Do I sound like a broken record? When will I ever learn? What’s it going to take to get over this hump?

If you’ve been a longtime reader of this blog, you might recognize that I keep returning to the same themes. This blog is really just thinly veiled advice for myself, saying the things that I should be saying to myself in the first place. Like offering myself the same kind of grace I would offer anyone else. And yet, here I am, once again, zeroing in on my shortcomings.

It’s been over seven months since I last posted in this space. That’s a far cry from the days when I used to blog almost every day. In 2016, I published over 230 posts. By comparison, I published a total of two posts last year, and these words you’re reading right now? They’re my first blog post of 2026, and it’s already August. It’s been a steady decline in volume, dropping below 100 posts in 2021, and I feel like I’ve failed myself.

But should I?

Again, it comes back to the thinly veiled advice to myself. While I didn’t publicly share any new year’s resolutions for 2026, I quietly carried forward the mantra I had for 2025: Do less to choose more. And that’s exactly it. I’ve let myself go, in so many ways, but it’s because I’m trying to make the intentional decision to do less, so that I can choose more. I can choose to focus on what really makes a difference and let the other things slide.

Because while we can do (almost) anything, we can’t do everything (at the same time). We have to choose. And, if we don’t choose, the choice will be made for us. Or we’ll burn ourselves out trying. Trust me. I’ve been there.

So, what exactly does this look like?

In an ideal world, I’d still be blogging here daily. And I’d be posting on Instagram and YouTube far more often than I have been. The reality is that as much as I’ve been trying to build these creative outlets as “side hustles,” they’ve never been a significant source of income for me, and I’ve been at this “online content creation” game in one form or another for over 25 years. I’ve come to accept that they’re fun and engaging, and I enjoy interacting with everyone, but they’re never going to replace my full-time income.

Nor should they, really, at this point, because I’d run the risk of them no longer being fun for me. This is hardly a new insight, as I explored it some 15 years ago at this point. But what has worked out for me is my freelance writing business. I don’t say this to boast or gloat — I know that luck has certainly played a big role in all of this — but these last couple of years have been especially profitable.

With everything going on, I can never be certain how long it’ll last, so I’ve got to focus on what makes that difference while I still can. And that also means spending as much quality time with my kids while they’re still young, and giving myself enough time and space to recover through reading, gaming, or whatever else. I’ve let myself go, in many ways, but I’ve also found greater peace as a result.

Yes, I still daydream often about what the future might bring or could bring. And yes, I definitely need to take better care of my physical health, especially as I get older, but that’s okay. And I have to learn to be okay with it, too.

What does this mean for this blog moving forward? I can’t say for sure. What’s interesting (I’m not sure if “interesting” is quite the right word) is that even though I’ve been posting far less often, total traffic to this site hasn’t changed in step. Several older Grammar 101 posts, for instance, still rank in Google. Even so, when and if I get around to posting here again on a more regular basis, I feel like I’ll be shifting more to these types of “personal journey” or “think” pieces.

And I hope you’ll continue joining me on this journey and reading. Thanks for popping by, and I’ll see you around the web.