Why I'm Avoiding the "31 DAYS" Trend This Year

There's an ongoing trend in the blogosphere -- the 31 Days trend -- where bloggers select a theme and write a theme-related post each day for the month of October.

I haven't joined that trend this year. 

I did think about it, though, for about two-and-a-half minutes.  Then I made a conscious choice not to join the online festivities.  Here's why:


1) I'm a frequent blogger, not a daily blogger.  I know a few daily bloggers, like Heather at Live with Flair, whose blogging serves as a daily devotion and celebration.  I applaud this.  It's not me, though.  I'd rather write three or four solid posts per week when I have things to say than to force seven posts per week when I don't.

2) I have these three young kids, you know.  I couldn't sustain a motherhood blog without them, but they require a lot of attention.  As they should.  Plus, I have a husband (whom I love dearly), and a job with grading and deadlines and emails (oh my!), and friends (although I don't see them enough), and commitments (campus dinners, nursery duty, a meal for a friend who had a baby), and a house that doesn't clean itself (drat!), and a book coming out in 13 days (whew!), and some other stuff that I'm surely forgetting.

Life is full.  Given that fact, this blog needs to work for me -- not the other way around.  Blogging is my outlet, not my obligation.  I fully intend to keep it that way.

3) I rail against comparison.  The fact that I devoted even 150 sustained seconds thinking about participating in 31 Days means that there was some draw to it in the first place.  What was that draw?  Well, if you catch whiff of certain circles, it seems like everyone was doing it.  And while I can pick that statement apart and dissect its ridiculousness, the truth is that saying yes sounds appealing when saying no means that you might be left out.

Still, I know better than this.  Just because someone else is called to do something doesn't mean that I'm called to do that thing.  Your friend might homeschool her children, but the thought of homeschooling might cause your left eye to twitch and your world to implode in on itself in catastrophe.  (That's how I'd envision things if I homeschooled, at least.  Just saying.)

There is not enough time on God's green earth to do what we're not called to do.  Repeat that statement to yourself: There is not enough time on God's green earth to do what we're not called to do.  This isn't about blogging.  It's about knowing your purpose and respecting your boundaries. 

So, I didn't participate.  Is the 31 Days trend wrong?  Not at all!  I'm sure it will yield some fabulous writing and bless many bloggers and readers alike.

It's just not right for me. 

 Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

7 comments

  1. I have thought the same thing when seeing some of the 31 days of. I pefer to write about what I want when I want, not to feel an obligation to finish something I may not feel inclined to finish. Plus, no matter how interesting I found the subject matter, writing 31 posts? What if I said all I had to say in 4? Then what?

    Oh, and if you figure out how to get the house to clean itself, do blog about it and fill us in. That would be a lifesaver!

    ReplyDelete
  2. #2 - AMEN!  (I don't have the job or the book, but I could add that my hubby travels.)  I see/read other bloggers who post every day and I just do not know how they do it.  Sometimes it's all I can do to post once a week!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had no idea that there was a 31 Days trend. How'd I miss that one? I wouldn't have participated either though. Would we have had to eat pumpkin for 31 days? Chicken? From the same magazine? How would I have even been able to manage it?

    Ah well, that's me; always the last to know (thank goodness).

    Oh yeah, the eye twitch, implosion thing; totally my thinking too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I repeat this mantra to myself when I'm feeling pressured: "The blog works for me, I don't work for the blog.  The blog works for me, I don't work for the blog."  :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thought about the whole 31 days thing too.  And then I could not, for the life of me, come up with a topic I could spend 31 days on.  Sometimes brain failure is a blessing.  Sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brittany SinkOctober 11, 2012

    And if you wrote every day, I wouldn't ever get a chance to read it all.  I don't read every day; I don't expect you to write every day!

    ReplyDelete

Back to Top