So I remember a time way back in July 2010 when I was a naive young blogger and I thought it wouldn't be that hard. That I wouldn't be stressed out by it sometimes. That I would *always* have time to read and write posts and all that. That it would always be easy.
Yeah, I learned some things since then.
I don't mean to sound negative or discouraging, blogging is something I love with my whole heart and I plan to continue on for a long time. But it's not always easy to actually do it.
Most of you guys are probably in the same situation I'm in: having a job, going to college, having a busy family life with or without kids. And there's always the thing where sometimes other people just seem to want some of your attention. Or pets do (my parents' dogs just sit on my computer when I'm staring at it too much for their tastes). The point is: life can get in the way.
For me, that's sort of happening right now. I started a new internship on Monday and it means working 1-2 hours a day more than my last one (which amounts to 5-10 hours a week). That's a lot. Based on previous experiences this will probably mean I'm out cold come tomorrow 9PM. This also leaves me so tired sometimes that my brain can't form coherent sentences (I apologize in advance if this happens somewhere along this post). So blogging gets shoved on the backburner a bit because of this.
And if I allow myself to think about this too much, I can really freak out about it. Because I want to do EVERYTHING. Being a friend, girlfriend, daughter, sister, doctor, reader, blogger, music-lover, food-lover, shopaholic. And I want to do it all the best I can. And I could do this, if only there were about 100 hours in the day...
So yes, enter the stress. For me, the stress comes from having A LOT of books I need to read and review and not getting to them in time. From writing up the posts in time. And, because I alsy want to be a social blogger, the reading and commenting on other blog posts.
This is also meant as an apology to everyone on whose blog I haven't been leaving comments lately: I'M SORRY! I love reading everything, my mind's just been going blank lately, but I promise I'll do better!
I used to solve stress by making lists. But making lists doesn't exactly help if you can't cross off stuff on it. Then it's become a list of doom. So now I'm list-free and I just try not to stare so much at the virtual pile of egalleys I need to read. Soon. It's the world renowned ostrich-method. Works like a charm (except for those moments when I still freak out).
But mostly I just take a deep breath and try not to let it get to me. Blogging and reading are things I love and sometimes I just need to work around all the other stuff going on in my life. While I"m not someone who's easily stressed out, I can usually rationalise everything, sometimes it just gets to me a bit.
I don't know if anyone's made it all the way through my rambling, but if you did: how do you handle stress and blogging? Do you even have stress at all? Any tips that can help me on the way to zen-hood?
Stress and blogging go hand in hand, in my humble opinion. I only started blogging in April of last year, but I've gone from 0 to about 50mph in terms of posting, commenting and working with authors and publishers.
ReplyDeleteI guess, for me personally, I handle it better by realizing that it's impossible to do everything and to do it all perfectly. I used to believe I needed to post every single day. Now I take weekends off when I need to, don't post when I can't and just read at my usual pace. The moment it starts to feel like a job, I know I'll be so unhappy, so I'm trying to keep blogging and reading as things that I love.
So I guess my advice is: go at your own pace.
(Oh, and being organized is helpful too!)
I know what you mean, I used to think I needed to post every day as well. Now I try to at least post 3 reviews a week and fill up the rest of the days with other stuff if I'm in the mood for it.
DeleteAnd yes, being organised is helpful! Though sometimes when I'm making that list it only adds to the stress ;)
Daisy, I think you should stop stressing about it - I mean, I know it's difficult - easier said than done, but really. I use blogging for fun and to relax. You should change your strategy ;) Use the blogging for relax and not stressing about it. There is no need to write a post EVERY day. If you don't have anything to say, well, you don't have anything to say. Wait a bit for a ispirational idea to write something :) I like your blog - and I will follow you even if you write one post a week :P I doesn't matter :P
ReplyDeleteTry not to think about it too much :P Everything gets complicated when you think too much about it ;) I am (an almost) psychologist :P I should know lol :P
Concentrate on the things you like doing and do them because you like doing them, not because you feel like you need to ;) It will be easier then ;)
Thank you! :) And I know, I should just stop stressing out about this. I'm usually pretty good at it too, but there are just those moments when I go a bit crazy. And this is something I love doing, so I should stop overanalyzing it :)
DeleteWhen I started blogging I sort of felt like you, like my blog would actually be a relief of all the stress school and life were giving me but in the end it wasn't so. It just was that, at the moment, I couldn't imagine that something that I loved so much, that excited me so much, would become a source of stress.
ReplyDeleteBut it did. For me is mostly with the galleys and stuff, I feel like I should be reading a head, but lately is hard to find the time to do so.
So I'm just learning to let go and say "oops sorry!" and get to it when I get to it. I do try to keep away from Net Galley because I seriously don't need to add more to my TBR pile but that only works some of the time :P
LOL
*hugs*
anyway, I hope you feel better soon, finding the time is always hard but once you figure it out, it usually gets easier :D
Thanks hon!
DeleteI should try to keep away from NetGalley, but it's not working so well for me, lol ;) The galleys are a huge part of the problem and I really try to consider everytime I'm tempted to hit that request button and I'm doing better I think... (or maybe not)
It's probably also due to my almost being done with my internships and the stress of that ;)
I completely understand - as you can see, I'm like 3 or 4 days in even reading this! It's easy to get behind in reading/commenting and then it's suddenly this huge task that will take a huge chunk of a day to accomplish, and then before you know it, your reader is filled up again.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any tips for blogging stress, sadly, except that try not to worry too much because it happens to all of us. We all just go through times when we're too busy to really focus on internet activities. And when you think about it, it's probably a healthy thing that real life gets in the way of online stuff sometimes :-)
Good luck!