Swine flu. Waterboarding. My insane desire to try aerial yoga. There are many Important Topics I could blog about and yet what I want to know today is: Does this blog make my butt look big?
I originally started fit blogging because when you are as obsessed with something as I am with fitness, you can't help but talk about it all the time to everyone you know. And blogging seemed more socially acceptable than cornering random people on the bus. But as I got more into the blogiverse and discovered all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, I found my short-funny-and-random posting schedule had mutated into a daily diatribe fest. Sometimes it was therapeutic. (Thanks to everyone for helping me to work out my issues with my past sexual assault! Have you noticed I really don't write about it anymore? It's because I don't think about it much anymore and I honestly chalk that up to having you all to vent to for a year.) Sometimes it was educational. And sometimes it was just silliness. There have been lots of great things that have come out of my blog, most notably some fantastic friendships and readers smarter than the entire Miss USA collective (judges included) who have taught me so much.But there has been one noticeably negative result of all that bloggy loving: a drastic increase in computer time. Don't get me wrong, my geeky Computer Information Systems degree-holding heart has always checked my e-mail before breakfast and I heart xkcd so much that if I ever got a tattoo it would be a stick figure in a fedora but since becoming a dedicated blogger, it's morphed into a time commitment of part-time job proportions. That I don't get paid for.
I couldn't find any studies to exactly back me up but I'm seeing a positive correlation between increased screen time and increased Charlotte in general. Mostly I think this is because if I weren't blogging right now, I'd be cleaning my house or chasing my kids. And while swiffering my ceiling fans and repeatedly dragging a toddler out of the street are not major calorie torchers they certainly burn more than, well, sitting here doing this. You know you have a problem when time spent blogging exceeds time spent actually exercising (and I exercise 1-2 hours a day so that tells you how much I blog).
Another factor is that all this blogging has made me a little more - how to say this kindly? - neurotic. I was crazy to begin with. And blogging has just opened my eyes to the vast conspiracy theory that is the Internet. Even the fit-o-sphere harbors its own dark sides. For instance, yesterday I got all worked up over those Hydroxycut ads - ads for a product that I've never bought and never plan on buying. And while previously those ads have always irritated me, by the time I finished my post last night, I was in such a state I needed two Tums. (Okay, it helped that they were the "creamy" variety and in my mind are just as good as candy. But still.) All I'm saying is that before I started blogging I never knew how many protein powders actually exist and I think I was happier without this knowledge.
I was re-reading some old posts last night from when this blog started and I noticed two things: a) My posts have gotten significantly longer and more involved and b) I've become more strident in my tone and more cynical in my thinking. Meditation notwithstanding, all this negativity isn't good for my stress levels and we all know that stress = fat. Which is not to say that blogging has made me this way - I've always been a bit of a cynic - but rather exacerbated my natural negativity.
So, help a blog-loving girl out! I know many of you have great, educational, entertaining and interesting blogs - I read many of them! - tell me how you manage your blog time! Do you set a schedule? Give yourself a time or word limit? How do you deal with the negative side of things? And as to the question of Blogger Butts, check out my poll:Thanks! I love you guys! You all are the reason this is such a fun hobby for me!
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