State of the Blog 2016

It was a stressful year for this blogger.  The stress manifested itself physically and painfully in late May when I got shingles, an old man's disease that saw fit to hit me at 43.  It was a wake up call, an occasion to step back and take a good hard look at my life.  Stress, unfortunately, is frequently unavoidable in life.  I am a teacher, a notoriously stressful profession.  While it is possible to remove and reduce some anxiety-inducing elements, the important thing is to manage stress as it comes.  That's relatively easy to do during the summer months.

The fall will be another matter.  I'm taking on new and modified professional responsibilities this year.  While I'm taking on the added load for solid, practical reasons, stress is inevitable, especially as I continue to juggle family and personal schedules, too.  Learning to manage the stress will be crucial to my mental and physical health.  Shingles can come back - 7-10 year intervals, is what I've heard.  Having a less stressful life seven years from now seems like a reasonable life goal.  Adding more responsibilities now is probably not the best strategy but it's a long-term goal.  My life is likely to look quite different seven years from now.

So, what does any of this have to do with the blog?  Well, it's going to be tough keeping up with The Armchair Squid this fall but it's vitally important that I try.  The blog is, in itself, an escape for me and it is also primarily a chronicle of the other things in my life that I do strictly for fun.  Maintaining the hobbies will be crucial and the blog provides incentive and encouragement to do so.  That said, time will be precious.

Fortunately, I devoted some time this summer to getting ahead on things.  My Clone Wars posts are all set through November so Tuesdays are good to go.  I shall do my best to keep Fridays humming along with The Cephalopod Coffeehouse, Mock Squid Soup and miscellaneous family adventure posts.  It is likely, though, that posts will be on the shorter side for a while.  I want to keep my hand in the game and keep in touch with all of you.  I shall endeavor to do my best.