Ever since I became serious about blogging, I always tried my best to prioritize it. Of course, school still ruled my life (it still does), but blogging came in a good second. It was something I loved doing. Something that was so fulfilling for me in so many ways. The problem is, the more I did, the more it seemed like an unpaid job. There is just so much work that goes into running a blog. You have to write a post, edit it, create graphics for it, publicize it, and many others. And that all is just about posts. And posting is just a part of blogging and not the whole thing. There’s so much more to do than that.
One thing I’ve always struggled with when it came to blogging is scheduling posts. Some bloggers can schedule posts half a year in advance. Obviously, I am not one of those bloggers. I like to take every week as it comes. Or more like, I’m forced to take every week as it comes. What people never tell you before you start a blog is how much work it takes to keep it running smoothly. How much time it requires. How much stress it can cause. Between school, reading, and other nonblogging related things, I feel like I no longer have that time.
One of the thing those “blogging tips” posts won’t tell you is to not let blogging consume your life. If it started out as a hobby, it should remain that way. I learned my lesson last year when I had a complete blogging burnout. I had no ideas. Nothing new to post. And I started to hate blogging. But this time, this time, it’s different. I have so many ideas, so many things I want to share with you all. I just lack the motivation and time to put it all out there. I keep trying for perfection (or something close to it) and everything I sit down to try to put a post together it always feels… wrong. Flat. Not worthy. Not right.
School has really been a pain on my behind and the next few weeks are bound to be super stressful for me. I hate disappointing people and letting them down, but I feel like I have to take a break from blogging. If I don’t take a hiatus, anything I post will feel forced and not meet my standards of quality. They will be posts posted for the sake of posting and not because I actually wanted to. They would be filler posts and not ones I can be proud of.
This is not goodbye. This is just me taking a step back and some time off. I’ll still be around, just not as active. It hasn’t even been March for a week and yet I’m already disregarding one of the goals. Sigh. Hopefully, Spring Break will give me time to sort everything out. But for now, I’m letting blogging take a back seat.
Until next time,
Oh, Emz. I feel the same way – the effort, the time, the stress. It is difficult to manage, and I find that my super blogging moods and my anti-blogging moods come and go throughout the year and usually fall in line with my work workload. When things are stressful at work and there is no time left, the blog and my reading suffers. When things are going smoothly, I am home early and reading. I hope your break gives you time to refresh and recharge and come to a better decision of what you want to do – and how to do it.