Where Does Blogging Fit into a Busy Life?

In two weeks, life is about to become insanely busy. Summer will be officially over for me, and I will be heading to a new teaching position. I'm very excited about this new endeavor, I will be the technology teacher at Hammitt Junior Senior High School. A challenging and rewarding position.

Aside from the new placement, family life will be crazy as well. We are in two weddings this fall, attending two more, starting a new toddler care provider, painting the house, and oh yes, painting a bathroom. Not to mention prepping for a conference and working on my graduate courses.

So where does blogging fit into all this stress? I've been doing some reflection on this lately, as I took a break from posting. Here are some things I've been thinking:

1. Why do I blog?
2. What is the purpose of my blog?
3. Does it really matter if I post regularly?
4. Is it okay that my blog doesn't have one single direction?
5. What am I giving up in order to make time to blog?

Here are my answers:

1. I blog because I like to have a place to share things. It is an outlet for self expression, link sharing, communication, and yes, I do enjoy getting comments to see what others think.
2. The purpose of my blog is to give me an outlet for the above. It's not as involved as a full blown website, but more involved than twitter.
3. I've read a lot of posts that say edu-bloggers should be blogging regularly. I've decided I'll post when I have something worth posting. A thought to share. I am not writing to be a one-stop-resource for all teachers, others have time for that and I do not. I'm going to stop making myself feel guilty for it.
4. I've wrestled with this. Many education blogs have a very specific focus, where I blog about all kinds of things. True, I do focus more on technology, but this blog is about my journey in education, so it can't have a specific focus because I don't know where I'm going from time to time. I blog on topics of meaning to me and hopefully my audience. Down the road if I feel the need for a specific topic blog I can always start another.
5. This is huge. I refuse to give up time with my family. As teachers we are already over-worked, over-booked, and over-exhausted without adding blogging time. Blogging is something I enjoy, and want to do, but only after I've taken care of my other "hats."

After a few weeks off from my blog, and after reading some great posts about edu-blogging, I'm re-dedicating myself to my blog, but in a manner that will not suppress my other enjoyments, responsibilities, and wishes. We (the collective "we" being teachers) should not be made to feel guilty if we don't post regularly, or our posts are shorter than others. Edu-blogging is about sharing, communication, and collaboration- not about guilt, stress, and pressure.

Anyone else ready re-dedicate?!