Hey guys! I am back to a regular posting schedule, and while I was supposed to last week, I decided not to. I also may or may not have decided to completely drop blogging from my schedule for a week—that means I haven't read posts, written posts, or commented on posts at all. Nada. Zero. I didn't even sign into my blogger dashboard to check stats.

So maybe you're wondering why the heck I decided to do that if I was just going to pass out from all the posts gathered in my reader? (Which I almost did, believe me.)

So this is gonna get a bit religious right now, so you might want to prepare yourself because I'm not normally super religious-sounding on here.

A couple of weeks ago, the youth of my church worldwide (I'm Mormon*, by the way, for those who don't already know) were challenged to cut our dependence on social media by going on a one week social media fast. We were promised that we would feel more freedom to live up to our full potential as children of God and by taking up this challenge we will be able to develop our personal relationships with Jesus Christ.

Now of course I wanted to do this. But since I'm not a heavy social media user (I only have Instagram and even on that I'm not very present), how could I implement this challenge into my life? I decided, hey, I spend a lot of time on blogging, which is a form of social media, right? So—*gulp*—let's drop blogging for one week! I didn't have any good post ideas anyway.

And THE RELIEF! One week away gave me a moment to breathe and realize that I have developed some sort of dependency on blogging. You could even call it an obsession. Sometimes I catch myself scrolling through my reader looking for a post I haven't read yet, when I know I've read every single one. I stress over not being able to put up a post on time, or wail over having to miss a week because I feel creatively drained. All of this has caused me to reflect on how I have been viewing blogging recently. So I asked myself the question that makes us all scream internally for a million years.

Why do I blog?  

Cue the uncertainty. Because...I love it, right? And I want to share my thoughts with other people with similar interests as me. Right?...Okay, I got it. Eventually, this is what I came up with:

People have knowledge and introspective that can help change the lives of others, and just think what would happen if everyone shared their most profound, God-given inspirations with each other. The world would be a so much better place!! So I guess blogging is one of my ways to help make the world a better place.

BUT THAT'S NOT HOW I'VE BEEN SEEING THIS LATELY!

I've been viewing blogging as a schedule, an idea, and DEADLINES. I have been running my blog as if I'm both the CEO and the worker and for every word I delete I lose a dollar. I'm stressing over something that is supposed to be fun for me and helpful to others!

And that has literally sucked all the fun and purpose from me as a creative. I have been struggling for weeks to come up with good ideas that are meaningful to me. This haze of "I have to do this and this for my blogging to work" has guided me to this corner where I can't help anyone through my words because I'm no longer focused on the words—I'm focused on the lesser things and I've lost sight of the bigger picture. Does this make sense? I kind of feel like now I'm just rambling.

Anyway, by taking this challenge and completely dropping blogging for a week, I have been so blessed.

1. I have regained my focus on the bigger picture of what blogging is to me
2. I have gotten so many ideas during this week!! It's honestly insane, because suddenly all these things that are coming to mind are exciting for me to think about writing and I have lots of ideas to share
3. I have been able to focus on other things and not obsess over false duties like "I have to read ALL the post in my reader and comment on EVERY SINGLE ONE" 
4. I remembered that the best inspiration comes from life itself, which, when you're obsessed with getting a post up on time, you kind of fail to participate in and thus inspiration gets ignored
5. I can post way more on here than just writing how-to's and tips and yeah
6. I can be a little more free with expressing my personality and not tie myself up to this rigid non-fiction writer voice I keep slipping into. I wanna make this place fun for y'all!
7. This idea resulted from the challenge!! So huzzah, I got a post up this week!!

The challenge I took really helped me to free myself from made-up duties (that don't actually matter in the long run) and learn to BREATHE and actually LIVE. And, well, I honestly would love for you guys to feel the same thing because it is wonderful. So next month, from July 8th-14th, I'm going to take this challenge a step further and take one more week off from blogging and social media and focus on life and God. I would love for you guys to join me, and after it's over, we can talk about it. Maybe together we can realize how we can better bless the lives of others. :)


*If you guys have any questions for me about my church and what we believe, I would be happy to answer! I know there are a lot of misconceptions people have about our religion, and if you are curious to know if something you've heard about us is right or wrong, then don't hesitate to ask!! :) <3