2015 Reader Survey Results + Giveaway Winner

Oh, you guys, my cup [Klean Kanteen?] runeth over. Thank you SO MUCH for completing my reader survey and for all of your sweet, thoughtful, kind, positive, + helpful feedback. I mean, SO helpful. 

Just reading through all of the survey results left me really reinvigorated to jump right in and start creating more content for you! I can't wait to get deeper into the topics that you love. 

One of my biggest takeaways? You want more Sayde! And more Ben! Haha! I can't tell you how much I love the fact that you want more glimpses into the daily life of my little fambly--SO touching and I'm so glad you like hearing from/seeing both of them (so do I!). 

Anywho, I don't know about you, but there are few things I love more than looking at other people's survey results and bar graphs (seriously, I'm a bit nosy/geeky about these types of things), so I thought I'd share some of the more interesting results with you, so that you could see what your fellow readers are like:  

Interesting, right? Here are a few things that surprised me about these bar graphs: 

• How many of you are yogis! I knew I had a lot of yogi readers, but I had no idea that it would be 78% of you! Wow! I love that :) 
• Obviously, since I didn't know that so many of you were yogis, I didn't know how much you liked Mat Matters and yoga-related blog posts! This is great info and I'll definitely try to up my yoga quotient here. As you know, I love writing/talking about yoga, but have always tried to reign it in so that I didn't bore non-yogi readers...but now that I know how many of you love it, I'm going to let my yogi freak flag fly!!!
  
• You really like book + music recommendations. Again, I knew you liked them, but I had no idea how much. I will definitely do more recommendation posts and plan on putting together a list of my faves soon ;) 

And a few things that didn't surprise me?

• Lack of male readers: I guess you can't be everything to everyone, right? But thanks to the few guys representing! You're awesome and I adore you. 
• That SJOTW is your fave column, which def makes me happy. Can your love for SJOTW be one of my SJOTW this week?? ;) 
• You like work-life balance + time management posts: Don't we all need help with this? Such a tough one. 

Now for the feedback...and you had a lot (thank you!). It was such a joy reading through all of your comments, kind words, and great ideas. Here are some things you want to see more of (the requests that came up most often):

• As I already mentioned, SAYDE!!! And pets/rescue dog related topics. 
• Ben: He was beyond flattered and this definitely brought a smile to his face--especially the calls for the return of the short-lived Malebox, haha ;) 
• Snapshots, stories, and images from my daily life
• Yoga-related posts: More yoga lifestyle/yoga off of the mat, tips for yoga teachers, history and philosophy posts, yoga book recommendations, etc. 
• New house pics, before + afters, DIY projects: For those who asked about this, stay tuned for a "BEFORE + DURING" post on Monday (because we're not at "after" yet, but I hear you on wanting a glimpse into the projects!)
• Relationship topics
• Full length yoga classes you can do at home: I know I've been promising this for a while, but let me tell you it is IN THE WORKS. Coming soon! Pinkie promise!
• Personal essays
• Resource recommendations: books, music, playlists, etc. 

I can't tell you how badly I just want to sit down right now and compile TONS of posts about all of your requests! If only I had about 10 more hours in the day (every day, forever and ever). I love all of these topics, so am excited to delve even deeper; I'll do my best to incorporate all of these requests in one way or another. 

Oh, and there's something else that this survey brought up for me that I want to address:

One of the things that I always try to impart on the blog is that I *do not* have it all together. In fact, I'm the opposite of whatever that is. I'm often super stressed out and I have meltdowns on the regs (less regularly than I used to, but still happens quite a bit!). I'm just trying to make my way through life in the most mindful way that I can, as I believe all of you are, but of course, I get it wrong quite a bit. 

I hope that my blog has always reflected (and continues to reflect) that I often don't have the answers, but that I'm doing my best. And when I am inspired or figure out that something works for me, I try to share it with you. I don't want it to look like my life is all sunshine and bunnies, because it just isn't, and there are many days when it's all rain clouds and skunks [Seriously, I think a skunk died somewhere near our house recently, as I've been smelling it everywhere I go?!?]. But isn't that the case for all of us (not the skunk part, the other part).

Okay, that's all. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. 

Lastly, CONGRATS to our giveaway winner, Kenna W!!! Hooray! Info on how to "claim" your prize is in your inbox ;) 

For everyone else, we'll continue the 4th blogiversary celebration with two more giveaways this month...stay tuned! And once again, THANK YOU. I can't even. 

XOXO!!!