December Happened! (My Blog Didn’t)

Well, December absolutely steamrolled all my blogging plans!

I was so excited for my first year of blogging in December, I had loads of post ideas, had taken so many pictures, made so many lists and had tons of notes. Crafting, cooking, baking, gifting, decorating, wrapping-it was all there. I was ready to kill it! Spoiler alert: Not only did I not kill it, I didn’t manage to get a single blog posted.

Instead of delivering blog content, December delivered illness, travel, holiday prep, health problems for a family member (he is good now), unexpected changes to traditions and a mental overload that made the thought of opening my laptop more than a little intimidating. Somewhere between cough and cold medicine, tummy troubles, headaches, packing lists, shopping, decorating, gift wrapping and the responsibilities of daily living, my blog quietly went untouched.

And honestly, as hard as I worked this year to get Mrs. Hovland Blogs up and running, I feel like I owe her an explanation-if not to her but to my valued readers and at least to myself. Maybe not so much of an explanation, maybe more of a reason. That is kinder.

Mrs. Hovland Blogs did not happen. Here’s what did happen:

• ✅ A nasty cold/flu on repeat happened.
• ✅ Tummy troubles happened.
• ✅ Lots of headaches happened.
• ✅ A family member’s medical problem happened. (All good now)
• ✅ A week long trip happened. (The trip was awesome and I loved it)
• ✅ Get togethers with family happened. (More important than the blog…….)
• ✅ Precious time with grandchildren happened. (My favorite…..so joy happened)
• ✅ Packing, unpacking, cooking and cleaning happened.
• ✅ Christmas prep happened.
• ✅ The unwelcome arrival of my holiday level of anxiety happened. (I did better this year! Christmas is a season not just a deadline)
• ✅ My characteristic need for everything to be perfect happened.
• ✅ Overthinking happened.
• ✅ Exhaustion happened.

My creative energy was completely tapped, the thought of writing anything interesting, helpful, creative or maybe even coherent felt like way too much……so I just didn’t write. Of course, I felt guilty. As a new creator struggling to make a success of this blog, I am acutely aware of the importance of consistency. I thought, “I should be posting now”, “Has it been too long now?”, “Have I waited so long to post that I have ruined any progress I may have made?” “What is the point of restarting?” That kind of thinking is so very harmful. (Cue the overthinking) It can cancel out the chance that, somewhere along the way you realize that missing a few weeks in December does not make you a failure, it simply makes you human. What a relief!!!

Reframing the “Failure”

I have decided that the truth I am choosing to embrace is that I didn’t fail at blogging in December. December was just full! Full of not feeling well, full of real life, full of recovery, full of all the things you deal with on a daily basis no matter what month it is, full of commitments that really mattered, full of family, love, celebration and embracing joy. Indeed, full of many things more important than the blog.

So, here I sit on January 1st (Happy New Year by the way) climbing back on the horse. Turns out she was here waiting for me to be ready. 😊 I recognize the importance of consistency but am going into the new year working on not needing to be perfect all the time, planning to work diligently and post consistently. I am committed to showing up imperfectly and honestly, providing the best content I can. I am committed to doing my best by my blog and not beating myself up when life inevitably gets full again. I am learning that momentum does not come from guilt but it does come from taking baby steps and doing the next small thing! This post is that next small thing. 😊 The silver lining in all of this is that I have tons of content started for next year!

December happened, Now January gets a turn!