It’s been one of those days.
Or, rather, it’s been a few of those days. I’m sure you’ve all had a stretch of days in which you’ve just felt like giving up, or a few days that you didn’t feel like blogging or dealing with other people at all. You just want to snuggle up with a good book or a bowl of ice cream and your latest torrent downloads of The Office.
I’ve had a few of those days lately. After releasing the Visionary theme last week, I felt a great release of pressure after putting the thing together. Then, I was suddenly hit with close to 100 comments (I’m sure it will hit that number soon enough), a lot of support questions, and theme stealers. On top of that, there’s regular life. You know, that thing you occasionally take part in outside of the online world. I vaguely remember it.
I was exhausted after a week of support, working on three paid design jobs, and my teaching job here in South Korea. Then, I got sick. Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.net recently talked about having a contingency plan for those times when life gets in the way of your online duties. Needless to say, I’m sorely unprepared for blogging emergencies. I’m already so backed up with projects that it’s hard to keep up with them.
What happens when you need to take a break? Simply take a break.
What are some of the things you can do to get away?
- Watch a movie:
I’m one of the biggest movie buffs of all the people I know. However, since I’ve been in Korea, I’ve watched only a few movies or TV shows. So, I’ve watched 300, Knocked Up, and Freedom Writers in the last few days. Of course, I didn’t really think things through when I decided on what part of my movie collection to bring overseas with me. Nevertheless, it was nice to enjoy a few movies again. - Take a stroll:
There’s a nice park area near where I live that’s just beautiful. Over the weekend, I took a stroll just to take a few pictures and enjoy the autumn air. - Write something for yourself:
Take out the trusty ol’ pen and pad and jot some thoughts down. I keep a journal offline to relieve stress and write my thoughts down. Be yourself. Completely. No one’s reading this, so take some time to let your thoughts flow. - Go out and do something you enjoy:
I wish I could’ve done this, but I was a little too under the weather to go out and play. The most important thing is to remove yourself from behind the screen. Enjoy something away from the online world.
What about my blog?
I promise you, your blog will be there when you return. Your readers will understand if you need to take a few days off. Everyone needs to regroup once in a while. You can always write a few posts ahead of time if you fear losing readers. Lorelle has a good article on writing future posts.
Struggling to keep content continuously online is a…it’s a struggle. If you keep working at a pace of 8 hours a day developing your blog, then you will become exhausted, maybe even feel fed up with the entire process.
Remember why you blog:
Over the past few months, I’ve struggled with finding a direction for my blog, but I’ve finally found a few narrow topics that suit me well. Ask yourself, “Why do I love to blog?” If you can’t answer this, then maybe you need to reevaluate some of your blogging goals. If you don’t love it, well, that’s a whole other problem in itself.
I love to blog because it’s a part of who I am. It’s how I identify with a lot of the world. I also enjoy working with WordPress and feel the need to offer what I’ve learned back to that community.
My exhaustion has come from many sources. At my “real” job, we recently had mid-term essays and level-up tests for the students. I’ve been working my butt off developing my online presence in the last couple of months. Getting sick doesn’t help either. Basically, I’ve been overworked. At some point, you’ve just got to sit back and relax a little. Live a little.
Then, come back and remember why you put yourself through the struggles of blogging. When you take a break, you’ll realize (I hope) that you truly miss this remarkable tool, this part of the identity of people worldwide — blogging.
Final thoughts:
Take a break if you’re feeling pressure. I’ve tried to keep my posting consistency up, but have taken a step back from some of the other online projects I’ve been working on. It definitely relieved a little stress.
I’ve always been told to “never put off ’til tomorrow what you can do today.” That’s not always the best philosophy. Sometimes, you should put a few things off and enjoy today.
Building your online reputation is a lot of work (some of you may not worry about such things). Be sure to give yourself small breaks every day too. Get up and enjoy a meal at a restaurant. Spend time with your friends and family. If you’re constantly working on your blog, then it will eventually feel like work. For those of us with jobs outside of blogging, this could potentially put us in a situation where we’re working 80-hour weeks. I’m sure that’s not healthy. I haven’t read any scientific evidence on this though. So, don’t just take my word for it.
What are some of the things you enjoy doing outside of blogging? How do you balance online and offline life?
Group HUG !!
A. Stevens
You shouldn’t get too close to me. You might catch something.
I’m very inexperienced in real life. I think I’ve had way too much of online
But really, if I do need some time off the computer I’ll start my PS2 for a game of Ratchet & Clank. And I’m definitely starting to go out more
It feels great to unwind once in a while, but I’m sure faithful, true readers won’t mind a slight break.
