Well, my life is calming down finally, whew!

Being absent for so long has given me a chance to do some thinking about this site. It’s been nearly five months since I went live, and while it has been SO fun, it’s also been taking way more time and energy than I had ever anticipated.

When I started ABM, I had envisioned it as a quiet little out-of-the-way site, mostly static. It was done on a bit of an impulse. The decision to start blogging and gifting on a regular, weekly basis came soon after going live, when I got a flurry of attention and realized I really liked it. I liked it so much that I started dreaming up all kinds of new ways to expand the site and turn it into something really big and meaningful. And I’m so glad I did, because it has been really fun, and I feel like I’ve gotten to know the coolest, most generous, and just plain most wonderful people on the web.

But here’s the thing about me: I’m the kind of person who does things in fits and starts. I’ll get super-excited about something and pour my heart into it for a while, and then, just as suddenly, I’ll feel a need to pull back and hibernate. I’ve always been that way about my giving. I’ll go through periods of feeling incredibly expansive, where gifting people feels so good and fun and joyful. Those periods alternate with often longer periods of pulling back and focusing inward. It’s how I recharge and refresh. Without those periods, I burn out, pure and simple.

I can feel myself hitting that point.

I also feel like, in my excitement to expand the site and make it into something big, I’ve lost some of my original purpose, which was simply to give freely and from my heart, anonymously and privately.

So, as amazing as this has all been, I’m going to be pulling back. Downshifting. The site will still be here, of course, and Abundance By Magic will still very much be a home for all Elves to give and post and share and enjoy. But I’m going to be far less visible for the foreseeable future. I won’t be blogging on any regular schedule anymore. It’s not that I’ll be gone: I’ll still be reachable by e-mail, I’ll continue to register new Elves, I’ll be checking for Elf posts, reading, and commenting.

I plan to continue giving, too, just privately and not according to any schedule.

I’m honoring my cycles.

I hope all of you are honoring your cycles too. If you want to post every week or even every single day, I hope you do it and enjoy it! And if you feel like pulling back for a while, that is wonderful too. It’s all good.

OH, and I have to tell you, I haven’t totally decided what to do about the $50 giveaway: I think that, for now, I’m going to put it on hold so I can figure out how I feel about it later. For the time being, I’ll most likely continue to gift Elves, but only when I feel inspired to do it, and probably privately rather than publicly. I hope this isn’t too much of a disappointment for anyone.

You are all wonderful. Thank you for being the best readers and Elves on the whole wide web!

(OH, and I almost forgot: A big welcome to our newest Elves, Lola and Pixie. And apologies to you both for not responding quicker. I hope to get your cards out soon!)