Tell Me Something Tuesday is hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings and discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging.
Answer: What do you do to relax and relieve blogging stress?
I’m sure other bloggers are going to have great, concrete strategies for this. Like blog ahead, make a spreadsheet and things like that but after 10 years of doing this – anything that makes blogging feel like a job only adds to my stress.
So, my rather boring, unhelpful answer is that I step away and take a break if I’m feeling stressed with blogging. I don’t worry about it anymore. Sometimes you need to step away from reading and commenting and all the other things that go into it.
I go live life and have fun, maybe take a few naps instead of reading, and then come back refreshed and excited again.
My only other piece of advice so that you don’t get to that level in the first place is to not take on more than you can handle regarding reviews and other commitments. That’s what got me into a lot of trouble in my early days and took years to dig myself out of. I almost quit many times and even took a 6 month break at one point.
Don't let blogging consume you to the point of ignoring all the other things you used to love doing or the people in your life.
Go easy on yourself. This is a hobby – almost every single one of us has been through this and understands. We’ll be here when you get back. And you do you! If planning and blogging ahead is what works - do that. If join challenges works to keep you on track - do that. If stepping away keeps you sane - do that! Don't worry about what you should do. Do what works for you.
Reading/blogging should be the fun thing you do to relieve stress - not the thing that causes it.
How do you relieve blogging stress?
I have an exceedingly low-key outlook when it comes to blogging. I refuse to stress over a hobby. Blogging doesn’t pay my bills so it isn’t worth stressing over. LOL When I’m busy with life stuff, blogging takes a backseat. If that means 1-2 posts a week, so be it. So I guess my answer is: I don’t feel the need to relieve blog stress because I don’t have any. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's where I'm at now and I wish I had taken on this attitude sooner.
DeleteI never though anyone would ever even see my blog so when it took off I jumped all in and it was beyond stressful. i posted 7 days per week for years.
I get WAY less views and all that now but I'm so much happier.
Good advice. I tried to be so ON! when I first began, now I do it for fun, but sure it can still stress you out
ReplyDeleteAr first it was easy to keep up that pace, but then it got difficult and stressful and I wish I just took breaks.
DeleteNow, I don't care lol
I blog ahead a lot. I don't let it stress me out. It's a hobby and it should be fun.
ReplyDeleteBlogging ahead makes me feel out of touch so it doesn't really work for me but I'm a huge believer in blogging however you want and I'm glad it works for you and that it's still fun!
DeleteThat's great advice. The time consuming aspect of this hobby makes it easy to neglect other things that are important, and as we've all joked many times sometimes the blogging takes over the reading lol! So yeah you're spot on.
ReplyDeleteI was all consumed by blogging a few years ago. It's a really weird hobby - mentally - as opposed to other hobbies.
DeleteYep, yep, yep. It's so tempting to let all things blogging overwhelm you, but you just can't do it. Much better to go with a low-stress approach in the first place.
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I really got caught up in it during my first few years. I needed to let a lot of that go in order to keep blogging.
DeleteIt's so important to remind yourself that it is a hobby. I take it seriously, but not too seriously. I have simplified quite a bit since I first started, because I don't that sort of time to put into putting my posts together. I worked on developing templates that make my life easier too.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it's been about embracing the breaks. As soon as I feel overwhelmed I take a few days off and then I'm fine and can't wait to get back to it.
DeleteHaha! I take the same stance as you on this one. I am the worst at blog organization so if I'm feeling overwhelmed I just step away for a day or two.
ReplyDeleteI'm the same. As soon as I get the overwhelmed feeling I step back and within a day or so I'm itching to get back to it.
DeleteQuote: "Reading/blogging should be the fun thing you do to relieve stress - not the thing that causes it."
ReplyDeleteExactly. That's me! Blogging, connecting with you people - AND reading of course - are the things that keep me going and put a smile on my face (I have so few of them. What's the other stuff? Doctor Who...and...Doctor Who?). Then again, if I put too much on my plate, I can get stressed by this very thing. As you know, blogging ahead works for me...though I learned that, if I try and take a hiatus, blogging comes back to bite me in the butt soon enough 😂.
Well, you know me. The second I decide to take a break I end up writing 10 posts lol
DeleteI've been suffering blogging stress a lot this year especially over the last few weeks! At the moment all I want to do is curl up in front of the TV and watch my favourite shows so even reading is a struggle! Once I catch up on these pesky book reviews I can stop and re-evaluate where I am and things should be better!
ReplyDeleteI go with the curl up and watch tv thing now. But I'm also caught up on my review books so I'm reading for fun now - reviews are optional.
DeleteI'm with Karen. I've had a very rough and haven't been able to do anything but stare at the tv and listen to an audio. Sometimes you just need a break.
