I published my last blog post on July 13th. That was more than 30 days ago. Although the topic (body positivity) was one that I was excited to discuss and something that had been weighing on my heart and mind to share for some time, I had a hard time getting my creative juices flowing initially and it took me longer than usual to determine how to go about sharing my thoughts and feelings. This 30+ day hiatus is the longest I’ve gone without sharing a blog post since I established LiveLifeWell in 2015, and honestly, during parts of my break from blogging, I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to return. Something that I once loved just felt like such a “job” and, with everything else that I have going on, I found myself wondering if the extra responsibility was something I could bear.
Instead of forcing myself to create like I usually would, I decided to take a step back. So many times, I convince myself that I HAVE to do things. I pack my to-do list with things that I tell myself are REQUIREMENTS when in reality, most of them are not. I realized that LiveLifeWell is one of those things and that thinking of it in the same way I think of doing laundry or preparing for my clients at work was sucking all the life out of it and, as a result, stifling its growth. I told myself that I wouldn’t publish another blog post until I felt like it and I didn’t force it. I waited patiently, knowing that if LiveLifeWell was meant to be a part of my life’s journey, I would find my way back.
Today, I feel creative. I’m not sure if it’s due to the daily devotionals I’ve been doing for the last 3 weeks, the fact that I have absolutely nothing on my to-do list today, or the monster cup of coffee I just drank, but my creative juices are flowing and I’m itching to share something, anything, with the world in order to hopefully just touch one human being who may need to hear from me. I’ve been waiting for this feeling for the last 30+ days, and now that I have it, I want to hold on to it for dear life because it’s when I’m creating and sharing that I feel my best.
I’m back. LiveLifeWell is back, but it won’t be quite the same blog it was because I’m not quite the same person I was. Here are a few of the changes you can expect:
An increased focus on wellness: There’s a reason that I decided to
call my blog LiveLifeWELL instead of just LiveLife. To me, wellness refers to spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health and, as I’m on a never-ending journey to become the best me that I can be inside and out, the rebirth of LiveLifeWell will include an increase in posts about wellness and how we can all make small changes to be healthier in every way.
Transparency: Somewhere along the way, LiveLifeWell became more about you than it was about me. It became more about the readers than the creator. Although my readers obviously mean a lot of me (because without you, I’m just talking to myself), I’m taking my space back. I’ll be sharing the good AND the bad of MY experiences, MY thoughts, MY feelings, and MY journey in hopes that they will strike a chord with someone, somewhere and inspire that person to always strive for wellness.
Faith and spirituality: I’ve always believed in God, but it wasn’t until somewhat recently that I discovered that I needed a relationship with Him (I’ll be writing a post about that discovery very soon, so stay tuned!). Believing in God isn’t enough. We need to seek to actually KNOW Him, and I’m on a journey towards getting to know God better and, as a result, learning so much about myself. This is a journey that (if I’m going to be transparent), I’m going to be sharing a lot about on LiveLifeWell. I’m on a lot of personal journeys right now, but my journey towards faith and spirituality is the most important as it impacts every other area of my life. I can’t wait to share that journey with all of you.
At least one post each week, but no more than two: I shared earlier in this post about how blogging started feeling like a chore to me and, unfortunately, that feeling was nothing new. I discovered a while back that having such a strict blogging schedule was part of what made it feel so “blah,” but up until this point, I hadn’t done anything to change that because I felt like I HAD to blog a certain number of times a week to be successful. What I’ve realized is that success looks like different things for different people and that’s OK. I can commit to publishing one blog post each week right now, so that’s what I’ll do. I’ll never publish more than two posts a week again because, for me, that’s when it starts to feel like another thing on my never ending to-do list.
Consistency across platforms: I’ll be sharing soon about what I’ve been up to during my break from the blogging world. One of the main things that’s been keeping me busy is The Duo, which is the weekly podcast that I co-host with my mom. Working smarter, not harder, is important for me so that I don’t get totally overwhelmed. On top of that, a lot of the things that we discuss on our podcast are things that relate to what LiveLifeWell is all about. A lot of my blog posts will be directly related to topics that we address on The Duo Podcast and my other platforms in order to give you more insight into my experience and thoughts.
A new look: A new look just feels like the icing on the new me, new blog cake. If I’m honest, in the past, I’ve never completely loved the look and feel of LiveLifeWell. When I made the decision that it was time to for my blog to be reborn, I knew that I wanted to love every aspect of it, including how it looked! I’m really excited to reintroduce LiveLifeWell and, for once, I love how my space looks as much as I love what it represents.
So, I invite you to take a look around and get to know my new space. Allow me to reintroduce myself: I’m Allison Mathis Jones, a basketball wife, fashionista, and avid world traveler on a mission to be the best me I can possibly be. LiveLifeWell represents my personal journey towards spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical wellness and I am excited to be back.
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