A good friend emailed me last night. She pointed out the inflamed elephant in the room: if sleep is my anti-inflammation keystone, spending 3 hours a night after the kids are in bed writing daily blog posts until midnight might not be the healthiest use of my evening hours.
Yeah. There’s that.
So, dear readers, I’m going to perform an experiment, and I beg your patience as I do. This month was an experiment into the effects of anti-inflammation lifestyle changes, and my personal conclusion was that none of the other changes I need to make will stick if I can’t sleep more, and more consistently.
March’s experiment will be moving to a four-day blogger work week. I’m going to not post on Fridays in March and see if that change helps me bank a little more sleep and gives me enough wiggle room to spread my writing out into more manageable, non-sleep destroying chunks. (If I absolutely cannot resist the siren call of Friday, I’m going to hold myself to “Weekend Inspiration”-type posts showcasing excellent edible gardens instead of lengthy and time-consuming how-to posts.)
Homebrew Husband has been nagging me to take Friday’s off for months. He’s a data guy and the statistics for this blog must be beamed directly into his pre-frontal cortex or something because he always knows which posts are popular and which are slow. Long story short: Friday is a crap day for blog traffic and never generates the same readership as the Monday through Thursday posts.
I have resisted kicking Friday to the curb because I take things far too seriously, including this blog. I know how much I value consistency in blogs I read and I’m trying to provide that consistency to my readers. But I think ya’ll will be fine without me on Fridays. And if I’m sleeping, everything – including the writing, and the gardening, cooking and making of the home that gives me something to write about – will come easier.
Now, as promised in the very first Anti-Inflammation Challenge weekly post, those of you who stuck with me through the whole series of posts and commented on each one were entered to win your choice of either The Primal Blueprint, Nourishing Traditions or The Paleo Solution.
And the winner is….(drumroll please)…
Janell, email me and let me know which book you want; I’ll get it right out to you. Thank you to everyone who participated in this month of self-care and self-reflection. I hope you’ve come away with a few realizations about your own essentials for health and how to prioritize the gettin’ of them.
I’m going to continue my Anti-Inflammation efforts over the next several months, but I’m going to tackle one key concept at a time, hopefully stacking good habits as I go. March, as I’ve said, is about adequate rest. How will you continue your anti-inflammation journey?
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If the skipping Friday thing still makes you feel weird after a few weeks, you could try allowing for a small guest post every Friday. Set up a couple of guidelines for topic, length, etc, and let your readers sound off once a week.
Just a thought.
I think this definitely makes sense! And remember, if you’re not blogging on Fridays there is more time for gardening!
As for the anti-inflammation diet, I plan on moving forward by keeping up with the fish oil supplement, continuing to eliminate grains in my diet, and integrating more low key movement to days. I’m not a gym person but walks, hikes, yoga, and as soon as the weather is warmer, hooping are all fun things I can do to make myself feel better. And the Zumba class, I’ve really been enjoying that. I’ll count ripping out the ivy and possibly putting french drains in parts of my yard as strength training.
Thank you so much for hostessing the challenge, it’s encouraging to keep up with everyone’s efforts . Also congrats to Janell, what are you going to pick? I checked The Primal Blueprint out of the library and am just finishing, so I might splurge and buy Nourishing Traditions. I’ve been leafing through it at the wellness store where I take dance classes, I should just give in and quit just checking out the recipes.
I think this is a good idea for you. I don’t see how it can hurt, it might help you out a lot.
I have been thinking, for entirely different reasons, of making one day a week a “filler post” day. I had originally thought of Tuesdays, but have since decided on Fridays for the same reasons you mentioned. Not a lot of traffic, people are busy heading into their weekends, and so am I. It seems like the perfect day to lighten up, blog-wise.
As for me, I’m just continuing on with the small dietary changes I made (less sugar, more coconut oil, etc.). Still need to incorporate more exercise, but with gardening starting up, that will take care of itself for a few months.
I’ve been skipping Fridays since the beginning of the year and I am happy about it. Removing one more day’s worth of posting pressure helped me a lot, and gives me time to get ahead on the next week’s posts. I’m not as consistent as you, but I am liking the switch. 😉 I have seen that I gain a lot of momentum as far as hits on the blog Mon-Thurs and then it drops again on Friday and the weekend, and kind of takes the week to build up again. But I’ve committed to myself (and my kids) that I will not live to blog. And I’ve had better quality of posts and writing (I think) because of it.
Funny, I find that my blog traffic is highest on Friday, but then again I participate in a couple of blogrolls that day, so that’s why. My mid-week traffic is really low but then again that’s my most inconsistent posting time. I’ve been struggling with the work-blog-child-clean-getting enough sleep conundrum myself – best of luck to you!
Good for you! Personally, I try to think of “me time” as another task on my to do list rather than an indulgence. Its amazing how much more productive/sane I feel when I’m properly fed and rested.
I have blogs on my blogroll and read them as they come up, so skipping Friday s will be fine by me. . I post when I have something to say – normally about two to three times a week. I cant imagine posting every single day – you need a rest!
I don’t think blogging has to be a daily habit. Au contraire. Once a week seems about right, twice in high-news times. Get some sleep, woman.
Good for you for setting limits! While your blog is fabulous, the most important thing is taking care of yourself.
I keep seeing your name at Apron Stringz, so had to check out your blog. It’s wonderful- love the design, your organization, very aesthetically pleasing! I used to work on a farm on Vashon and the maritime gardening climate certainly has its perks. They have a sweet farmer’s market if you ever want out of the city…. I’m in northern Idaho now- know of any gardening blogs focused on this gardening climate?
I didn’t see in any of your posts mention of chia seeds. I know you were looking for things around the house. We always have chia, buy in bulk on Amazon. I like it mixed with yogurt and cinnamon for breakfast. Definitely fits the diet.
Just found your blog…great stuff. I want to encourage you to reduce the posts. I was posting five-days a week (sometimes seven) and a friend said to me, “Colleen, that’s just not sustainable.”
Well, hello! That’s so true. It hadn’t occurred to me until that very moment.
The upshot? I blog two-three times a week and my page views have gone up. Constantly replacing the latest post wasn’t giving people enough time to read what was there.
So. Know that I get this whole Type A thing, but it’s okay to let it go and rest. Apparently, this is called balance 🙂
Cheers and all the best!