Trading Blogging for Family Time
I think the reason I’m always critical of my time when writing posts for this site, is because the time I spend writing blog posts, is time not spent with my family. I may be in the same house as them, at times even in the same room, but during those moments when I'm writing, I’m not really with them.
You might be wondering, where is this coming from? It’s coming from the realization that my kids are growing up so fast. My eldest son for instance, is going to start school this year.
I fear that I'm losing my time with them. That window where they think it’s still cool to play with dad, I feel like that window of time is shrinking every day.
Twenty, thirty, forty years from now, I don’t want to regret not spending enough time with my kids. And let’s be honest, time spent with your kids is never going to be enough. They will grow up and eventually leave to have their own families. You can't hang on to them forever.
I’m sure I’ll have more time to write when my kids are older. Maybe then I can sit down and write blog posts for however long I want. For now though, I need to get it done as quickly as I can, so I can go back to being a dad and a husband as soon as possible.
So, does that mean I'll stop publishing posts on this site? Not exactly. It just means that I'm no longer prioritizing writing longer posts on this site. Instead of carving time during my day to write, I'll just make do with whatever spare time I have left. That means I'll most likely gravitate towards shorter posts whenever possible.
I also discovered during my latest digital declutter, that I hated having a weekly deadline for posts. During the digital declutter, I felt liberated knowing that I didn't need to have something published by the end of the week. Having to publish something on a schedule now feels like a chore to me; it feels like work. I already spend my day chasing deadlines at work. I would rather not chase deadlines during my off hours as well.
And so that means that I will no longer publish a Weeknotes post every week. I'll do one when I have enough spare time, but otherwise I won't be prioritizing it. Even with the new format I just unveiled recently, I still think it takes too much time to complete. It's time that I'd rather spend with my family. I would have to really, badly want to write one, to publish one on this site.
And so, that's my piece for today. I just wanted to get it out there. At this stage in my life, I feel like focusing on the kids, who are growing up so fast, is the right thing to do. Blogging, personal websites, those can wait.
P.S. Once again Cal Newport's “Digital Declutter” proves its value in showing me what's more important in life. I highly recommend giving it a try when you can.
Tags: #Blogging #Parenthood #DigitalMinimalism