It may not surprise many of you to know that the last month or so has not been without its stresses. I’ve made, unmade and remade a number of significant decisions in a number of weird areas of significant impact to my lifemore of which in the new year. I’ve also been rather swamped in both my work and personal life. And finally I’ve found myself in the company of a great many people in lamenting the death of a friend and pioneer of the creative and expressive web. I’ve wanted to write a proper post about Leslie since the moment I heard the news, but I’ve not really known what to say. So I’ve been remembering her with friends off the web instead. The world is much the worse without her.
Anyway, during the last month or two, my site has suffered enormously. Many things I’ve wanted to write remain unwritten, many things I’ve wanted to take apart remain unscrutinised and I’ve made a conscious commitment not to take on any more commitments until such time that I get everything in order, which has meant missing out on a few really interesting opportunities. The truth of the matter is I’ve been in danger of burning out a bit and so I’ve decided to take the holiday that I’m due and take a little bit of a break from the web. So I’m planning for the next week or two to be barely online, to not be posting unless I just find myself doing it and to basicallywelllet my brain get its shape back.
I’ve still got a lot I want to get out, and I’m thinking the period after Christmas or in the early New Year might be a good time to do so, but for the moment I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone. Spend time with your loved ones, make something for fun and change your environment for a little while and I’m sure it’ll do you the same world of good that my two days in Norfolk so far is already doing for me. I’ll see you all soon! x Tom
15 replies on “Taking a little time off…”
Merry Yuletide Tom, enjoy Norfolk, See you soon in the new year. x Dan
Declare blog bankruptcy and start with a clean slate next year. Life is too short and stressful enough without worrying about feeding the RSS daemon.
Take it easy, Tom.
Amen to the last paragraph.
merry christmas, dude
I’m sorry for your loss – I’m sure Leslie won’t be forgotten.
A break is a great idea – I’ve had a crazy year too, so I’m taking my holiday time to relax right now as well (albeit in London – but I’ll be heading to the countryside at the end of the week).
Look after yourself, Tom and relax as much as you need to, to come back refreshed and passionate… if that makes sense.
Aidan
Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda, Tom. See you in the New Year!
Owen xxx
Tom
Do you know it was refreshing to read your post! I am struggling to keep up with reading my feedburner, creating meaningful posts, just keeping connected with this ever growing social media landscape. It was lovely to read something that was personal, had humanity in it’s core, and really felt like you were there. Do you know what I mean? There are so many good sites out there, with so much content, but a lot of it is very distant in nature and hides the personality and humanity of the author behind the subject matter. People are pushing content from one place to the next, not many brave enough to publish their own views, for fear of a backlash if controversial, hence a guarded prescence online. There are so many more things that are important in life; family, children, taking time to help your child learning to read, tickling a baby etc. It’s good to get off the bullet train once in a while to enjoy the scenery. Have a great Christmas!
Happy Christmas, Tom. Stay away from that Broadband connection. 🙂
Have a great rest … feed you back next year 🙂
Jesse
Oh my goodness, I had been enjoying Leslie Harpold’s online advent calendar so much this year. When it stopped on the 7th I thought there must be some reason but never imagined she had died. How sad.
Thanks for a yearful of thoughtful links and linkful thoughts. Have a great holiday and we’ll welcome you when you’re back.
Merry christmas Tom and enjoy the break.
Enjoy your break, Tom. Happy Christmas and a beautiful New Year.
Merry Christmas!! For the others, take a look at this!!
http://whales.greenpeace.org/global
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6CbG7qopX0
Greenpeace presents a new website in Web 2.0 where people can give ideas to improve the next expedition to Antarctic to protect the whales. You can post your idea or comment and vote other’ s ideas. The whaling fleet has left Japan, and is headed directly to the Southern Ocean. 945 whales will be killed Рunless we do something to save them.