When I stepped away from the blog last year, I also stepped away from social media and reading. Yes, you read that correctly, I stopped reading. And I basically didn’t read for about 5 months… crazy right?

I had been putting so much pressure on myself to read a certain number of books, or certain titles, that reading wasn’t fun for me for a while. It was about finishing books, not enjoying them. After reading between 120-140 books per year for the last several years, in 2021 I finished 39. And I am ok with that.

This year I’m opting out of all reading challenges (including Goodreads, which I’ve done every year since joining the site). I’m not setting any goals for number of books read or even making a TBR. I simply want to read books that I love and enjoy and have fun reading again.

The same holds for blogging. If I have something to say, I’ll post it, if not, I won’t. I’m not creating an elaborate posting schedule this year or creating different categories that I post in every week. I’ll post reviews as I finish my insane backlog of eARCs, and they’ll probably all be for older books because I haven’t requested anything new in forever! I might occasionally join a meme if there’s a topic I enjoy. But I’ll go with my own flow, because I want to get back to what I enjoy about blogging and not all of the pressure.

Basically, I’m opting out of all of the pressure. I may not gain a lot of followers this way, but that’s OK. I’ll post, share my posts on social, talk to people who interest me, read blogs that interest me, and enjoy my life. Because that’s what it’s all about.