A brief explanation...

Hey Guys,

I wanted to offer an explanation as to why I've been so quiet here on the blog over the past year or so. Now I'm sure none of ye are crying into your cornflakes every morning just because I haven't been updating the blog but at the same time there are a few of you who have been so good to me over the years and who always check in when I do knock out a blog post... this is for you guys.
The most basic reason is that I simply don't feel like it any more, I've lost my love for it. I think this is down to a lot of factors but mainly it's down to the huge change in what blogging is now-a-days compared to what it was when I started out 7 years ago. There is much more pressure involved today and not as much fun. I should also say that while I have described myself as a 'blogger' in the past to make explaining what I do easier, I've never really considered myself a blogger. I'm a Youtuber who also has a blog. The reason I say that is because writing isn't a love of mine, I am much more drawn to the medium of video and everything that goes with that. I genuinely enjoy making and editing videos, where as writing a blog post has always been a bit of a chore for me.
I also feel like there has been a growing sense of negativity around blogging and bloggers over the past few years due to it's growing popularity and this has brought so much bitchiness into the blogging scene and there has definitely been a bit of a backlash against Irish bloggers in recent times as well.
Aside from that, in my personal life I have been struggling with my own happiness and just haven't been myself for the past year or so. I have a long reaching history of sporadic depression and while this is not something I am comfortable to openly chat about like many other 'bloggers' or content creators, it is a huge reason for why I have taken a step back from the blog (and social media in general) and lessened my Youtube uploads. There are many days where I feel like abandoning the internet all together but I know that that isn't the answer either, burying my head in the sand is always an attractive option to me but clearly not a healthy one.

Despite the above I am still committed to my 2 days a week uploads on Youtube (though there are days where I am tempted to pack that in as well). I am constantly worried that my unhappiness or melancholy will seep into whatever I do post online and that puts me off most of it in the end.

So to finish off before this post gets any more depressing, I just wanted to say this is what's happening at the minute. I genuinely hope this all changes soon and that I can somehow get back my enthusiasm and joy for creating content. But first I need to work on myself and figure out how to be happy offline before I can be happy online again.

I don't want you to think I will be abandoning the blog all together, I will most likely still throw up the odd post when it suits and when I genuinely want to and as I said above, you will still find me over on my Youtube channel twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Sorry for being a Debbie Downer but I figured it was about time I gave some explanation for why I've been so m.i.a. recently and why I might be coming across a bit more serious or basically lacking the craic... like I said, hopefully this will change soon.

Thanks for sticking with me either way!

Shiv.
xx