Hello, My Name is Honey and I’m a Blogging Addict

Honey: Hello. My name is Honey and I’m a Blogging Addict.

Blogging Anonymous Members: Hello Honey.

Honey: A year and a half ago, I didn’t even know what a blog was until my daughter-in-law, Ashly,

who pens her own blog, click ashly & monkey in Vancouver, BC, to view suggested that I write about John’s and my Snowbirding experiences. (heading to the southern US States for the winter) And now, not a second goes by without me wondering if something is blog worthy.

I still remember one of my first posts, How to Successfully Back up a Fifth Wheel, as if it was yesterday. I shared it on Facebook. A handful of relatives and friends actually read it.  A few even clicked, “Like.” One person commented, “You two are hilarious.” I believed her with all of my heart. The saying “One is too many and a thousand is not enough” is so true.

I. WAS. HOOKED.

Despite many of my friends, and all 16 followers, (8 who were Russian, I kid you not)

Possibly these Russians

regularly dropping in on “Honey,” I wanted more.

And that’s when I joined WordPress.

tapsuccess.com

WordPress provided blogging tutorials from choices of themes, to tips on improving your writing and photography skills. They explained how to use categories and tags. They encouraged bloggers to take part in daily and weekly writing and photography prompts. They suggested strategies to drive traffic to your blog and where to check stats. That’s right, the most addictive activity of all,

CHECKING STATS!!!

I could be in the middle of eating, socializing, taking pictures of cherry blossoms…

It didn’t matter what I was doing, I had to know how many hits I had. I was unable to concentrate on anything else.

ANYTHING!!!!

I wasn’t the same happy, carefree Honey of before. My loving, patient husband suggested I take a little break, focus on something else, like refereeing or Habitat. 

I tried. I really really did. But no matter how much I despised myself for being weak, I couldn’t stop. My life was out of control.

I’m not sure exactly when I hit rock bottom. If it was when I became insanely jealous of other bloggers’ successes: their number of hits, likes, comments, followers, and awards. Or when I wrote a post,  “Uh-Oh Moments.” accusing John, not me, of being addicted to the computer.  Or when I blamed Ashly, WordPress, anyone but myself for my addiction. I just don’t know. I do know that I need help. And that is why I stand here before you today.

My name is Honey and I am a Blogging Addict.

Shelley and John

When my blogging buddy, Arjun, wrote a similar themed post, Dedicated to Bad Writing last week, it prompted me to complete this old draft.