One month after the hiatus: on friendships, blogging and the future

I am still here.

And yes, I am actually blogging even though I have announced a hiatus. I maintained it for a very, very long period of time. I spent a solid 3 weeks without writing any blog posts. Out of about 30-35 posts I published in November, I only wrote 3 during the month of November.

What did you do with the rest of November, Raul?

I hung out with friends. Close friends. The kind that I can call at 3:00am and break down and sob uncontrollably. The kind I built even before becoming ‘a social hummingbird’. The kind who call me out when I need to, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, the kind who whenever I say “I need you”, they come to my aid. Not the “friends on paper”, but the ones who will stand for me and be there by my side when I am sick and when I am healthy, in defeat but also in victory.

I said NO. A lot. I gave myself permission to NOT feel responsible for promoting the arts community in Vancouver. I gave myself permission to decline pitches, invites to events, offers for goodies and freebies. I allowed myself to decide which social media outlet (if any) I was going to use to communicate with the world.

I focused on my academic life. I worked on several manuscripts I have kept in the back-burner. I spent the majority of the month of November thinking about my scholarly future. I had the opportunity to see some of my academic pursuits flourish and my research agenda broaden, diversify and build towards a bright future. I had time to THINK. Think hard about the kinds of things I want to further.

I reconnected with some friends and family members I had neglected. I had the time to actually schedule hang outs and phone conversations. I read some of my nieces’ essays. I engaged in conversations that I had wanted to have for a long, long time. I purposefully built time for the people in my life that I hadn’t had time for in the past few weeks. And I ensured to follow through, instead of (as I normally would be), be rushed and give them only a short period of time.

And they appreciated it.

The blogging world is a curious thing, I will tell you. It’s brought me a lot of fun, and it also has brought a lot of pain. On balance, the fun has outweighed the pain. The I’m incredibly busy you always hear me say is now a very, very good busy. I pick and choose what I do regardless of what is happening around me. I chat on Twitter for the fun of it, and I keep thinking that if my traffic goes down, I will not care at all.

But it hasn’t.

My traffic (yes, I do check my stats – anybody who tells you they don’t is lying to you) has not gone anywhere. I totally thought that, the less I blogged, the less people would read whatever blog posts I had pre-written. And they keep reading. YOU keep reading. You keep engaged with me on Twitter, on my blog, and on my other social platforms. My community is still here, alive and kicking, strong and robust.

THAT is the reason why I keep coming back.

Because for all the challenges I face, I have exactly what I need and what I want: I have a job that is incredibly rewarding, I have a family that loves and adores me, I have friends who have my back AT ALL TIMES, not only when the things are going well, but also when the going gets tough. And I have a wonderful, robust and thriving online community.

I have EVERYTHING I need. I am happy.

As I said online, I could get used to this blogging hiatus thingie. But the truth is, come January, I have a new plan for what Hummingbird604.com is going to look like, what kind of projects I will be tackling and the way in which I am going to keep my personal blog alive while allowing my academic life to continue thriving.

Stay tuned.