I’ve made the decision after some thought to put updates on OP on a hiatus for a short while. It’s not a decision I’ve come to lightly but one that is based on the way I’ve felt for a while and which has slowly crystallized in the past few weeks.

The truth is I’ve felt so much pressure of late to be the one who comes up with answers to questions and I don’t want to be in that situation. I’ve come to hate the fact that no one else in the local media or elsewhere are trying to investigate or research the stuff in Hong Kong, instead relying on me to post something. OP isn’t my regular job and I don’t like feeling guilty because work commitments get in the way of updating the site.

That pressure among others is changing me as a person into something I neither should be or want to be. I can see that I need to take a step back for a short while from everything related to OP and try to remember why I started it in the first place. OP was never meant to be anything more than a hobby, a project to improve my writing and research skills and I think I need to remember that and not take everyone and everything so seriously.

I have always been grateful for people reading and commenting but I’m not sure how much of me there is left to give right now. It’s not about being patted on the back, or being complimented – it’s more about me feeling burned out and tired of the politics involved in football.

In real terms this means I’m going to turn off comments, leave the FB page and twitter page dormant along with blog updates, mailouts and videos for a short period while I take a short break. It might be ego but I will never let anyone else take over this website – however if someone else started something up and posted stuff I’d be happy to help promote that as an alternative.

I’m sorry if this lets people down but if I don’t take a break for a short while now I can see things only getting worse; and I don’t think that will be of any benefit to anyone let alone me.