Cutting Back

Here's the message I just posted to my Facebook account:

Due to health limitations, I will be dropping out of most things on facebook and other forums and social networking sites I have been part of. You may see me post an occassional update here, but I won't be reading much and may only very rarely reply.

My goal is to spend only about 10-15 minutes online each day, including emails, business. twitter, everything! Since I typically spend up to several hours per day online, this is a DRAMATIC change for me and will be hard to stick to, but for the sake of my family and trying to restore my health, it is something I need to commit to.

My main focus will be keeping up my 3 blogs:
http://www.HarvestingHope.blogspot.com - encouragement for life's trials
http://www.InnerBeautyGirlz.com - beauty tips and tricks, mineral makeup info, sales and discount codes
http://www.InfertiltiyMom.blogspot.com - my most personal blog with reflections on infertiltiy, loss, adoption, ongoing health updates related to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ( CFS / CFIDS / ME/CFS ), motherhood, homeschooling and my life in a nutshell

Don't presume I know what's happening in your life just because you posted it to my facebook page. You can leave comments for me at any of those blogs and I should see them even if I am not able to reply. I do not want you to feel that I am abandoing my friendships, I'm simply trying to get healthy and this is part of what it's going to take. Thank you for your understanding.

The bottom line is that I need to work on getting healthy. At my appointment with Dr. Montoya at Stanford, we spent a full 90 minutes talking with the doctor. One thing he emphasized was that stress, of any kind, can worsen my illness. He talked a lot about emotional and mental stress and we concluded that I spend way too much time on the computer. He challenged me to take a year and cut out absolutely everything I do not have to do, in hopes of gaining another 40 years of better health if I can help hault the progression of permanent cell damage in my brain and body now. (For sanity, I still "need" to write as it is one of my primary coping skills, so I don't consider blogging to be totally optional right now, but it needs to be a tool I can use when I need it and not something I have to do on anyone else's demands or timeline.)

Didn't want to "drop off the planet" without giving some explanation, but I will be in a lot less direct or personal connection with many friends for a season. I may or may not post frequently and when you do see a post it may be something I've prescheduled days or weeks in advance of when it actually posts here, so just because you see a post pop up on a blog doesn't even tell you that I was or was not online that day.