Blogging Break

Hi all and happy Sunday!

As you may have noticed, the blog has been a bit more quiet than usual lately.

Every once in a while, I feel a lack of inspiration when it comes to finding content for posts. It's kind of like writer's block -- although, I guess blogger's block would be more appropriate -- and when it happens, I try to just go with the flow. No sense in forcing ideas to come forth, you know? 

One of the things I've been working on lately is taking pressure off of myself. Progress over perfection has been my mantra this year so far and it's been working well for me in terms of mitigating my perfectionist tendencies and making for a more peaceful day-to-day experience. Stress can be so harmful to our health, so in an effort to be intentional about the amount of stress that I invite into my daily life, I am making careful choices about my priorities. Right now, I'm choosing to focus my energy on quality time with family and friends and finishing out the semester (and the first half of my year in fourth grade) on a high note. Reading is always my escape at the end of the day, and I never want for it to become associated with an anxiety about blog content. 

So, I'm choosing to take the next couple weeks off. I'm taking that time to consider how I want to shape blog content in the future and how best to make blogging an easier part of my routine when (fingers crossed) my own classroom becomes my priority. That may mean picking up right where I left off, or reconfiguring so that blog posts are more meaningful but less frequent. 

One thing I've learned this year is that life has its busy seasons, and that this is one of them. I'm so grateful for my readers and for the people in my real life who listen to my constant rants and raves about the books I've read or am wanting to read, and I can't wait for all of those conversations to continue in the future.

In the meantime, you can keep up with me via Instagram, where I'll still be posting occasionally, and of course, I'm always available to chat via e-mail at topshelftext@gmail.com.

Happy Reading!

-Madeleine-