photo cred: Smitten Imagery
The other day I was driving along in my car when I started making a mental tally of all the places I have information and interactions pelting me all day, every day. I counted four email addresses (one personal, one for the blog, one where all blog comments go, and one for my photography biz). Then there's three Facebook accounts with three direct message inboxes and three walls to watch. Then Instagram, Twitter, and phone calls and text messages from friends and family. And of course that's not even counting media like blogs, websites and TV (don't really watch the latter though). Basically, I said to myself, I said "NO WONDER I'M SUCH A CLUSTER F*** ALL THE TIME." That's a lot of correspondence flying around, and it's all right at my fingertips in my smart phone! Hard not to check it a gazillion times a day, and leave your brain in twenty different places in the process.
I know this "issue" is commonplace with bloggers and business owners who are heavy on the social media, so this isn't so much a complaint as it is just an observation. But I've been trying to come up with ways to simplify my life some, where possible. Take some of the strain off, especially as I'm about to enter the busiest season my photography business has ever seen.
My main issue, though, is that lately I've been feeling like such an asshole because I just haven't had time to reply to blog comments. I've never had time to reply to every single one, but I used to reply a lot more than I do now. I've tried to educate people about how to add your email address to your blogger profile to make comment replies more streamlined, but I know I'll never solve that problem, and the lack of continuity continues to bug me - it has this weird psychological effect. If the replying can't just be simple and all the same way (all via email or all in the thread), I don't want to do it! So I get behind, and then things in that comment inbox I mentioned get scary. I've been wanting to clear it out for a long time now, and just start over, and last night I finally did. AND IT FELT SO GOOD. It's not that I didn't read those comments, because I totally did. But I just wanted to connect with some of you on them, and there were some questions in there I missed, so I kept those marked as unread. Bottom line, it got too out of hand before I was able to get to it, and I get overwhelmed easily. Matthew makes fun of me because usually when I get really overwhelmed, instead of facing the problem and chipping away at fixing it, I'll just take a nap instead. I guess that's what I've been doing with that inbox.
So aaaalllll that to say, I'm really sorry if you said something awesome in a comment lately, or asked me a question, and I didn't respond to you. Please feel free to email me any questions I may have missed! And from now on, I've made a new rule for myself and my blog. I know this might not be the popular choice with everyone, but when I have time to reply, from now on I am going to do it 100% in the comment thread on my blog. This means you will have to come back and see if I replied, yes. Probably a little bit annoying for those of you who are used to getting email replies, yes. Some of you may never come back to see if I replied, and I will be wasting my time, yes. But for the sake of my own sanity, I have to make this change, and I think it will be good for all of us. You'll hear back from me more, I won't feel like an asshole all the time, and I'll have one less inbox full of unread messages to worry about. Sweet.
I started this up on the post yesterday, about the deli in San Antonio, so if you left a comment there, I wrote you a note back! I can't promise to reply on 100% of all comments in the future, especially on those occasional posts that get a huge response, but I would love to connect with you all a little more than I am currently, even if that means picking one or two posts a week to reply to comments on, or a few especially nice comments here and there. I don't really know what I'll have time for. But I think anything is better than my current system. I'll give this a trial for now! :)
Sorry for the rambling this morning... now take a moment to check out today's featured SOML sponsors, and have yourself a fantastic weekend!
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Ashton is the brains behind Landing on Love, and this girl is the sweetest soul - can't you just tell? She happens to be a fellow Austin blogger, and her blog is a little bit of everything, from style posts (how cute is she??), to the occasional recipe, to a DIY or two! I think you'll like this sweet blog - go say hi to Ashton, and let her know I sent you!
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Allow me to introduce you to Nicole and her lovely space on the web, Treasure Tromp. This amazing lady is a California girl at heart but currently resides in South Africa! Cool huh? She's working on a PhD in Psychology and, well... go here and learn a little more! Also, check out some other top posts here, and get a taste of what Treasure Tromp is all about. Enjoy! :)
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