Good morning!
I was unsure if I could *actually* get this post on time today, ironically, as I had a case of huge migraine since this morning and I just didn’t had the spoons to write anything. But, I’m enjoying a “momentarily” relief so i’m getting on to writing it !
Take a drink or a snack, and let’s go onto it!
Blogging is fun for the most part, and taken by the outside word as “easy” and “not a job”.. but what they don’t say to you is the fear of missing that “first post”.
We all know that constency is the key for building a community. It’s by no mean wrong to post whenever if that’s what you’re into; but when you have a “semi-known” schedule, or attempting to create one, it can be hard to admit to yourself that well … you may not get to make that post. Ithink that’s the worst, not for the readers (as we are mostly understanding and will respect it), but for yourself.
Maybe my own fear goes as far as the first time I started this blog and decided before I could try that it was hard and I wanted to let it go. So I didn’t posted for a week — I then posted two and upped to three posts a week, every week, for a year now.
It’s also a known thing for anxiety and depression; a kind of side-effect of it is losing the “drive” or the want to do what you once loved, and I think i’m mostly scared that if I miss that ONE post.. that it can escalate to that point of stop posting. And of course I don’t want that to happen, because blogging has brought me friends I didn’t had before; Friends that could understand my love of books and just.. relate. That’s HUGE when you’re an adult that don’t have much friends, and let it be said it’s much more harder to make friends passed, say, high school.
Blogging is also my outlet now, not only I can share what I love (Books, Gaming, Bullet Journal..) but I can also talk about stuff like mental health that I couldn’t neccesarely write on my facebook page for exemple. Not that I’m closed to having anxiety & depression, I do claim it high and “proud”, but going in dept in that platform where nobody really… cares is another thing. You can write a huge post about some things you feel or how this thing helped you with it and people will not only read it but comment aswell ! Potentially share theirs aswell.
Which is kind of ironic in the way that blogging do help me in thoses ways, also as it gives me that sense of productivity I so need. However, the catch is that I always need to have atleast one or two post scheduled in advance or else I just spiral in anxious.
I do get some good blogging months where this just don’t happend – I get super productive and my ideas blooms like nothing… but others like the past months happens too where I really struggle to get my ideas and then PANIC because it’s the day before and I still haven’t written a thing. So I pretty much gamble to get a post written, I still didn’t get to where it’s the posting day and I don’t have anything posting yet, so I have no idea how i’m personally coping with it .. (not that I wanna know, honestly 😂).
While I know it can be quite a silly fear, I mean.. how hard is it to come back right? but we all know anxiety just doesn’t get any logic whatsoever with it. And I also been told that it does gets easier to shrug a missing post after you skip that very first one..
Have you ever experienced that?
Do you have other pressures of missing a post I haven’t mentioned?
What do you typically do when you get out of posts ideas?
This is such a great topic! I completely understand what you’re saying about feeling the pressure to keep to a schedule even though I have only been blogging for a few months now. I blog with my husband so if one us can’t make a post the other can usually pick up the slack. I still feel guilty sometimes when I’m watching TV though because I feel like I should be reading or writing.
Oh definately!
Though when Alex used to be here, even if he skipped a post – since it was his I wouldn’t bother and continue mine like normal just so I wouldn’t have even more posts to anxious about, you know? x) but then we also had setted days of the week.. mine had been established before he came along and he just plugged himself when I wasn’t posting.
I’m gaming alot to relax from working and just.. that’s what I wanna do in general, and specially when I don’t have anything plan and I just play all evening I feel SO wrong. Or even if I do that instead of bloghoppin and return my comments ..
We are slowly getting the hang of it and figuring out what works best for our schedule. I also need to learn to not be such a perfectionist too. I’m sure that would relieve a lot of stress.
Yep.. I get you on that.. goodluck!
I have always kept my blogging just for me. If people read – great! If not – doesn’t matter to me at all. It is a memory book for me – to see what I have read and enjoyed. And I also keep a family blog (we leave over seas and travel a ton) that again – is a memory book for my family. Putting it that way takes the pressure off blogging for me. I am not here for anyone else but myself. 🙂
That’s a good way to see it indeed!
Although, I do have that mindset for the « what » I wanna post, but I do wanna communicate so much more that just talking to a void, you know ?
This was me this week. It’s especially harder since school has resumed, and it’ll become easier for the days to fly by because of other commitments. Like you, I’m also scared that if I miss a few posts, it’ll get harder to get back into blogging (and this has actually happened to me in the past).
Although i’m not in school, it impacts me aswell as more than half of our staff is in school so can’t help, and one just quitted so i’m having a LOT more work on my plate x) I just realized I’m doing 10 days in a row this week .. waking at 545am for 5 days in a row is tiring and don’t help on the “getting idea” proccess (after that I have two afternoons and three mornings again)
Hopefully we’ll get back on track soon! ❤️
I kind of over-worried when I wouldn’t post and then I decided to cut down on posting, and I’ve had more posts just by taking away the pressure lol, great topic!
Thank you !
yes, that’s a good solution! It’s always when you remove the pressure *somehow* that it un-clogg, eh?
