On-Line Identity Crisis: My Long Break From Non-Illness Blogging

Last Spring, following a ridiculous level of workplace stress (predominantly drama-related rather than related to actual job duties, unfortunately, but sadly inescapable) my Lyme symptoms, including reduced facial movement and a lot of pain, started coming back.

I talked to my boss and tried to wrap up projects, but the drama displaced constructive work time, symptoms increased, and project planning got way-layed, so that stepping back from the situation took far longer than I should have let it.

Had I stepped back sooner, I don't think it would have gotten this bad.  But I have been away from work since Spring.

Those details are not the topic of this post, so much as where my writings have taken me since then.

This blog (Montana Momma) was where I posted about the relative sense of normalcy and recovery I thought I was returning to.  So I wanted it to stay relatively separate from illness.  Which it largely did, with overlap increasing once I found out my illness was actually Lyme disease.

Since Montanans need to know that Lyme can be contracted here, despite what doctors and health agencies are telling us, it is a Montana-relevant topic that has warranted some attention here.

Just as I posted less on my former illness blogs as I posted more here and was able to do more and more as I recovered, I stopped posting here entirely once I relapsed this past spring.

Dueling Blogs and Topics

I've just built a page about the various blogs and publicly accessible writing I've done.  I began blogging about illness, and as indicated above, I gradually moved away from it when I was in better health, not wanted the different topic to eclipse each other.  And wanting to keep some places clean and positive.  As I stated on that page (that I just constructed), I've had some on-line writing identity crises over time.  And I've even ventured into freelance writing when health allowed, which I've enjoyed.

I've written (and been paid for, though not a lot, due to health limitations) a wide range of topics so far including Hazardous Materials, Civil Rights, travel, wildlife and garbage, forestry, Lyme disease, public transit, and even rocket science.

Yep, rocket science.  I got paid to write about rocket science.  I can't get any more specific than that because all of the writing I've done has been ghost writing.

Where to Go From Here?

Having been away from this blog for quite some time, and considering venturing into BlogHer, I'm faced with deciding my primary on-line identity, whether I need one, whether I should have one, whether any of my existing ones fit the bill, or whether I need (or want) to construct something new.

Among my many pseudo-epiphanies today, I've decided that it's pretty easy to over-complicate non-complicated issues.  Two more equally non-earth shaking and non-suprising realizations include the following:

• I'm too tired to decide any of this today, amidst a little flare of symptoms.

• Thinking and typing too much is giving me a little flare of symptoms.

My final realization is shocking, but shouldn't be at all.  I was just informed by my nine year old that there is no school tomorrow.  So I'd better remove myself from the source of this little flare of symptoms so I can rest up and we can make the most of the coming day my two kids have free from school.

Thoughts?

My newness on BlogHer (where I plan to cross-post this) paired with my complete lack of activity on this blog make responses fairly unlikely (no self-deprication here, just a bit of on-line realism), but any thoughts on what I should consider (as far as a new blog as a central location/identity, which blog to focus on for Blog Her, or any other sage or non-sage advice) are MORE than welcome....