You may have noticed that I’ve been blogging less the past two or three weeks.

That’s deliberate. I’ve purposefully stepped back from what felt like the perpetually eroding edge of expectations—an edge that demanded more than I could deliver, foisted unruly pressure onto my soul, and sucked me dry. The thing is, when I blog daily, relentlessly, maybe five times per week, I can double my hit count and reach more people. When I back off and blog more sporadically, the number crumbles to half. My perception of what’s expected of me, what’s required to “succeed,” is a grinning black hole.

So I’m not going to play that game. I’m going to blog when I have something to say and I feel like saying it. As I should have been all along. My hit counter has faltered, predictably, but I don’t care. Far better to be free from that pernicious cycle of supply and demand, and I’m lovin’ it.

Here’s a question or four for you, if you dare: 

As you think about fulfilling the many commitments in your life, which ones feel like an obligation or, maybe more subtly, like a bit like you’re stuck in someone else’s mud?

Next question: Which things would you stop doing if you found out people don’t expect you to do them anymore and there would be no fallout if you bailed?

Unless you’re thinking of something vital like parenting or marriage, maybe you should stop doing that thing for awhile and see what happens. First of all what happens within yourself? Does quitting get you in touch with anything that needs grace? And next, what happens to the universe? Does it implode without your continuous attention?

Huh. Maybe the world isn’t on our shoulders.