Embracing California’s Slower Pace

I took a break from blogging. Unintentionally (when I didn’t really have many adventures to write about) and then intentionally.

I had been putting pressure on myself to publish something at least a few times a month, which meant sacrificing the very few hours I get to myself in a day, to sit behind my laptop and encourage myself to create content.

Naturally, I started dreading it. It was merely a “task” that I needed to check off my to-do list. I’d write something and I wouldn’t feel good about it. I’d rush it. I’d push it off.

I took the fun out of writing.

I started this blog as a place to share my experiences and adventures, with the hope that they provide a little insight and inspiration for anyone visiting the same places. I get asked all the time in my real life “what to do” here or “where to eat” there, so this blog was to serve as a place for me to jot all of those things down in one place.

Somehow it wasn’t that fun inspirational hobby anymore, it was a task. And I hated that. So I stepped away.

And then I traveled.

It’d been roughly four months since I’d been anywhere big… which isn’t that long, I know. But compared to last year, when I’d already been on my 5th trip by the time April was rolling around, I could feel the wanderlust pulling at me.

All the reasons why I love traveling came flooding back as I explored California. I embraced the West Coast vibes, the laid-back lifestyle, the no-agenda fun of frolicking around new cities and towns.

I realized how much travel inspires me. How it awakens something in me when I visit new places.

That’s when I realized it was ME taking the fun out of blogging.

I was focusing on publish instead of purpose.

I was exhausted from work, and podcasting, and trying to maintain a blog + some sliver of a gym regime + social life + romantic relationship. The maintenance and pressure of regularly posting was overshadowing what it was I actually wanted to share.

And what I want to share is that exact feeling that I experience from traveling; I want others to be inspired to pursue that soul-awakening exhilarance.

By simply, living in the moment.

Going at a slower pace, the way those Californians do.

So travel far, travel near, just get outside and frolick. Live on your own terms (and write on your own terms). Go somewhere because it’s beautiful, not because it’ll make a great Instagram. Create content from the experience, don’t just experience in order to make content.

That is what I re-learned, and what I’ve been telling myself since getting home. And now I’m actually looking forward to writing again because I’ll be writing about those experiences from living in the moment.

More to come soon.