Well you are totally right! I have decided to let it go and not fret too much about this but it is difficult. Ironic as indeed this is a hobby and something meant to destress. But hey I am an overachiever so it’s difficult not to get agitated when I miss a post I wanted to schedule for that day!
It is really hard to let go.. pretty much the same as saying “don’t compare your blog with others’ ” .. It would be ideal and the very best – but man is it hard.
This is such a great and relatable post, Kristina! I think for me, one of the hardest parts about blogging is the feeling of possibly disappointing others. If you think about this objectively, it’s pretty silly, because my blog should ultimately be a fun outlet for me to share my thoughts with everyone. It shouldn’t be something that causes me stress and anxiety, but it does. I pride myself on being a good planner, but there are times when my blogging is way more spontaneous that I would like. In recent months I haven’t even been on a perfect posting schedule, and it’s been nagging me at the back of my mind! Thanks to scheduling in advance, I have been a bit more consistent these past couple of weeks, but the pressure of missing a post can truly be so suffocating at times. I don’t wait to feel as though I’m failing at maintaining a perfect posting schedule. But, against my better judgement, I’ll always have this pressure of missing a post.
Great discussion, love! <3
Me too!! That’s exactly that!
I’m quite the perfectionist at heart, so what ticks me off so much aswell is the fact my blog wouldn’t be so « picture perfect scheduling » anymore xD
But then, i’ve had quite a bad blogging month too- so in the mist of « hurry posting », im kind of merh about maybe some of the posts – even if they did great and my view reached actually got higher than the one before 😂 go figure.
I totally agree with this. I used to blog other things for a long time, but now I’m doing more book review oriented things. It doesn’t matter what it is…I feel like it’s the same issues across all platforms.
I’ve been trying to keep a consistent schedule by posting book reviews every Sunday morning — I schedule those. I always have Sunday’s off, so generally that’s the day I spend my time scheduling/writing posts in advance. It doesn’t always work out, but I do try.
A lot of it depends on how many spoons I’ve got. Sometimes I have a whole lot and can get quite a bit done, and sometimes I get nothing done.
As far as post ideas…I try and see what other people have done and if I can re-use or modify their ideas to post about mine. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it is a total bust!
I see, yeah no matter what the topic is – the « pressure » should remain the same.
See, i’m not much for posting solely reviews, mostly as I can’t keep up with that much books 😂 my highest a month has been four, so while I could *technically* post them at regular intervals.. it doesn’t always take me the same time to read a book. My average read is one thing, but some might take me a week while another would take two because fantasy for exemple, which needs more out of me.
Mmhmm same- work has been getting all my spoons lately. As we’ve been having some staff issues, per say, so i’m needed to work more « in a row » and five days waking up at 545 when you’re not a morning person usually is quite harsh by the end of the week 😂 so far this month’s has gotten a good amount of ideas! So let’s hope for the best 👀
Thank you for your imput! Xx
I’ve been trying to expand from reviews. What I did is stock up on reviews from past books and fill in if I wasn’t reading quick enough.
I totally understand staff issues! My library staff has three full-time positions and one part time and we’re open six days a week. So sometimes when you’ve only got two people working it can be difficult.
Yes! Hope for the best! 🙂 Good luck!!
That’s handy indeed! But to be completely honest… I can’t remember enough of what I read post-blog as I did struggle reading wise for mental health issues so erh 😂😂 in this case it doesn’t help me ahaha
Oh lord, we have SIX part-timers that went back to school, for only four full time .. which we need a closer, a pre-closer (which we don’t have for weekdays..) and three people for the morning rush (though we’d need four) — so yeah xD we are kind of in a mess, ahaha. We basically never closes too, so that’s a rough patch ..
Thank you xx
The fear of missing post is so not stupid and such a realistic fear. I actually lost the drive last year around November/ December but some amazing people of the blogging community poked me out of my hole and I’m so glad that they did!
Honestly, I think it’s why I don’t think I can actually take a hiatus… I don’t think I’ll ever return but I feel as if I’m moving towards one. Because of everything going on in life and it’s so scary!
Aww that’s great! The community is what helped me getting back after I intended on just stopping when I started.
yeah .. I have the same fear. Hiatus are a big NOPE for me, though I reached a point I was basically forcing myself to get through it (and I did!) because hell no i’m not taking a hiatus. I hope things will get better for you my dear xx
Anxiety sucks!!
I used to get anxious about missing posts. As my CFFM has grown worse, I’ve had to adjust expectations. I try to keep in mind that blogging is supposed to be fun, and not stressful. Had to put my fledgling Stoic practise to good use 🤣
Yeah, that’s what I try to remember 😅 however it’s quite harder to put it onto practice.. ahaha!
Though if something greater is happening, I tend to care less about even missing the post.. (ie; the breakup)
Very relatable post!! I definitely used to get anxious if I missed a post for the day, but I’ve started to become more relaxed – mostly because I’m like ‘yeah, this is my blog, so it’s okay to miss a day or something’.
But also there is that whole thing about how you run your blog and decide if it’s okay to miss a post, and then if it’ll happen again if you have too much on your plate or if you’re not inspired by something.
This is something I definately should work on!
But also — I’m alone over here now, so if for some reason I miss a post, I can easily just plop one extra the day after. Which, I have no idea why I didn’t thought of that XD