Blogging advice #5. How to deal with blogging burnout

Heyyy everyone!

 I hope you’re all doing well this fine Saturday? I am freezing my butt off at the moment due to a lovely cold front that has taken South Africa by a storm, or maybe a freeze. Still, apart from the constant shivers, things are going pretty well. At least it’s an excuse to drink an endless supply of tea and stay curled up in fluffy blankets, right?

Anyway, I’m not sure how many of you remember the blogging advice series I started a while back? Well, I managed to do some of the posts, but just due to time crunches, I didn’t do as many as I wanted, and suddenly it hit me that I really should finish that series, and this week I was struck with the perfect inspiration…

How to deal with blogging burnout, and what to do when you feel like giving up on your blog.

We’ve all been there… Those days where it just doesn’t feel like blogging is worth it.

Sometimes we’ve been trying for months to get our blog off the ground only to be met with constant disappointment. Sometimes views drop or never get high enough to make it feel like it’s worth it. Sometimes you just get tired of the constant energy it takes to maintain a blog, and you lose your drive and passion for it.

Let’s face it – blogging can be really hard, and sometimes when things get a bit too challenging and frustrating, the temptation to give up can be huge. I know I’ve certainly felt very tempted to just give up my blog. It takes loads of time; sometimes, I’ve had stats on posts I’ve worked so hard on be so disappointing I wonder why I even bother. It can be hard to remember why you love doing it when it becomes like another stressful job.

Soooo… Today I’ll be sharing with you some advice for how to get through those feelings and hopefully come out the other side more empowered and impassioned by your blog again with some renewed energy and hope.

Remember why you started 

Sometimes the best way to respark your passion for something is to remember why you started it.

Every time I feel like giving up, I think back to why I started Tall Blonde Tales. In short, to give myself a voice, a way to document my experiences and share advice with anyone else who may need it. It was a creative outlet for me when I felt I didn’t have the talent or capacity to write fictional stories anymore, but I needed someplace to write, and this became it.

If you feel the burnout growing, or like you want to give up, think back to why you started blogging and write it down. Write down all the positives that have come from your blog and what you really enjoy about it/enjoyed about starting it, and pin it up somewhere you can see.

That way, every time you think that you can’t manage it, you’ll remember all those happy feelings, and hopefully, your love for blogging will be reborn.

Don’t compare yourself to others 

Comparing yourself to anyone else is a sure-fire way to crush your dreams, aspirations and make you feel absolutely rubbish about yourself and your abilities.

I’ve been there. It sucks. In part, it’s one of the big reasons why I stopped being as active on social media because comparing myself to all those other people or other blogs and how much other bloggers post and how amazing their posts all look can be really crushing.

When it comes to your blog, always remember that you and your blog are unique, even if you are in a broad niche. Even in something as general as lifestyle, every lifestyle blogger has their own style, voice and angle that they bring to their blog. So comparing yourself to others is only going to bring you down because your blog is different, and you’ll never get anywhere positive by comparing yourself.

Keep short and long-term goals 

Goals are super important to preventing burnout and reinstalling passion because not only do they keep you motivated and committed, but it also helps you pace yourself so that you don’t do too much in one go. However, it’s always essential to have a mix of short term and long term goals.

Keep some short term goals, like how many blog posts you want to write this month, how many guest posts or blog networking events/challenges you want to do or how many views you hope to reach in two weeks. These are easier to trace, not too hard to focus on and are also smaller, so they are easier to manage and complete, which means you won’t feel too put out by doing them.

Long-term goals could include bigger things like reaching 1000 followers or do a blogging series or create your own product. These are bigger things that can be more attached to your dreams as a blogger and help you stay on track with your progress. Plus, once you tick goals off, you can see how far you’ve grown, and that can always be a great way to fall in love again with blogging.

Celebrate all your achievements, especially the mini-milestones

There are all sorts of achievements in blogging, from big to small. There are mini-milestones like getting another 10 followers or hitting your first 50 posts, or bigger ones like posting 50 times a month (whatever your goals and milestones are). The key thing is to celebrate all of them because even getting to the mini ones take hard work and dedication, so they deserve a little bit of love. Plus, without celebrating the little ones, the big ones don’t feel as impressive, and you don’t get to track and enjoy your progress as a blogger. Celebrating all your achievements helps you feel accomplished for everything you do on your blog. That is a feeling that can help you push through exhaustion or frustration to get to that next milestone.

Take a break for a while 

In all honesty, sometimes, what you really just need is a break.

Think about it. Even with school and jobs, people take a certain amount of time for holiday because our brains and bodies need time to relax and get refreshed after all that time working. If you’re always blogging and never give yourself a little holiday, it can become really tiresome and frustrating, and maybe even feel like you can never escape from it, and that will only culminate into burnout and loss of passion.

To avoid that, I highly recommend giving yourself blogging breaks. Take two weeks off, or a month, to just give yourself some space, time to refresh those creative juices and just some time where you aren’t thinking about posting schedules or stats or drafting up content. Believe me, you will feel so much more refreshed and in love with your blog that way because it doesn’t feel like you can never be free from it. You give yourself the time and space to maybe get re-inspired and come back with even more fantastic ideas.

Talk to other bloggers

Blogging can be pretty lonely if you don’t spend lots of time engaging with others and networking. It can feel like you are all alone in the vast world of the internet, and as with most things, when we feel alone with things, we often lose our passion and feel like things aren’t worth it.

I do think that making time to network can be very challenging, so even if you don’t have a lot of time, take the time to chat with others through your comments section and theirs, even if it’s as little as once a week. That connection with people in the same boat as you (well… They may be different boats, but at least you’re all trying to do pretty much the same thing – float as successfully as possible) can help you with all the other steps I’ve mentioned above, as well as give you a support network to help you through the tough times. Seriously – I cannot say this enough – never underestimate networking!

Self-care and health

Last but certainly not least, our mental and physical health is so important, and they affect so many parts of our lives, blogging included.

If you’re stuck sitting all day and not getting fresh air and exercise, your body suffers, and this can affect your mood and drive, which in turn affect our blogs. Eating lots of junk food can also play a role in how good we feel, so try to give yourself at least 30 minutes a day of some form of exercise, even if it’s window-shopping around a mall or playing with your dogs. Also, try to eat as healthy as you can so that your body gets all the nutrition you need. That way, you’ll be able to work properly on things and feel refreshed and energised each day to blog when you need to.

Self-care is also super important. Think about yourself and your needs – take breaks every now and then, do things that you love, things that relax you and things that just bring a smile to your face. When you are in a happy and healthy mental state because you are taking care of yourself, it is so much easier to work on things, and often work itself seems more positive because of your mental state.

Always remember – self-care isn’t selfish!!

And there you have it! I know that this blog is a bit long (sorry about that all of you brave souls you soldiered all the way through to here), but I hope that, for what it’s worth, you enjoyed it, and it was helpful. Blogging can be tough, but I also want you to remember how amazing you are for even having the courage to start a blog, let alone maintain it, so have a celebration dance for that!

If you’re interested in any of the other blogging advice posts I’ve done, you can check them out here:

# 1. Tips for writing a last minute blog post

#2. My ultimate pre-publishing blog post checklist

#3. Best blogging apps/tools to use

#4. Finding inspiration when you have absolutely no clue what to post about

Otherwise, what advice do you have for anyone that may have blogger burnout or feel like giving up? Do you have any tips you use yourself that you’d like to share? Have you ever felt this way yourself, and how did you get through it?

Let’s talk in the comments section!!

 Lots of love

Blondey on a Mission xxx