Why I Was Gone for a Year...

I am not really sure how to begin this any other way except saying that I am sorry. I essentially dropped off the face of the Earth without warning, without any explanation. I feel that I let my followers down, and sometimes I feel that I shouldn't have come back to my blog at all.

As explained in my last post, I had typed up a review for The Maybe Boyfriend. However, when I tried to post it, it somehow deleted itself, and I could not recover any files of it. It was one of the best reviews I think I had ever written, and it was simply gone. I was extremely upset and I decided to give myself a couple weeks to reign in my emotions before retyping the review.

I started to recreate the post...

And then I started college, and I forgot all about it.

My first and second full-time semesters were hectic, to say the least, but I loved almost every minute of them. I read so much for my English and Humanities courses that I simply didn't have time to read for fun, and I really made it a point to put my classes before anything else. In other words, blogging simply wasn't a priority in my life, especially since I was a double major, and I'm now a triple major.

I had every intention to post at least something during my month-long winter break, but I was recuperating from my first Finals Week (*dun dun duuuuun*) and we took a trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. By the time we got back home and I finally felt mostly rested again, it was time for the spring semester to start, and my schedule became busy once more.

Another reason I hadn't been blogging was because I have been struggling on and off with my mental health since last summer. I pushed myself probably too hard in my first and second semesters of college, and even during the summer before, causing me to have panic attacks more often than usual, and I often experienced periods of depression surrounding the panic attacks. Thankfully, my doctor helped me keep my mental health under control, and summer break has allowed me to simply work and relax. Nothing I do during this summer has a grade attached to it, and I'm really trying to allow myself to enjoy every moment, to do the things that make me happy in order to recharge my body and my mind for next semester.

Though next semester's classes may be more challenging, I am hopeful that I will persevere through it even better than I did in the spring semester, which went much better than my fall semester.

Anyway, the gist of this is to apologize for being gone for so long and for not giving you any kind of warning. For those of you who have stuck with me, I cannot thank you enough; your support means the word to me and I love you all.

Until next post,

Catheryn
The Book Lioness
Instagram: @thebooklioness