Well…I am not in a any category as the bloggers that Matt Richtel talked about in his In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop, NY Times article.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack.

In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

I love what Larry Dignan wrote at ZDNet:

Let’s put a little perspective on this blogging thing. You could be getting shot at in Iraq. You could be a single mom working three jobs to stay afloat (Happy Birthday mom). You could work in a coal mine. You could be in a life and death battle with Leukemia.

You could be doing any one of thousands of high-stress jobs. Sure, the Web has a lot of stress but let’s get real: If you’re stressed out over 5,000 RSS feeds chances are good you’d be stressed by any profession you chose.

The point I was trying to make was that nothing (certainly the deaths of Russell and Marc Orchant and Om’s heart attack) exist in a vacuum. You have to take care of yourself.

I agree. Whatever your job is, you’ve got to take care of yourself. Also, like what I have always believe in, your job is not the be-all and end-all of your life. Life isn’t just all work, you gotta have a real life as well, and find the balance that works for you.

I am not saying that the bloggers (whose deaths reported above) didn’t have a balanced life. Balance is relative.

Well…2+ years of full-time blogging, my life offline takes more time and attention. I have had my share of being passed out, but definitely not in front of my computer and definitely not out of too much blogging. Are you kidding me?! I have a bed I regularly sleep on and I have a 5-year-old son to take care of, among other things. ;-)

But then, I am not that kind of blogger. Even if I too am that single mom, juggling three “jobs” to stay afloat. He he. ;-)

[Hey…thanks to A.S.L. for the hat tip! ;-)]