Earlier this year my website traffic reached almost 1 million unique visitors per month, which meant that 50,000 people were coming onto the site each day for healthy gluten-free recipes, lifestyle tips and my musings on the Paleo Diet.
When I started elanaspantry.com, I had not envisioned, or prepared for such large amounts of traffic. In the technology industry, building a website for heavy use is referred to as “scaling for growth.”
The site began to fail repeatedly in early February as traffic continued to climb. I spoke with technology people in Boulder and was told the site did not have enough server power. Two local website design firms advised me to migrate the site to Amazon Web Services (AWS) –that turned out to be a big mistake. By Easter weekend elanaspantry.com was down for 50 hours straight. That was when things started to fall apart. I did not handle the stress well, taking it all into my body –we’ll get to that part later.
After the Easter weekend outage, I repointed my site’s hosting from AWS back to Media Temple and still, the outages continued. I was on an 8 GB server using only 4GB of power. At this point I figured out that server power had nothing to do with my website outages.
Due to my failure from its inception to scale my website for large volumes of traffic, I had a poorly built database that could not “talk” to the servers my host provided. How did I figure this out? I spent hours online researching web development, learning the right questions to ask of the technology people that were helping me.
Funny enough, this process was similar to my health journey, which began in the early 1990’s. In order to heal myself, I had to take charge, stop abdicating my power to “authority” (i.e., doctors), and know how to interact with such health professionals so that they could be my allies. And once again, it was my job to make this power my ally, rather than listen to it blindly or alienate myself from it.
I learned a lot more than I wanted to about technology, web hosting, and scaling a site to make it operational. I also learned that taking much-needed breaks from the virtual world is a very healthy thing for me.
At first when my site failed I was so stressed I began to have a physical reaction –I seem to somaticize just about everything. However, eventually I came around to seeing the prolonged website outage as an enforced sabbatical. I grew accustomed to the long breaks and became bored. For me being bored is a fantastic thing. It means I have spaciousness, and that is where the healing happens. I used this time to reconnect with my body in a kinder and more thoughtful way. The persistent website outages allowed me to create new habits for healing that I wouldn’t have otherwise had the space to investigate.
During my “sabbatical” I also spent a lot less time working on cookie recipes. Lately, I’ve been cooking more vegetables and making desserts with even less sweetener. I’m really looking forward to sharing these ultra-healthy real foods Paleo recipes with all of you.
In the end, through the fantastic folks at WordPress VIP (a high end hosting service) I found a web development company that rewrote the database of my website and restored it to health.
So my When Things Fall Apart post is also an I’m Back post. I didn’t want to hop on the site and post some healthy sugar-free lemonade recipe and pretend that nothing happened –you know that’s not my style. As I have in the past, I want to connect with all of you, my dear readers.
Now I’d like to hear from you. Was it frustrating having my website go down several hundred times last spring? What will you make now that it’s back up and running smoothly? What are you looking for from elanaspantry.com next? And of course, what is your best healing strategy when times get a little tough? How do you create healthy new habits?
Finally, thanks for your patience and continued support, I really appreciate it, and all of you as well!
Lisette says
My dear, we are all grateful for your love and dedication, but, remember that your first responsibility is taking care of yourself in a loving way, so, maybe this small break has shown you different ways to do this, and now you can share your FREE time with us again, without stressing yourself. If you loose your peace of mind , all else follows. Please stay well, and you’ve been sent all the blessings and love , Enjoy ! I specially have to thank you
For all the gluten free recipes ! They are great , and I shared you on face , maybe you got more people this way too !
V. Christina says
So sorry dear Elana. It was all my fault as I’ve recommended your website to at least one million people!
You are a pioneer in creating great recipes featuring alternative and gluten free ingredients. I’ve learned much from you. In researching recipes throughout the internet, I’ve discovered so many that I just know were inspired by you. You have created an incredible resource; not surprising that you didn’t prepare for that. How could you have known that your goal to provide food for your and your family’s health would touch upon such a need to so many? It’s good that you have used this unforeseen respite to reassess not only your website but your personal health. Very wise of you!
Thank you for informing us regarding your challenges and ultimate resolution in true honest, elegant Elana style!
CJ says
Honestly, I didn’t even notice. I only to to the site when I need a recipe, and I have my favorites on my hard drive. I often refer clients to your site however. The one large thing I would like to see is an alternate sweetening option for stevia in all recipes. I understand this is a challenge, as all stevias are not created equal. My vision would look something like:
1/4 cup agave OR 1-1/2 tsp. Nu Naturals Stevia Powder (or whatever brand) plus 1/4 cup additional liquid
lauren says
I’m glad you are back! I was a little concerned and am happy everything is OK!
Valerie says
Hi! I noticed the decrease in activity, and was then concerned about your health. I hope you are doing well. My healing strategies outside of diet include walking/hiking, looking at art (I highly recommend a visit to the Clyfford Still museum in Denver if you haven’t yet had a chance), and immersing myself in music (Bach is my favorite for this).
Nancy says
I love hearing about your healing journey. Having a Sabbath rest is so important for our health. I love everything you put out there for us but more importantly I love your dedication to your healing journey. That is the most inspiring thing!! Thank you for sharing your lessons with us. It is a true encouragement.
Kerri says
Welcome back! You were greatly missed….
Carolyn says
It was apparent that you weren’t posting, but things happen in life. Danielle Walker’s (Against All Grain) life certainly took an unexpected turn. Glad to learn that you are well.
Julie Gardner says
Your honesty and passion bring me to tears. I am proud of you and feel so blessed to have you as a resource for my family. I hope for continued space for you and thank you so much for all of your kindness and wisdom!
Suzanne says
I did miss your posts, Elana, and was concerned that something had happened to you, healthwise. I’m happy to hear you were able to turn a frustrating time into a healing time. I’m also needing more vegetables and fewer cookies, so keep sharing what your’re doing, please!