Dusting off cobwebs, back to shedding some light

Have you ever had a dream where you are trying to run, but go nowhere? How about the one where you are stuck in quicksand and feel like the drowning is imminent? That is how my life has felt for the last six months, and unfortunately the realities of being a parent, business owner, a conference organizer, volunteer, etc. overwhelmed me. More like crushed me. It zapped me of something I treasure, which is energy.

I realized this last week as I was talking with people at Southwest Fox. I sat there feeling like a slacker, and not proud of my lack of contributions to things that are most important to me with respect to the communities I participate. Completely burned out. Completely spent.

One of those things is my blog and how it really has not provided much reason for people to include it in their RSS reader, or to stop by on occasion. I provided weak excuses during my sessions why my blog is inactive. Sad.

Not really a good excuse, but Twitter is 140 characters at a time and a blog is real writing and often time consuming. So Twitter more easily gets the mind share. You can follow me on Twitter @rschummer (regardless if you have a Twitter account or not). Twitter is fun, and the community provides me things I need like humor, advice, pointers to things important to me, and most importantly friendship. Twitter does take some time, but Twitter is not a waste of time like most non-tweeters think, at least for me. It is just one more way to feel part of a community and another avenue to share things with peers.

I know Southwest Fox was a real drain on me this year as we worried whether we could provide the same level of awesome as in years past despite the lower attendance numbers. Based on the feedback I believe we succeeded. I should not feel surprised by this as I know there was a lot of hard work by the speakers and organizers, and normally hard work translates into something positive. I think we need to change Southwest Fox a little, but not as much as I thought we would before the conference.

After Southwest Fox I headed up to Sedona. Land of the Red Rocks and land of re-energizing. Something special happens there each year for me. Maybe it is the fact I get some exercise by hiking the trails. Maybe it is the fact I get away from the computer and twist my mind in other directions. Maybe it is the eight hours of sleep each night. Maybe it is the spiritual nature of the area and the vortexes have magical powers over me. Maybe it is a combination of everything. Does not matter really as I return energized and full of new ideas. This year I needed this more than ever, and taking an extra day turned out to be one of the smartest things I decided to do in the last 12 months.

So I am hoping I can get back to blogging more frequently and more regularly. I have a list of things I want to discuss and announce. Some personal, some professional, some volunteer related. All important to me, and hopefully sharing with you will expand the benefits many times over. Thanks for your patience as I get back in the saddle again...