Happy blogiversary to me!

December 31st is the fifth blogiversary for Bunny’s Blog, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure that I would make it. When I started my blog on New Year’s Eve 2009, it was a lark – a way to connect with Twitter followers and Facebook friends, but nothing more.

It eventually developed into a focus for my life when many things were shifting around. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning and find something to post about, and I developed many meaningful relationships with readers and other bloggers.

Over time, I started to feel I had lost my focus, that I was posting for the sake of posting, not because I had anything meaningful to share. Or as my friend Amy would say, I felt bullied by my blog. And so I decided to take an indefinite break.

It was scary stepping away from something that had been my daily focus for the past four years, and I felt a little panicky at first. But then it felt as if a huge weight had been taken off my shoulders. I completely stopped blogging for three months, as well as any social media related to the blog.

After a few months, I began to miss blogging and my blogging buddies. So on October 17th (my birthday), BJC popped her head out of her burrow and Bunny’s Blog came out of hibernation. It feels great to be back, although I am blogging less frequently than I did before I left.

Here are a few things I learned while I was away:

1. Bunny’s Blog is, was and always will be a hobby blog. I have no desire to be a “professional” blogger.
2. This blog is an expression of my love of animals and my desire to help them in whatever form I can.
3. I have no desire to do product reviews, giveaways, sponsored posts, etc. However, I do have a great desire to help brands who are interested in helping homeless animals.
4. No more ads. Period.
5. No, you can't guest post on Bunny’s Blog (so don’t ask). This is my playground and admittance by invitation only. 

It’s not that I don’t want people to come to my blog – I do! It was sad watching my stats fall away to nothing, and it felt good to see my readership come back fairly quickly.

But what I have learned through all of this is Bunny’s Blog is about animals and animal-related causes (see, it says that up there in the header). I just needed to remind myself of that.

So with a refound focus, I look forward to another year of blogging. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year!