Hi everyone. It feels as if I haven’t been here in forever, which is kinda true since the last post was published in mid-January. Little did I know then that I would be taking a break, this is the first time since fall 2018 that I have gone off-grid (ie off my blog) for such a long time.
The truth is…
why
For the last couple of months, I have been feeling overwhelmed and tired in both my life and in my blog. This semester I’ve been having a hard time with school for some reason, I can’t focus and I’m somewhat behind on schoolwork, and my creativity has been in the dumps.
Add my usual depression to the mix and I just felt that I could not handle it all, so I thought of taking a break but wasn’t fully sure. Blogging is not easy, especially as a perfectionist who wants quality over quantity and everything takes forever to do.
As some of you know I’m a volunteer at Girl Guides of Canada, and in late January we went on our annual winter camp (pic above is from that) and not only was it mentally refreshing but it helped me truly decide to take a break from blogging for the month of February. To just step back and try my best to just be and focus on school and other things.
what I did
Although I was away from Plaid and Sugar this past month, I did give small updates on Instagram and posted some pretty pictures of things I did.
Some of the things I did this past month was to go to Montreal’s Fine Arts Museum to see the Egyptian Mummy Exhibition from the British Museum. I had a great time there, it was fun to just go see mummies and think about the people who lived so long ago. It also helped that the museum is free for under 20s (yay me!), so I was able to go multiple times and not have to worry about time.
If you’re in Montreal and love museums, I totally recommend visiting the MFAM, especially if you’re under 25 (discounts!).
One of my loves is baking, and this month I did more of it than usually do and tried a new recipe (crackle cookies) which was a semi-bust in looks but in taste it was great. Maybe it didn’t help that I did a mash-up of two different recipes plus some creative liberties?
Another thing that I love is thrift shopping. Recently on Instagram, I shared some of the finds in my latest shopping trip and since I’ve shared often my thrift finds on this blog I knew the pictures needed to be posted on here too.
Found a vintage Matt & Nat Crossbody (it’s the perfect size and vegan) for $3!!! Yes, three dollars! I also got this wooden backed mirror, that is beautifully decorated, some sewing notions and books for 50cents plus another cute summer bag for $2.
Taking a break was a wonderful thing. Like I mentioned, I felt overwhelmed and tired not only of life but also of the blog. Near the end, I asked for tips on Twitter on how to get the creative juices flowing and some of you answered that sitting down and just writing would help.
And it did. I sat down with a notebook and just wrote future post ideas, random thoughts and I got much more done than I had in months. So thank you to those of you who recommend that activity.
Also, if you haven’t noticed: I changed blog themes! Since mid-last year I have been wanting to change but hadn’t found a theme that looked great and fit in my budget and this one fits both! What better way to come back than with a new look?
Currently, I feel prepared (contentwise) for the next couple of months and can’t wait to settle into the rhythm of blogging again.
Til next week
Loren Camila
It's great to hear that you're back! Hope you had a good break and that you got sometime for yourself.
Taking a break from blogging is definitely the best thing to do when you're feeling a little tired, drained and generally overwhelmed. Hope you're good now gal and very glad to see you back blogging x
It's always good to take a break when you need it! And it sounds like you had a great February!
-Charity
Great post and pictures
Cheers,
Diana
The Most Stylish Hijab Street Style Looks You Can Copy
It is good to take a break ! we all need one once in a while 🙂 https://www.shyyshianne.com/
It's great that you recognised that you needed a break and were able to take some time away for yourself. I'm glad you had some time to do some fun activities too! The new theme looks great x
Sophie
http://www.glowsteady.co.uk
Hey Loren, thanks for reading my blog on http://www.goplacesnow.com! This post resonated with me because 1) I see we're both in Montreal! So cool! 2) I completely understand what it's like to feel overwhelmed. I also have a site called My Creative Break – http://www.mycreativebreak.com – and we help people make time to take breaks and do creative things – check it out whenever you feel overwhelmed! Reach out to me anytime!
I'm glad you were able to take some time away. I'm happy to see you back.
http://www.rsrue.blogspot.com
Glad your back! Hope you had a nice break.
que bonito todo, la primera foto es una pasada de bonita con la nieve.
Aww.. we all need a little break from time to time. Sometimes I can get uninspired as well so I take breaks from my work, blog, and social media to realign my priorities.
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Thank you! I really did have a great "off" time.
Thank you for understanding, Sophie. Everything feels much better now.
February was quite great!
Thanks for coming by Charity😊
Breaks are good. Glad your back!!
astorydetective.blogspot.com
Sometimes you just need to disconnect for your own sanity and mental health. No need to apologise. You'll find many bloggers these days are so burnt out it's hard to push through it. Taking that break to regroup, focus and find your spark is so important.
Sxx
daringcoco.com
Sometimes it's good to take a break. I'm glad you realised you needed to get away for a bit before it became too much for you to handle! It's glad you recognised it instead of pushing through it because that can be damaging!
Thank you, Diana.
So true! Thanks for coming by, Shianne.
thank you Sophie! It was great to just be without worrying about blogging.
It's so cool that you're from Montreal too! We should definitely get in touch. I'll check out My Creative Break, thanks for sharing it.
aww thank you for your kind words ❤
Thank you, Skye I did have a nice break.
gracias, si haora estamos en invierno y hay unos paisajes tan hermosos wue me gusta compartir aqui.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Atsuna. So true that sometimes we need to realign our priorities.
Thank you, Rakayle ❤
Thank you so much for understanding and for putting into word what I was feeling, Sonia.
Thank you for your kind words, Katelyn ❤ since coming back I feel more like myself again and happy about blogging.
It’s great you listened to yourself when you needed a break. A detox from social media is so refreshing. Great photographs!
nos enseñas un montón de cosas chulas, gracias
Good on you, you're too young and you're doing a lot of things. That is a vintage looking mirror, such a fabulous find.
http://www.busyandfab.com