Blogging can be a fun hobby or a great business but blogging can be addictive and blogger burn out is real.
Blogging can take up a lot of your time but are you dedicating a little too much time to your blog?
One of the main reasons that friends and family don’t support your blog is that you have prioritized your blog over them.
If you find yourself blogging too much or being obsessive over your blog, you may have to consider, are you addicted to blogging?
And if you are addicted to blogging, is it healthy or unhealthy and is it having a positive or negative effect on your life?
You prioritise your blog over friends and family
Blogging is a time hog, there is no doubt about that. It takes a lot of time and effort to run a successful blog. But is it taking too much of your time?
Whether you blog for fun, a hobby or for a full time job you need to consider where the blog fits in with your time.
Do you find yourself avoiding making or cancelling plans with friends and family because of your blog?
If so, then this may be signs of a problem.
As important as your blog is to you, it will never be as important or fulfilling than a support network of friends and family.
This isn’t however an all fits statement, your friends and family may be worth avoiding and in that case it might be more beneficial to have an excuse to avoid them.
You should avoid blogging having a negative effect on relationships.
This is something that happens often as friends, family and partners feel abandoned whilst you focus on your blog.
Your whole life revolves around your blog
If you find that your life completely revolves around your blog, it may be time to re-evaluate this.
Having a blog is a great hobby and if you choose to pursue it as a career it can make great money but it should be a side piece to your life and not the main event.
It can be addictive to make money from your blog. The more money you make the more pressure there is to keep making money and it becomes almost an obsession to make more.
These are issues me and many other bloggers struggle with.
But you need to make blogging a part of your life and not the focus of your blog so you don’t miss out on opportunities that life throws at you.
You shouldn’t make sacrifices for the sake of your blog.
You take no time off from your blog at all
Take the day off. Go on holiday. Go outside!
I have been guilty of this. Working 40 hours a week at my job and 50-60 hours a week on my blog and it was hard work.
I should have taken more time off.
Now that I blog full time I take a lot more time off. In fact I mostly work part time hours over the summer as that is what this lifestyle is for me.
I plan to work more hours over the winter and less over the summer to be able to enjoy the weather.
If you don’t take time off you run the risk of becoming overwhelmed and suffering from blogger burn out.
It is better to stop it in it’s tracks by taking days and weeks off when you need to.
You are obsessed with perfection and compare yourself to others
As you might have been able to tell from how to be the perfect blogger, I don’t believe there is such thing as the perfect blog or the perfect blogger.
Each blog has it’s own merits and is unique.
Except those nasty copy and paste bloggers. They can fuck right off.
You will never be the best blogger, there will always be someone better than you and worse than you. But who really measures blogs by better or worse?
Even some of the best blogs are utter shite. There are ways to force your blog to be “successful” in terms of traffic and followers.
The measure of success means something different to everyone. Strive to be proud and happy with you blog, even if you think it pales in comparison to others.
We all feel like are blogs are terrible. But they can’t be that bad as people are reading them.
Even one viewer who enjoys your work means you are successful.
Your health is being affected by your blog
You need to eat,drink and you need to sleep. Those are the basics of physical health.
It is easy to stay up late, skip meals or forget to drink water whilst blogging.
Make sure to set a regular bedtime schedule, eat meals and snacks and always keep a large glass of fresh water close to you.
This will not only keep you healthy but will keep you focussed whilst you blog.
You need to also consider your mental health and blogging can be both positive and negative to mental health.
It can be therapeutic to share thoughts and feelings and to network or damaging to feel isolated and comparing yourself to others.
Don’t be afraid to allow blogging to lift you up or to walk away if it is harming you.
Your blog isn’t going anywhere if you walk away for a little while, as long as you renew any hosting and keep up site security.
Share your thoughts – Do you think blogging is addictive? Are you addicted to blogging?