Today's technology has trained us to expect things to be done RIGHT AWAY. It's too easy to take photos and post them seconds later--too easy that it's become the norm. Back then you had to take your photos to the shop and have them developed for you. These days my mom and our relatives expect the more than a hundred photos I took during our vacation to be posted as soon as we find a WiFi connection.

I know. They don't get that you don't necessarily have to post every single shot, that you still have to carefully edit the RAW images, and that, yes, it is possible to do that on my phone, but my process in particular requires me to be in the right state of mind, comfortably seated on my bed with several programs on my laptop. It baffles them that I take too long to upload. They want to get their "likes" NOW. They want to let all their friends know how much fun they had NOW.

If you post too late, your photos are now bahaw or stale.

And I get that. As someone who always anxiously waits for likes and retweets on my art when I literally just posted, I can't judge them for wanting that instant gratification. I can't judge them for wanting to show off right away. I know deep down that it's annoying and embarrassing because I can see my impatience reflected back to me from them.

It's tempting to blame their attitude for my tendency to feel pressured about updating this blog or posting photos on time. But I, too, am anxious and desperate to stay relevant. I always feel like I have to constantly draw so I can have something to post every day. I always feel like I have to edit photos and write a blog post right away. Of course, realistically, this isn't possible. When you get home from travel, there's a lot of laundry to do. Drawing too much leads to burnout and that's no fun! These are hobbies, so I should enjoy them!

While I do think it's necessary to push myself into making it a habit to update as soon as possible, I also think that forcing myself to write when I'm not in an "okay" condition would lead to a very lazy and negative entry. I'm still struggling to find that balance! I'm going to have to pace myself a bit and allow myself to take my time in editing my photos and writing blog entries, and think "I want to" instead of "I have to".

I'd like to think that I've gotten better at taking low numbers, so this time I'd like to train myself to be okay with not posting right away or all the time. It's fine! There will be someone to whom you'll always be relevant to, whether or not you consistently appear on their Twitter timeline or their Facebook feed.

With that said, I'll do my best not to post too late! I had fun on my birthday this year, and I'd like to give that entry justice by not being a downer. So I'll have to get into the right headspace before even attempting to write about all the fun stuff we did.