This summer, I made the conscious decision to step away from my blog and podcasts. After years of publishing week in and week out, I wanted a season of lighter work. The goal was simple: enjoy a couple of trips, spend time at the cottage, and soak up more leisure with family and friends. I didn’t want to feel chained to a publishing calendar when the sunshine and warm evenings were calling me outdoors.
Another factor was timing. In Canada, where our winters are long and our summers fleeting, audiences aren’t always paying close attention in July and August. People are outdoors, travelling, and living differently. The effort required to keep up a full publishing schedule didn’t feel worth the return. I’ve seen this pattern before. When I was still running an agency, we always saw fewer campaign results in July and August. It wasn’t that the work wasn’t good, it was simply that the audience was elsewhere. It’s a rhythm I’ve learned to respect.
Once I made the choice, the pressure lifted. I still served my clients, but without the added responsibility of producing weekly content for myself. That space allowed me to enjoy slow mornings at the cottage, dinners with friends, and days that weren’t shaped entirely by deadlines. Sometimes pressing pause is the most productive thing you can do. Life felt spacious, and that sense of space is something you can’t put a price on.
I’ve taken breaks before, but I’ve always been careful not to let them stretch too long. A week or two here and there, a holiday stretch, or in this case, the summer months. Breaks remind me that I’m not a machine. I don’t need to be publishing non-stop to maintain relevance. The digital space is surprisingly forgiving when you’ve built up a body of work over years. There are posts I wrote a decade ago that still bring people to my website today. A short pause doesn’t undo that kind of foundation.
How to Restart Your Blog or Podcast With Confidence
Now, come Labour Day, it’s back to business as usual. I don’t feel any hesitation about restarting. After 20 years of blogging and podcasting, I know my loyal readers and listeners are still there. My digital footprint is deep, my rhythm is established, and I’ve proven to myself time and again that consistency over decades matters far more than a few weeks off. The habit of creating is ingrained in me. I’ve never worried that taking a short break would mean I’d lose my way back.
I can remember when blogging was still in its infancy. I launched Strive Notes, my first blog, back in 2006 when the medium was just emerging. At the time, even missing a single day felt like a risk. Would people unsubscribe? Would they forget about me? But over the years I’ve learned that audiences are far more loyal than we give them credit for—especially when you’ve consistently shown up for them over time. They understand that creators are human too. In fact, being transparent about taking a break can strengthen the connection, because it reminds people that you’re not just producing content, you’re living your life.
I also think there’s a difference in how creators experience breaks. For some, creating is a chore, and for them, a break can be a double-edged sword. It gives them space, but it also makes it harder to restart. Once the routine is broken, the inertia can be difficult to overcome. For others, creating is a compulsion. We can’t help but tell stories, write posts, or record episodes. That’s the camp I fall into. I’ve always been a storyteller. Writing and sharing ideas is as natural to me as breathing. For me, a break doesn’t threaten the habit; it refreshes it.
Taking this summer off reminded me of that truth. By stepping away, I came back with more energy, more clarity, and more ideas than I had before. Breaks free up creative energy that can sometimes get bogged down in routine. I didn’t stop jotting down notes or thinking of new ideas—I simply gave myself permission not to act on them right away. Now that September has arrived, I am already brimming with topics I wanted to explore.
Why Consistency Matters for Digital Creators
What this summer underscored is something I’ve learned throughout my career: longevity in digital publishing is about persistence, not perfection. You don’t have to hit every single week without fail. You don’t have to grind yourself down to prove you’re committed. What matters is the long game—showing up year after year, building trust, and creating a body of work that accumulates value over time.
There’s a tendency in digital culture to obsess over algorithms, to worry about what will happen if you skip a week. But the truth is, the platforms reward long-term consistency more than short-term bursts of activity. The blog post that gets discovered through search, the podcast episode that resonates years later, the steady presence that reassures your audience, all of that comes from staying in the game for the long haul. Missing a summer doesn’t change that.
Breaks also provide something algorithms can’t: perspective. Creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It comes from living! That means travelling, reading, cooking, talking with friends, or just sitting quietly by a lake. Every time I’ve stepped away from my desk, I’ve come back with richer material. That’s what makes content resonate: not just output, but lived experience behind it.
So yes, I took the summer off. And I don’t regret it for a second. I’m stepping back into creating content with renewed enthusiasm, fresh ideas, and a reminder of why I started doing this in the first place.
Listen here:
Watch here:
Want to stay ahead in the ever-changing world of digital marketing? Sign up for my newsletter to get insights like this straight to your inbox. Let’s navigate the evolving media landscape together and make smarter, more informed communication decisions for your brand
Leave a Reply