I’m Back – What I have been doing for the past few months ~

HELLO EVERYONE!!! I AM BACK!!!

Back in June, I made a post about deciding to go on a blog hiatus. I’ve got to admit, it was a very hard decision for me. I’ve been blogging for a few years, but it was only recently that I connected with other book bloggers. I’ve developed a wonderful network of friends through a variety of social media and not being able to blog and talk with them on a regular basis was not something I wanted. I also didn’t want to let down any authors or publishers that had sent me an ARC; I know how important it is for them to get reviews out there to generate interest.

But I just couldn’t handle the pressure.

It’s funny that I say that since I had made a discussion post previously about how I prioritize blogging and reading books over pretty much everything else in my life … but I got to a point where I could not do that anymore. 

So what happened?

Well, if I haven’t already mentioned, I have been in school for my Masters in Neuroscience. It’s a research program, which means long hours in the lab and even longer hours at home doing analysis. There got to be a point in my 2 year program where my lab ran into a roadblock, and I essentially couldn’t do research for about 6 months. During that time, I was super active with my blog because I had so much free time on my hands! 

But then, the roadblock was removed and I had to hustle to make up for the 6 months I had lost. I wanted to graduate for September and that meant dropping everything that wasn’t related to my masters – including my blog. 

It’s been a hard few months, getting updates from my favourite blogs and wanting to read them or catch up with people within the community but having to resist. It’s been hard to not escape into the world of fiction. I’ve had to deal with an insane amount of anxiety that has affected my mental and physical well-being, and having to cut out something I love has definitely made me feel depressed at times. But I’ve learned something from all of this. I’ve learned that it is okay to put things on the backburner when things get rough. It’s okay to have to change priorities – sometimes, it is necessary to do so in order to get to where you want to be in life. But most importantly, if you don’t want to give anything up, then you have to be extremely focused, motivated, and organized. 

As I progress to the next stage of my education, I want to be a more organized person. I want to be able to set realistic goals and manage all of the important parts of my life so that I can enjoy them all. I don’t want to have to give up any of the things I have worked hard to cultivate and grow. I’ve made a promise to myself: to not allow my anxiety to derail my life. One way to do this is to make sure I stay on top of things and break bad habits (like procrastination). I also need to learn to cut myself some slack; I’m only human, after all. 

I guess what I’m really trying to say is thank you to all of you who understood why I had to go and still remain my friends and followers. I hope you can continue to support me as I work on becoming a better – and healthier – version of myself!

Let’s keep reading ~

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