Striking a Balance

As I write this, I realise that over the last few months, I have been writing less and less on this blog. September and October I was on holiday, and I thought I was just ‘taking a break’ while I was in Rome for 6 weeks. My original intention was to post at least 3 or 4 times when I was there, as I had done the year before in Madrid. However, I ended up only doing 2 posts, and one of those was after I got home.

Fast forward more than 4 weeks, and this is my next post. I have a really good excuse, I was preparing for a gallery exhibition of my copper work. ‘Metamorphic Copper’. I really enjoyed doing the show, but it took up all of my time between getting back and now.

So, what am I trying to say? Why do I need excuses?  Is my blog dying on the vine? It had its second birthday at the end of September. Apparently, while most blogs stop before their first birthday, the next significant drop-out time is at 2 years. If they continue past that, then they hang around for some time! So I am just at one of the main watershed periods.

When I started this blog, it was to show that you could really have a great retirement. I was intrigued with the concept of FIRE – Financially Independent, Retire Early. This was something I had done a few years earlier, except I hadn’t realised it had a name, and indeed there was a huge community out there. As a result I joined the Financial Blog community for a while, but once I had written a load of ‘Save Money by xxx’ posts, I sort of lost the urge. I wanted to write about other things too. In among my ‘Save Money’ posts, I also wrote a lot about Travel, either at home or abroad, but I have no desire to be a Travel Writer either. So my blog by default is becoming a human interest blog. It doesn’t really have a theme or a purpose, with the result that I am finding it harder to generate excitement about writing another post.

I trace it back to last March, when because of the GDPR rules in the UK, I gave up my mailing list, and hence any real aspirations to grow my readership. I also found the ‘business of blogging’ quite wearisome. Writing the blog posts is fine. Creating all the tags so it can be found by search engines, less so. Posting on Pinterest is quite boring. Instagram leaves me cold (which is where most of new activity seems to be), although I’m fine with Twitter. I also find Facebook quite frustrating as I suspect that many of the recent algorithm changes, means that Facebook is deciding what to show me, rather than letting me select for myself. Effectively, I do not enjoy the self-promotion aspect that comes with blogging….

So where does this leave my blog?

1. I’ll keep going, but probably 1 post every 2 or 3 weeks, rather than 1 post a week, at least in the short term (As I write this it is already December, so November was my first ever empty month, but I was busy as I explain below!)
2. I realise that I don’t want to be tied to the PC for hours on end, writing lengthy blog posts, so the posts that I do write are unlikely to be research heavy. So I have to look at the style of posts I am going to write
3. I want to spend some time looking at my online footprint. Where and how do I want my work to be seen? – be it my writing, my Metal Art, my jewellery etc. I have been guilty of a very fragmented approach to date. I blog anonymously, but I also own a website under my own name. Is it time to ‘come out’, and create a unified offering?
4. As mentioned above, I need to strike a balance, and avoid getting too heavily involved in one area, and as a result losing focus on other aspects of my life

Competing pressures

Even although I am retired, I often find myself juggling different things. It is so easy to take on extra commitments and then regret how much time you have to give them, if you are going to do them well.  (and if you are going to do anything, I believe you have to do it properly!) So what are the demands on my time

• I am a governor for a local education charity. I have reduced my commitment over the last year, so it is more like 1 day a month rather than 3 days a month. A lot more manageable, but it has come with a price in that I am not as well informed as I was.
• I am involved in a craft club, but again it takes time. I do a lot of the treasurer’s weekly work, as well as running classes, tidying up, email and generally helping to keep the club running smoothly. 1 day a week at the very least. I’ll be honest, sometimes I grudge this time, as there are many members who turn up at the club 2 or 3 hours a week, and do nothing to support it. It is often left to the same small crew
• Making things, bashing metal etc. This has been pretty much full on over the last 6 weeks, but I would prefer it only took up 2 or 3 days a week. It is a hobby, not a job
• Keeping fit – my goal of a healthy walk each day has been slipping. Partly because it is cold and wet in Scotland at this time of year, and also because I don’t always have an hour free! I am also trying to eat more healthily. At least this year, I will close the year 5kg down from where I started it. (Only another 10kg to go!)
• Meeting up with friends and family. Interestingly enough, my exhibition helped here, because I got in touch with a lot of ex-colleagues I hadn’t seen in ages, and it has been lovely catching up with everybody who came to see my exhibition
• Travel – apart from our 1 or 2 month Slow Travel trip each year, I am keen to get away at least once a month. However, it is more like every 2 months.
• Learning another language. I have kept up my Spanish classes, but I have been less good at supporting them through Duolingo.
• Time wasted. As my head has been so busy with the exhibition, I have found myself wasting time playing silly games on my iPad to relax – these just have to go. I can find I waste an hour so easily….

You get the general idea… Striking a Balance is essential!

Gallery Exhibition

Question – what happened in November? Why did I lose a month on my blog?
Answer – I had a copper exhibition in a gallery in Edinburgh with a friend! Yes, I stepped right outside my comfort zone, challenged my fears, and got the most amazing feedback on my work. I am pleased to report that eighty percent of my stuff was sold. Boy, was it hard work though! Firstly making the pieces, the vast majority of which were large and chunky and took quite a lot of time to make. Then planning the exhibition, writing up all the pieces, preparing flyers, setting up, then manning the exhibition, then packing it up. Finally collating, wrapping and delivering all the pieces. Effectively 6 weeks solid work. Now because I am retired, I could give the time, but am I ready to do it again? – I am not so sure…

Here are a few of the unique pieces that were sold.

 

Anyway

Enough introspection. As someone pointed out yesterday it’s just over 3 weeks to Christmas. Time to start writing cards, get some presents bought, and get organised….

Christmas and New Year are traditionally a good time for me to take stock and refocus on my goals. This year is no different, and probably more important to me than it has been for some time. It is so easy to drift in retirement. You don’t have big work goals, promotions or salary raises to chase. You don’t even have to get up in the morning if you don’t want to. But I don’t want to get lazy, I want to make the most of my retirement, so back to why I started this blog in the first place – show that you can have Fun in Retirement!

I’ll keep you posted on what 2019 will bring for this blog, in among all my other activities. I’ll be Striking a Balance for sure!  Watch this space….

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