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.
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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!
Pat @ Elegantly, Gluten-Free says
So glad to hear you’re back! I’ve been having some health and work issues recently so I thought I was missing your new post emails due to my irregular schedule. And, less sweetener is a great subject — I’m looking forward to it!
Elizabeth says
I was worried that you had some tragedy in your life, until I got a clue and checked into your Facebook page (I am not on Facebook). While I missed new recipes from you, I was relieved that you seemed ok. I’ve missed seeing your new recipes, and am glad you are “back”! I am especially excited about treats with less sweetener (I have SIBO, and really must watch my carb intake).
J. Howard says
I can’t find another place to ask this. I’ve made both your Paleo bread and Bread 2.0, and enjoyed them. The Paleo bread recipe calls for using a food processor. I have one and used it (with a struggle) for the first half of the recipe; then mixed the rest in a bowl. What is the purpose of using the food processor for this particular recipe. I did notice that some of your other bread recipes use it too.
I would suggest that when you use an unconventional preparation/cooking method, or an unusual ingredient that you include a short explanation as to why you are doing that.
Thanks.
Natalya says
Dear Elana,
no, it was not frustrating having your website go down. But it was sort of an uneasy feeling to not see you posting. I was thinking if you were fine and was hoping you to be. I am very much looking forward to less sweet treats and vegetables, esp. vegetables! :)
When times get tough health-wise, I go out of town to a tiny flat in the mountains. No computer, no mobile phone. Does me so well and my son loves this quiet time too. And the recent discovery – a wonderful honey and/or sea salt massage from a woman with magic hands, who is becoming a good friend. And yes, most important: I try to never forget that this flair up will pass, will go away just like the previous ones did. And it does.
Great to have you back again :)
Kristen McDonald says
Thank you so much for being so honest!! I love knowing there are more honest people in the world. I’m glad you went through all the time and trouble/healing to keep up this site. It’s so worth it for the healing you went through and for all your readers! I myself depend on this site heavily for my many allergies. The most exciting thing is that you are planning on taking out more sugar!!! Thank you thank you! I do not do well with sugar at all. A lot of the dessert recipes on your site I will take out more than half the honey and they still taste great! My husband even likes the peanut butter cookies that way which is amazing. Good luck!! Thanks again for making life easier!
Marie says
You have been such a help to me. My husband had heart issues in ’11 and I was diagnosed as gluten sensitive a couple years ago. Be well. God bless you. Marie
Michelle @ Vitamin Sunshine says
So glad you’re back! I’ve missed your recipes. Luckily for me, I have your carrot cake recipe memorized I’ve made it so many times. Excited to see what you post next.
Judy says
So glad that things are working for you now. Keep up the good work and making us all healthier with your fabulous recipes.
cindy says
Happy you are back and rested. Looking forward to the healthier treats. You are my favorite gluten free creator of recipes. I have all your books and will continue to recommend you to friends. Cheers!
foragingfoodbalance says
I am glad it all worked out. All of my stress manifests in my body as well. I can relate. I look forward to the recipes. I have Hashimoto’s with a hypothyroid and even when treating myself occasionally to some sweets I pay the price. I am very sugar sensitive. I can’t wait to see what you have come up with. I also appreciate the extensive amount of recipes you offer on your website. Most people want to give you a few and hope you buy the book. I feel like you really want to help people. Thank you!