It’s the time of artificial light. It’s almost the whole day dark, even at daytime because of the clouds. I do usually like this season but for some reason this time not so much, or I am just not ready for it yet. Since it’s colder and darker, I didn’t take any new photos outside. One of the reasons is that I am not very inspired at the moment to find new subjects, and the other reason is that I don’t have the right mood for this season. However, I think it’s sometimes good to make a break with something, and apart from that I have still so many photos in my library that I didn’t upload yet. No, I won’t give up with photography, that would be a scandal, but it’s sometimes good to take it easy, to find new ideas. Also it’s sometimes good to do other activities so that you don’t burn out.
I am happy that my apartment is refurbished and I still do some changes here and there. That’s where I was really productive, but apart from that I was rather lazy in my free time. I still visit my uncle (who got a brain tumor, in case you’re new to the blog) regularly, because I want him to know that someone cares. Grandma, grandpa and my mother, we all do care a lot. It happens slowly but he is getting more and more problems and we are sometimes wondering how long this will still go well. But overall we don’t think so much about the things that will happen next. But you sometimes need to talk about this, but ironically my friends find the topic much more difficult to process than I do. It’s maybe because we are already used to the fact that he is terminal ill. So, when one of my friends asked me how I deal with it, I notice that they have much more difficulties to find words than I do. I don’t blame them when they can’t find words or when I hear in their voices that the topic disease and death makes them feel a bit uneasy. I don’t feel that way anymore because the topic is around us for so long now.
Of course I don’t forget my own life. I would do the usual stuff like hiking, taking photos and so on, but this season I decided to be a couch potato. Maybe because the renovation of my apartment was a lot of work and I enjoy my apartment more now. But as said, you sometimes have to rotate with you interests unless you want to get some kind of a burn out with a certain hobby. Recently I was really in the mood to play PC games in the evenings, and I also watched Netflix a lot. I am playing World of Warcraft with a friend again since a while, but we don’t enjoy the game as much as back then because the developer really downgraded the game, but as a pastime it’s still ok. I watched the second season of “The Expanse” on Netflix since I liked the first season so much. After that I started with “House of Cards” and I like it too but I still didn’t finish it yet. But that’s the stuff I am currently up to in this season, and watching Netflix in my cozy living room is really good.
That’s also one of the reasons why I did publish much fewer posts on my blog. There are months when you publish like crazy, and other months where you just can’t do it. I think if I would force myself to do something, I would eventually give up at some point, but since I don’t do this, I always come back. If you’re new to blogging, that’s something you could write down. I can’t give you a source but when Technorati was still a thing, they measured that about 80% of bloggers or so gave up in the very first year of blogging. I don’t know anymore if the number is right, but it was an incredible huge percentage. Every pseudo-expert in the web does preach that you need a clear blogging schedule but I would place a bet on it that this is the master recipe to be one of the person that eventually give up. There is a clear difference between jobs and passions. Blogging shouldn’t feel like a job, it should be fun. That’s how I deal with all my interests. There have been months where I played my guitar every single day, and then there have been weeks where I absolutely couldn’t touch it because whatever I played sounded the same, and that is the point where you need to put the guitar to the side for a while.
I am running out of thoughts and words. I hope you guys enjoy your time. If you like, tell me in the comment section what you are up to at the moment…
Diary of Dennis 
one comment, Dennis: we live in Northern NewEngland, and our daylight right now runs from about 7 AM to 4 PM. But I take comfort in the fact that in 3 weeks the days will start getting longer. Slowly, yes, but it does happen. =)
Hehe yeah, that’s an optimistic way to think about it, I like that 🙂 The darkness makes me quite tired at the moment but as every year I will get used to it at some point. Anyway, I can’t await spring time. This time I am a bit winter-depressed 😀
I often find myself less motivated in winter and I think that the absence of light has a lot to do with it. I think that you are absolutely right that if you are going to have a blog long term it has to be fun. After all it is a hobby so if you did not have fun doing it why bother? Sometimes it is good to take a break if you feel a bit dry and are finding it hard to come up with new topics. As you know my sister has joined me on my blogs this year and that has been good for me. Firstly because of course there are two people to post so if I have a bad week and can’t think of much to write about she may have plenty. The other thing is that we share our ideas, sometimes we go out together to look for things to photograph or at least we compare notes about what we are working on.
I believe in my case it depends how the summer was. The years when we had a very humid summer, I couldn’t await winter and was usually quite happy that it was cold again. But I love moderate or rainy summers and the last one met my taste. It could have been longer but now it’s winter and I am somehow still not prepared. Yes, I think light is important, I usually need my time to get used to less light. I think you get used to it when the days already become brighter, when it’s too late 😀
Usually when I don’t have a lot of things in mind to write about, I just upload my photos with small comments below it. It works because some people come here to read my longer articles, for example the gaming or tech guides, and others come here to check out my photos or personal stories. But the last weeks I couldn’t even publish photo posts. Yes, I think it’s not bad to take a break. I don’t want to force myself to anything. I see the benefits of what you and your sister are doing. I would do the same but I don’t know anyone in the family who is interested in blogging. I like what you both are doing, I bet it’s fun to work on something together. I did this once with a friend, we created a German website about the MMO genre of PC games but he was not motivated to continue. I think some people start to enjoy blogging, and other’s realize very early that it’s not their thing.
True and I think this is the reason that many blogs don’t last past the first year. I wasn’t sure if it was for me when I started but after four and a half years I guess I can say that it is. Naomi is still new to it so I’m enjoying her enthusiasm and blogging has made her more interested in photography. That’s nice for me because I’ve missed having someone to talk to about it since David has been gone.
Yep. same here. I believe the last time I read my very first blogpost, it did read like “Huh, I am now here starting a blog, I don’t know, let’s see where this goes”. I had no idea either for how long I would do this. But since the blog was started in 2011 and I still keep it up, I am like you and would now say blogging is for me 🙂 It’s somehow crazy to think about it, that the blog is already over 6 years old. I had less fun with previous projects because they all were about single topics. This blog here is easier to write on a fun way, because it’s a very broad blog and I allow myself to write about anything that comes up in my mind.
While I always shot some photos in the past (like everyone does), blogging made my interest in photography become deeper too. I think you can go out there and take photos without showing anyone the results, but to be honest… when you can share the photos, it makes so much more sense. It’s funny, before I upload a photo I have no idea what I will write about it, but as soon as I have the photo in the draft, it’s like I am instantly inspired to come up with a story, with personal anecdotes or any kind thoughts that might be connected with the photos. Also these “photo + small stories” posts are great conversation starters. I think we both for example talked about a lot of stuff, either on my blog or yours. Add the fact that you can also get/give feedback on the photos, or that you can see things that you otherwise would just be able to see if you would travel to these places, makes blogging and photography very interesting. I understand Naomi, you can do photography for yourself but it doesn’t make as much sense in my opinion. Blogging and photography just works well together.