Is this how we say goodbye...?

I'm sure all or at least most of you are familiar with the blog, The Crumpet. Recently, this post showed up on The Crumpet, highlighting a list of some of the people who stopped blogging in 2014.  There were some interesting and very valid points made about why people stop blogging or lose interest or just disappear.  Many of my most loved blogging friends have thrown in the towel on the blogging game. There are loads of reasons to stop. Blogging is A LOT of work.  Just like a new relationship, in the beginning its new and fun and exciting and spending 30 hours a week on it is something you just don't think about. Why do anything else?  But after awhile it becomes tedious and a chore and just...work.  Then there are other things. The reader disappeared and that makes it an absolute nightmare for me trying to keep up with thousands of blogs.  Not to mention there's not a lot of payout anymore.  Before the reader was gone you could look at your page and say to yourself, I have 1300 followers.  I could work really hard and maybe I'll get to 1500.  Now there's no number game anymore and with comments that trickle at best it's easy to feel like you're just blogging to an empty audience.  Add to that Instagram with it's quick posts and fancy filters and it's easy to say, why sit here and take pictures and edit the lighting and spend all this time writing out blogs for no one when I can instantly snap, filter, and reach thousands?  It's a challenge.  I'm sure if you come here often (and for those of you who do I am truly grateful) you've noticed a decline in the amount of blogs I post and probably in the length of blogs.  I still love nail art and polishing but my life has changed dramatically from when I first started posting. I've moved over an hour from my family, started a new job working twice the hours, struggled with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and various other health ailments, lost loved ones, experience financial setbacks....well...you get the picture. Blogging for me is not what it used to be.  There are certainly times I'd like to give up on it, however, then I remember why I started blogging.  I've come to recognize that I'm never going to be one of those bloggers who has tens of thousands of followers.  Heck, I may never even crack 2000 and I've learned to be OK with that.  I'm not ever going to be someone who tries to squeeze 30 hours of blogging into an already packed schedule.  Sometimes I have a lot of time and I get ahead and sometimes I have no time and I fall behind.  I recognize that this hinders my ability to be a "top blogger" but it's my life. It's my voice. My little corner of the bloggerverse and I like it.  There is no sunshine where I live at the moment and while I invested in a light box some months back I've never sorted using it properly and everything I do with it looks a mess.  So I've been using Instagram to show off my work lately because I feel that these photos aren't "good" enough for my blog.  Today, I'm throwing caution to the wind though and I'm sharing these anyway! No, they aren't blog perfect.Yes, there is tip wear (this is day five) and the filter skews the colors just a tad but here it is anyway! I hope you like them and I hope you remember if you're a blogger that your blog is YOUR voice.  You don't have to live up to anyone's standards but your own. If you want to post once a month; do it. If you only have a cell phone camera, post them anyway! Do what makes YOU happy and you can't fail at this. :) Happy Holidays to all of you!