Aw man…I totally know where you’re coming from, my friend. I’ve been there. I’ve been at this without getting paid a penny, for almost a year now, and I tell you, it ain’t easy sometimes.
As much as I hate to admit it, it may be time to think about some way of earning money at this carry on.
I miss my XBox 360 on occasion. Living in Korea has made doing anything at home besides being online nearly impossible. It’s just a small room, me, and my computer. I haven’t really thought much about that until you mentioned the PS2. I guess I’ve gotten a little used to not having all my things around, like my movies, books, video games, and such.
Oh, I almost missed your comment Armen. Apparently, we were commenting at the same time.
I’m at least working on a few paid designs now. The Newspaperize, Magtastic, and Visionary themes have opened a few doors for me. I’m not so worried about a substantial or steady income right now. I just want to establish myself as a serious contender in the blogging world.
I think I might have come off negatively in the post, but this is certainly not the case. Whatever sickness I came down with put me in a not-so-good mood, though I think I’m getting better now. Since I had to remind myself to take a break over the weekend, I figured I’d share with my readers, remind them to take a break too.
Hey Justin,
I just wanted to say I love your Visionary theme and plan on using it shortly…although I think I’ll have some issues to get over as my tabs don’t work…but I saw your solution.
I think for me, the best way to get away from blogging it to just post something about taking a few days off and then stay away from your computer.
Read a book, go outside and get the yard fixed up, run some errands, go shopping for a new tshirt or something.
Try to leave the email and stuff alone…
Obviously that is tough with what you have going on, you can’t get away from everything, but sometimes, you just need a break. At least a day.
Mike, I try to leave the email alone every day.
Honestly, I get anywhere from 20-30 emails a day that I have to respond to. Maybe I should remove that contact form…
I wish I’d thought about “shopping.” That’s definitely a good stress reliever. It’s nice to just go out and buy something for yourself. I do miss shopping every now and then. Of course, if I buy anything while out in here in Korea and want to keep it, I’ll have to pay money to ship it to the States when I leave.
I’m working on a plan to scale things back a bit, but still try to get as much done as possible. I think organization is the key.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing. Feel free to ask me any questions you have about the theme.
I have the first Xbox but don’t have much to play except Blinx, the first two Halo games and a couple others that I don’t care about at all.
So I’m not really intending on getting an X360. I’m saving for a Mac instead!
I’m so glad I came across this post, Justin! Lately I’ve suffered from blogging exhaustion myself, and it’s been a relief for me to read of someone going through the same experience.
My son recently had an operation, so I decided it was time to take some time off to spend with my family. It wasn’t until then that I realized how important it was for me to spend some time away from my computer, my blog and that pesky email account! As you’ve rightfully said, our blogs and readers will still be there when we return after a break. In fact I was really surprised how supportive my readers have been in my taking some time off from my blog.
I love that you’ve offered us some suggestions for taking time out from blogging, and do hope that you listen to your own advice
Thank you for providing us with this wonderful blog!
Amanda
BoltClock, I didn’t play anything except Halo 2 anyway. Sometimes, I would play a sports game though.
Amanda, thanks for taking the time to read the article. We have to be reminded that other things come first every now and then. It sounds like you have a great set of readers.
I am taking some of my own advice. Every night, when I get home, I’m going to read a little or watch a movie or something. I’ve been doing this for the past few days. This has helped tremendously. Plus, I think my cold is clearing up.
I hope your son is feeling well. Stop by again sometime.
Hello again, Justin
I’m glad to see you’re trying to take it a bit easy these days and that your cold is finally getting better.
You have a wonderful blog here, and no doubt I’ll be back often now to read your new articles. My son is feeling much better now, thank you!
Best wishes,
Amanda
Amanda, my cold definitely got better, but my voice was almost gone all day yesterday. It’s better today though.
Make sure to subscribe to the feed to keep up with new articles.
I’m glad your son if feeling better.
[...] Justin Tadlock was suffering this week with “Blogging Exhaustion”, when all the work involved in blogging, and your life, overwhelms you. In his well-done post, he recommends that you do as he has had to, and take a break in order to recover so you can keep on blogging: “I promise you, your blog will be there when you return. Your readers will understand if you need to take a few days off.” He also recommended my article on writing future posts to keep your blog going, even when you can’t for a while. [...]
oops didn’t notice the ‘Notify me of followup comments via e-mail” until i’d submitted my comment, maybe you should move it up?