3 Things I Learned On My Digital Sabbatical

Just returned from a one-week jaunt to South Carolina, where I sunned myself {and burned, despite slathering myself with organic, paraben-free SPF 30 sunscreen}, read a lot, ate too much yummy food, and enjoyed a digital sabbatical. I live in Ohio, so anywhere coastal feels extremely romantic and getaway-ish to me. I read four novels {all set at the beach}, made extensive notes on the novel I’ll write this November, planned out my next week of blogging, and thought deeply and open-mindedly about the future of my own niche-y enterprise.

I’m not sure how profound any of the following epiphanies will sound to you, but here are 3 things I learned {not really for the first time, but they felt very fresh visiting me there on that sunny beach} on my digital sabbatical:

• There is so much great content continuously entering the online conversation in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, Tweets, status updates. Some people really manage to outdo themselves every single time they post something. It’s easy to get discouraged. The only way to stand out is to be so unabashedly, idiosyncratically, and particularly you in your point of view that no one else can hold a candle to your you-ness. And the only way to start feeling like you online is to put your voice out there, connect, and keep experimenting with your approach.

• Action is the only way to accomplish anything. You can think, dream, plan, and research all day long, but until you take action, you haven’t created anything.

• I like this video by The Band Perry. Since a girl, I’ve loved Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott and this video has references to it all throughout. This song gives me butterflies in my stomach. Especially these lines: “The sharp knife of a short life / Well, I’ve had just enough time.” I want to live in such a way that I can go out thinking, I’ve had just enough time.

But for now, onward. Let’s make this Fall unbelievably great.