Wednesday, September 26, 2007

It pains me to say this...


I've been blogging for 3 years and 2 months, and I feel that my time here may be coming to an end soon. In the last several months, I've felt extremely abused by our government (BOTH parties), and I'm burned out. I will still continue to fight the good fight, but I'm going to look into other outlets.

If I do decide to let this go, I'll still be around reading and commenting on all of your wonderful posts.

I don't know...maybe I should take an extended break before I make my final decision. If I were to stop blogging, I know something is going to come up to make me think, I should blog about this, and then I'd be mad at myself for shutting this down.

Tom said I should just blog about other things for a while. He has a point.

I also don't like the thought of one less left-wing blogger out there in the world.

It's a tough call.

11 comments:

Snave said...

I think I know what you mean, Lizzy. I have had similar thoughts lately. I don't know what I can say any more on my blog that hasn't basically been said a few hundred thousand times already, either by myself or by others.

I know I would also miss blogging if I decided to stop suddenly. I'm thinking of cutting down on the amount of posts, maybe to a couple per week. That way I might not tend to spend as much time sitting in front of the computer, and might do other more valuable things for myself and family, such as exercise, play music, do housework, do yardwork, etc.

If I do blog about politics once a week, maybe twice, I think I might also blog about other things or on other topics to keep from getting burned out. Like, you know, more news about vomit and feces, more take-offs on comic strips, some actual creative writing, like maybe a story about something, in installments? Who knows.

If you stop blogging, I won't be able to get my "Norman" and/or "Stella" fix! And I'm counting on you reporting on what things are like in the Twin Cities next summer when the GOP snake-oil circus and big tent revival comes to town!

One thing I like about the blogging is all the other bloggers I have met online. I thoroughly enjoy interacting this way with so many fun people. I tend to think I would probably miss that as much or more than anything.

I would miss your blog if you stopped blogging, anyway.

PoliShifter said...

Maybe you can just stop blogging politics and just keep posting hot pictures of yourself?

ok, kidding aside...

This is certainly a thought I have had before. It was just a few days ago I thought about deleting my blog entirely.

I continue on for my own reasons.

I would hope at the very least that you wouldn't delete your blog but just not post for a while or never again.

I for one have found you to be a tremendous asset. You have turned me on to articles and videos that I don't know if I would have found if your blog wasn't in existence.

That said, I understand your frustration. I've seen a myriad of bloggers come and go. Hill Country Gal recently gave it up as well. Check out her post Calling Bullshit with regards to hanging it up...at least politically.

I for one will be very sad if you decide to hang it up and leave the blogosphere. Mostly because I will feel like I lost another friend and another comrad to a world that's so fucked up and so wrong on so many levels, and yet so beautiful on many others.

That said, you absolutely need to do what is best for your mental health and quality of life.

I have friends that live in a remote location of Washington State. They barely pay attention to politics. When I talk to them they express that perhaps they should care a little more than they do but their attitude is they have theirs, as long as they are left alone, they will leave it alone.

I have to say they are very happy. They are living their lives not affected or concerned by the trappings of politics or the drama of international entanglements.

At some point one has to decide what's more important: The quality of their life, which we only live once and weighing that against the consideration if we owe anything back to society, the planet, and the human race.

Reality is there are many ways to contribute to humanity outside of politics be it art, music, writing, volunteering, to just being a good person in one's daily life.

Blogging certainly isn't going to change the world.

The sad fact at least to me is that I will probably never meet you and would probably never communicate with you if it weren't for this blog.

As it is with so many others like Snave that I have come to know in the blogging world, had they never started a blog, I would never had met them, at least virtually.

Whatever your decision may be, I will respect it. In the end, it is really about what is best for you.

But at the very least know you will be missed and that you did have an impact...at least on me.

I wish the very best for you in your life.

LET'S TALK said...

Hi Lizzy, I understand somewhat where you are right now. I sometimes feel the same way and at some point, I know that the political site will vanish.

That is only if we take both house and Senate overwhelmingly and the exit President is a Democrat.

I have a religious site that I would like to concentrate on now and the political situations have really burned out my thoughts and way of being.

I will say, do what makes Lizzy happy.

Lizzy said...

You guys are the best. I can't leave. I would miss you too much.

And how could I take Stella & Norman pics away from Snave? I don't have the heart -- not gonna happen.

Hill Country Gal's post was right, but I'm not willing to go there yet.

I may be burned out on politics, but I'm not burned out on EVERYTHING, so while I get my political groove back, I'm going to dedicate this blog to other topics.

I will continue reading your political posts, but if I don't comment on them, I hope you'll understand. I simply can't go there right now. I am completely fed up...as I'm sure you are.

The OCD Gen X Liberal isn't going anywhere. : )

PS. Check me out on MySpace -- PoliShifter did -- yay!

Jim Marquis said...

Yeah, there's no law you have to blog about politics. I totally understand the need to talk about happier and more personal things.

We would miss you!

Candace said...

Hey Lizzy, it looks like lots of us know what you mean and have also given this some thought. But you know, no matter how frustrating - not to mention infuriating - things get on the political scene, one thing that makes it bearable is the support we get from each other. The other day I did a post about some kind of collective PTSD that we liberals have developed over the last six years (and even before that.)

I know we sometimes feel like giving up. So much damage has been done that it looks hopeless. Maybe it is, too. I think that's a real possibility. But let's keep blogging as long as we can, as long as it is allowed. I just ran across a speech by Daniel Ellsberg that I'm going to put up on mah blog in a few minutes. He says he woke up one morning and realized that the coup has already occurred. I believe he's right. All it will take is another 9/11 and getting into it with Iran.

We have to keep fighting. While we still can. Maybe enough people will wake up before it's truly too late.

Blog about other stuff from time to time - hell, we all need and enjoy a break! And, it's okay to post less frequently. But I hope you and the others out here crying in the wilderness won't shut it down completely. We need each other.

1138 said...

Thanks for hanging in Lizzy.
I've been "blogging" on blogger since May 2002.
I feel pretty blogged out myself.
I think I'm in the process of refocusing, and I mean on everything, not just the blog.
I give the blog and my blog friends a lot of credit though, they've been a tremendous help over the last four plus years.
I can't imagine getting through them without you guys and that includes you for sure.
I've been blogging less, and to a degree I've become less focused - the posts seem to have a sense of futility to me. I'm expecting some of that will change when I go change my voter registration to Independent next month.

Lizzy said...

Thanks, guys & Candace. You are right - we do need each other. I think if I didn't have comrades, my head would explode.

You're going Independent, 1138? I was thinking about going Green, myself. That'll teach those spineless Dems! Why can't there be more Feingolds & Kucinich's out there? AAAGGGHHHH!

So, while politics is on the backburner, what should we discuss? I was thinking we could talk about how cute my dogs are...

Elvez73 said...

Such a timely post lizzy, I too have been uninspired to blog lately. busy at work, busy personal life, etc. sometimes blogging takes a backseat. I'm blogging sporadically for a while. Your right when you say one less lefty blogger is a bad thing, take a small breather, or post a little less frequently, but don't stop.

Lizzy said...

Thanks, elvez. I'm not going anywhere.

1138 said...

I've come to the conclusion that we live in a one party state, one that is in desperate shape and one that holding on to illusions of Democracy won't help.
We won't succeed in voting out the oligarchy, the plutocracy, and the kleptocracy.
It's all rigged now.

Does anyone even teach civics anymore?
If they are, what fraud are they representing in place of real civics?