How to Avoid Burnout
When I first started writing this post, I was thinking specifically about blogger burnout. But as I wrote it, I realized that many of these things can be applied outside of blogging. Whether it’s a goal, a hobby, or a job, sometimes it’s hard to know the line between hustle and burnout. So while I wrote this from the position of blogging, I hope it helps you in whatever you’re pursuing!
I started blogging in 2010. When I first started this hobby, I had literally no expectations. I was taking ugly pictures with a Droid cell phone (oh hey there, flash). I didn’t spend time thinking about the “SEO” of my post, and I basically wrote about whatever I wanted. It was a hobby and I fell in love with it.
Over the years, the blogging industry has changed a lot and so has this hobby. I spend more time thinking about keywords and analytics and photo editing. Posts are less “stream of consciousness” and more planned out. Overall, I’m happy about it. It’s taught me a lot of valuable skills that I’ve actually used in my day job. I like learning and I like pushing myself. But these things can also make a hobby feel a lot like… work. And when something feels like work, it’s easy to lose the joy. And isn’t that the whole reason we started?
I’m sharing some of my tips for avoiding burn out over at VirginiaBloggers.com
What a great post! I’m still working on establishing a blogging “tribe”. I joined Virginia Bloggers a few months ago but haven’t made it to a meet-up yet. Partially because of schedule but also because I always think to myself well I’m not a real blogger yet. But I love the idea of meeting great friends through various blogging communities!
I too went from essentially no clue what blogging was about to wanting to make my little corner of the Internet the best it can be. I had to figure out what “best” meant though and to me it isn’t just a number of readers, it’s making blogging personally fulfilling and connecting with other bloggers and the audience I do have.
Love all these tips Liz! Such a great post. I remind myself constantly that my blog or my posts doesn’t have to be perfect. I am doing this for fun and it is simply a hobby! I think the bloggers gonna blog group is amazing. Such a great group of people! xoxo
This is such a great post. I do think it’s important to realize that you can’t be a perfectionist. Remembering why you started is equally as important. I highly doubt many bloggers started to gain a ton of followers or blog every single day. Great post Liz!
such an honest and informative post! and so so soooo true, I am sure, for most of us bloggers! we can’t do it all, can’t learn it all and can’t be nutty about it all or the joy of blogging will most certainly start to feel like a terrible job position.
Love all these tips girlie! Soccer is one of my great passions, but when I was in the midst of my ED it definitely became more of a struggle and something that brought on more suffering and agnst than it did happiness. Thankfully I have fallen back in love with it after years of dreading it!
This post is great. I think my next step in blogging is finding a tribe. Thanks for the reminder!
Great tips Liz! Checking out bloggers gonna blog now
I love this! I’ve never meant for my blog to ever become more than a hobby, so it can definitely make you feel discouraged and burned out when there are a million things on the blog “to do” list. Turns out I just never get around to them haha.
Thanks for sharing Liz. I hadn’t heard of Bloggers Gonna Blog!