DeleteI definitely agree with this. You have to find what works for you. Blogging can definitely stress me out sometimes, but I try not to worry about it too much. I do want to blog ahead more just because there are things I want/need to post and it would be great to have that buffer so I don't feel like I'm disappearing all the time. LOL Besides that though, I just do what I can and try and enjoy it.
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
I feel really detached when I blog ahead. I forget all about the post by the time it goes up and when people comment I have no idea what they're talking about lol
DeleteBlogging is a break from the stress of my 9-5 job. I have fun with it instead of stressing out about it!
ReplyDeleteThat's how I was in the beginning and blogging 7 days a week was easy for me. Until it wasn't lol
DeleteI'm back to that mindset though and it's great.
In two words ... colouring books.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see how everyone else beats the blogging stress. I guess practically speaking I try not to, well, stress about things too much by keeping in mind the adage that I can only do what I can do. I also find being organised helps as do post-it-notes ... lots of them stuck everywhere.
I'm a post-it note girl too!! lol
DeleteSolid advice! Walk away and take a break. It's so easy to feel like that's not an option but this isn't a job, as you said, it's a hobby. A hobby should be fun. Reading should be fun. If they're causing you stress, stop. It's that simple and that hard.
ReplyDeleteOne day, I'll learn to listen to myself, lol.
It's interesting to me that people will quit but not take a break lol
DeleteI hope I'm always ab;e to find that middle ground.
I think its important to find what works for you as far as self care goes. My passion is blogging, I pretty much live and breathe it, so I only need to do this every once in a while. But I do keep a balanced lifestyle. And that is what works for me. Just having balance in life and I rarely need to step away from blogging. But then its my deep rooted passion and I truly love it. Its much more than just a hobby for me, this would be my career if I could make money from it lol
ReplyDeleteGreat post and love that you have shared some great advice for many bloggers.
That's great!! It was like that for me at first but I took on things just to help people out that weren't my thing and then it's easy for it to be more of a chore than fun.
DeleteI'm back to my happy place with it.
Totally agree. It sure helped me! Also, don't feel like you need to apologize for anything. Life happens!
ReplyDeleteExactly! And it happens to all of us so we all get it.
DeleteI love this advice and it is the BEST advice. I always take on more than I can handle but I no longer let the blog guilt get to me. I now only post when I have time and if that means one post a week like this week, that's how it's gonna be. I no longer feel the urge to keep to a schedule because it always stressed me out.
ReplyDeleteIt's always strange to me how guilt inducing blogging is. I can't think of another hobby that has ever made me feel that way.
Deletei'm glad you don't let it get to you anymore. You do SO much!!!
I LOVE THE FALL THEME.
ReplyDeleteMan I just thought about this question and I honestly don't think I have any ways to relieve the stress...which isn't great. Haha.
This is great advice! I really wish I had listened to it when I started hah. I did the same thing, got in wayyyy over my head. And then... I don't know, I guess I just calmed down because it was either calm down or explode? I genuinely don't know. People have asked how I eventually became less stressed, and I really don't have an answer. I just... did? I throw some "whatever the hell we want" Bellamy Blake GIFs at them but the real answer is, I guess my brain knew that it was either chill, or quit, because I could NOT keep up at the levels I used to do. Life basically decided I was done being stressed about blogging, I suppose!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't have a concrete answer for this one either. I take my steps away and back from it all when I need them. And just try my best to have fun. That's why I am here after all...
ReplyDeleteA lot of people on IG have been talking about Instagrammers and Booktubers jumping on the Harry Potter train because of its popularity, but I started doing HP posts to fill in because I love Harry Potter so much putting the blog posts together is a ton of fun for me, and most of the other posts had become a chore. I needed to find something I enjoyed. It was a fluke that they have become my most viewed features. I hope people don't think I did it for the extra views. 😛
ReplyDeleteI see so many bloggers thinking they need to blog every day, or five days a week and I wish I knew where they get that idea. Almost my entire second year of blogging I only posted my Tell Me Tuesday feature with a tag, reading challenge, or review thrown in once in a great while. If I had tried to keep up even three posts a week I think I would have quit. Like you said, people need to keep in mind it's a hobby. 📚
OMG, yes! I'm 8 and a half years in and I think for the first 3 years I was absolutely consumed by it, blogging 7 days a week, 365 days per year. Then I started burning out and finding other passions and stressing out about not being able to blog as much. Now if I take a few months break, so be it, if I blog once a week, I am more than happy, but it took a long time to stop feeling guilty about it. :) I do it for me in the end of the day, so when the pressure to keep up and to impress goes away, that's when it becomes truly a sweet pastime and nothing more - to review books on your blog.
ReplyDelete