The Irony and the Ecstasy

We just returned from a 10 day trip. We were offline the whole time and it was fabulous, as usual. We committed to being offline when we traveled, and I'm glad. Last year I totaled somewhere near 10 weeks where I was offline due to travels and/or work stuff. I really only missed the ability to send a photo of our adventures to close friends and family, but I sent one when we got home. And while I'm a huge fan of the internet, I savor my peace. I'm also the kind of person who doesn't want a television, so that may explain things. All the same, I value my time far from a computer because it lets me really focus on what's happening HERE, NOW (like these chickens along the road near where we stayed in the Spreewald, or that book I've been wanting to finish). Being away from the computer is also incredibly inspiring for me, way more so than Pinterest or blogs (but those are also fun at certain times!).

I've been thinking a lot lately about the concept of 'slow blogging' first read about here and further discussed here. After reading through so many blogger's recaps of 2012 and goals for 2013, I find myself thinking along the same lines of 'less is more' and 'quality over quantity'. I'm pretty sure I've got the 'less' part down, but working on quality would be a good goal for me I think. A large part of that will be me turning off the computer more; which may seem ironic for a blogger to say is part of her New Year's goals, but I think you get the idea. It's sort of like Neil Postman's famous book, 'Amusing Ourselves to Death'...which is sort of what I feel internet time has been doing for my blog (auf Deutsch 'Wir amüsieren uns zu Tode').

I'm also going to do a little freestyle blogging, more contemplative-type elements mixed in with the usual stuff as I feel that's more of where I'm at right now. Some of that may include me sharing pages of a creative faith journal I'm going to try keeping this year in response to my desire to read Bible passages more meditatively (sort of like this journal post).

Also, the blog IS getting a revamp. I'm on it gang! All kinds of excited about that. FINALLY yo.

What about you? Any overarching themes to how you're viewing 2013?