
There was no post for Tuesday and I took on the day free of the self-criticism that would have filled me if I had pushed to publish. I picked my priorities and checked off tasks, feeling better about myself minute by minute.
Outrageous means you can be spontaneous.
Taking the day off is part of the Outrageous Retirement Lifestyle. Normally, I plan those days and organize work to cover them but once in a while,life happens. This is the first time in a long time that I missed my schedule. If I had pushed through and posted, I know that I would have fed my funk. Backing off and restarting clean today lifted me out of it.
So that’s my story about blog responsibility. It’s conditional not absolute. If its not driven by passion, it has no place on my blog or in my outrageous retirement lifestyle. It was a big issue for me to accept the freedom to break my schedule. What I don’t know is how much difference it makes for my readers. What does it say when a blogger breaks his schedule. Does it discourage readership? Or did you not even notice.
A blogger takes a day off from his normal schedule…what is the world coming to?
Let me check, but I think the world is still spinning. Good for you Ralph. As I reviewed several of my recent posts about goals and responsibilities I needed a reminder this morning that those are artificially constructed by me. I am free to break them; I just have to give myself permission.
My posting schedule has become less rigid over the last month. Life has gotten in the way. That is a good thing. If all I had to look forward to was writing a post, I’d consider myself an outrageous failure.
satisfyingretirement’s last Blog Post ..What Good is a Commitment
Bob,
You don’t know what a struggle it was but in the end, I know it was right. In fact I had more visits yesterday than Monday when I had a new post.
Ralph@Retirement Lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..Outrageous Retirement Lifestyle- Freedom means you can take a day off!
You took a day off? I didn’t even notice 🙂 Actually I did notice, and good for you Ralph. Following you for these past months has inspired me to be open to outrageousness, and opportunities should and when they arise. You were a subtle influence on me going back to work part-time. What the hell, if it was horrible I could always quit. But it’s been good, and I’m seeing a lot of friends I haven’t had contact with for years. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the same bloggers we both follow have taken time off from posting. If this blogging thing isn’t basically fun, then it shouldn’t be a big part of any retirement lifestyle, outrageous or not. remember…you da boss.
Hansi’s last Blog Post ..Fun With Spam
Hansi,
So now it’s my fault that you are working. You just can’t win. Better to take a day off when you need to than when you have to go to the maternity ward like Bob.
Ralph@Retirement Lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..Do you need enchantment in your retirement lifestyle
Ralph…It is your fault, but that’s a good thing. Freedom also means you can go back to work if the opportunity arises.
Hansi’s last Blog Post ..Fun With Spam
Everybody needs a day off now and then to refresh and renew. When I visit my parents in Oregon twice a year, I only get on my laptop about one hour a day for necessities and then shut it off the rest of the time and spend time visiting.
When I get back to work after that two week hiatus twice a year, I’m full of energy and ideas and read to get going.
I think I need that mental break and look forward to it.
Joan,
I pretty much did that when we spent our vacation at Lake Tahoe. I had expected to do writing but I didn’t. And it was better when I got back. Sneaking a day off this week got my attitude back on target.
To be perfectly honest with you Ralph, even though I knew you were a prolific poster I didn’t realise you posted every weekday.
To have a day off every now and then is what your lifestyle should be all about.
Bill
A-U-L, UK
Bill,
It seems like there’s a lesson there.