Learning, Re-Learning and Re-Organizing

It’s just that time of year where we spend more time than usual analyzing where we have been, letting go, re-organizing, and making plans for what is to come in hopes of improving.

In all my 40 something years, the last two years have been and hardest ones of my life. I have found myself re-learning everything I thought I knew, looking deep into and adjusting things I thought were set in stone, and in this short span, I have learned and unlearned more things than I ever could dream of in my entire lifetime, all put together.

Through it all, I discovered the world of blogging, and started picking back up all the things that I once loved, but had laid down, or given up for one reason, or the other. Writing was one of them, hence blogging. But I have said all this before.

I started three blogs, all with their separate niche. Of course, once you begin blogging out there in cyber world, your feelings can easily be hurt when no one comes by to read what you put so much effort and feeling into writing, so you begin promoting.

One of the avenues that I came across in my attempt at finding the best way to get the word out, was Entrecard . I don’t want to go into how it works in this article, for those of you who don’t know, but as a new (noobie) blogger, it worked very well for me. I came across many fabulous blogs through this system, and I have picked up some loyal followers as well. As a result, of my promotional efforts, both my blogroll on this blog, and my Google Reader, has grown to mass proportions. During my use of Entrecard, my Google page-rank has grown to 3/10, which now brings in most of my traffic. Not to great, but still, nothing to sneeze at.

One of the hardest things I attempt to control in my life, without much success I might add, is over-extending myself. I seem to think I can handle way more than any human is capable of, and unfortunately, the older I get the less I can handle. Another fact I have a hard time accepting and dealing with. So here I find myself having to re-evaluate my system.

I have already had to put one of the three blogs on hold, and while it has not been deleted, I have taken it off the air, at least temporarily. I love the other two blogs, this one being my favorite of the two, which leaves the other one, Valley of the Subconscious, being neglected, and put on the back burner much more than I am happy with. Not only that, but there are so many things I want to write about, but I spend more time promoting than I do turning both blogs into something bigger and better, quality wise. As a result, something has to give, and I am not willing to give up my other blog, which leaves me having to let go of one, or some of my promotional efforts. Now which one(s), because I have discovered so many good ones, am I going to let go?

Even though Entrecard has helped this blog reach the status that it has, anyone who has used the system knows that you end up spending a lot of valuable time visiting sites you really aren’t that interested in during your dropping efforts. I think we are all guilty of this to varying degrees, which is why so many of the members, pop in and pop out just as quickly as they can, and even write post after post instructing all the members where they want you to place your widget, in prime blog real estate, I might add, so that they can spot and click on it, before your blog even has had a chance to load. I also find it very tedious, and boring. In the mean time, it takes away from me having the time to visit my favorite places, many of which do not use this system, and leaving comments on their interesting, and insightful posts; which in the long run, will serve to raise my Pagerank (PR) with Google much quicker, and in a much healthier (blog wise) way, than the use of Entrecard could ever dream of doing. Not to mention I find much more fun, and rewarding than going through the tedious action of clicking on some widget.

So for this blog, Entrecard has to go. I have several ads pending from people who wish to advertise on my blog, and until they have run, I will leave the widget up, but I will no longer be accepting ads for this blog. I will still be using Entrecard for my “Valley of the Subconscious” blog, for the time being, until I can get its blogroll built up with some of the outstanding Health blogs on their system. So I still will be seeing many of you there, as I visit many of the same sites on their system for both blogs, which by the way, only adds to the craziness of using their site.

Also, I have been too busy to acknowledge a couple of awards that were given to this blog, and I owe Lea from “Ocean of Perspectives an apology.

The first award is “Friends Are the Flowers in the Garden of Life Award”.
I’m sending it on to my most loyal commenters.

Putting the “F” Back in You
1 Door Away From Heaven Part II
Adventures of Loving Annie
Black Tie and Sneakers


The second, “You Make My Day Award”

Livelife365
Soul Meets World
The Esoteric Journey
Symphony of Love
Valley of the Subconscious

All the blogs listed here are excellent blogs, written by excellent people. I hope you take the time to check them out.

So I am off to spending more quality time on the sites I have grown to love. You will be receiving a lot more comments and acknowledgments from me. Good luck all, and I hope to still see you around here.

What is the most profound thing that you have learned, relearned, reorganized, or just plan happened in the last year that has affected your life, like no other, to this point?

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