Thursday, March 5, 2015

Taking Breaks

A couple weeks back, I took a short blogging break. It was not intentional, so I did not write about it here, although I did mention on my Twitter account that there wouldn't be new posts on the blog. I simply didn't have anything to write about.

Another thing I did, about a week ago now, was post an update saying that I would not be posting every weekday anymore.

Between that break -- that lasted less than a week -- and giving myself a bit of breathing room, my blogging slump disappeared. Honestly, I began posting that very same week of my "break." I pre-scheduled the posts (this being one of them!) to give myself even more room to breathe.

This happens every time I take away pressure. It works with nearly everything -- reading, writing, blogging. But I never seem to remember it until I'm so far into a slump that it's my only option.

Like I say, that week-long break was not intentional. I just realized that I had nothing to discuss, and so I could not write a discussion post for that week. Nor did a have a Top Ten Tuesday pre-scheduled, or my typical Waiting on Wednesday post. I felt very blah about it all and just didn't want to blog.

I think I babbled a lot here, but my main message in this post is that breaks are incredibly helpful. They don't mean that we will never blog again. It's not letting anyone down if a blog goes without posts for a week, or even longer. The person who cares the most is the blogger who runs the blog -- not the readers, or whoever else we're trying to please.

So, I'm going to try very hard for stress-free blogging from now on. The main goal for the blog right now is quality content, not posts every day. And if that means taking a break for a week, or a month, then that is what will happen.

And if you guys are feeling stressed out by blogging and need a break -- take it! You'll probably thank yourself later.

16 comments:

  1. I agree with you! Blogging can be super stressful, and sometimes breaks are needed. I've seen lots of bloggers that say they are scared to take blogging breaks, but I've taken a few over the years I've been blogging and I don't feel like they aversely affected my blogging at all. Great post.

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    1. Definitely! I think it can be easy to worry about losing followers, having less page views that month, etc. but in the end it probably won't effect much, if anything. Most followers understand and besides, numbers aren't worth the stress anyway!

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  2. I totally agree. I get stressed out and start not liking blogging so I take a step back, read some books I want to breath and cut back. I have stopped doing Saturday review posts again becaue there is little traffic and why add to the load? I feel so much better now that I have actually got a whole month of blog posts prepared. That never happens.

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    1. One thing I'm glad I learned early on is that there is little traffic on weekends -- it stopped me from feeling like I had to post, haha!

      Congrats on being a month ahead! I go back and forth -- either I'm far ahead or have nothing planned at all.

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  3. I'm the same way. As soon as I take pressure off myself, it becomes fun again, and I want to do it. Taking pressure off helps tons.

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    1. It does! It's difficult to get to that point, where you finally decide to step back, but it's such a relief once you're there.

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  4. Im glad youre feeling refreshed after your break! <3 Bee @ Bee Reads Books

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  5. I so agree with you! I've been in a bit of a blogging slump lately. I have tons of ideas for posts, but I've just been feeling really exhausted from blogging. I'm actually in the middle of a two week hiatus, and so far it's been so helpful. It's allowed me to catch up on replying to comments on my blog and generally relax. Hopefully I'll come back refreshed and better than ever!

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    1. Good for you! I hope it helps a ton for you. And those posts can wait until you're ready to write them -- I'm sure they won't go anywhere :D

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  6. Great post! I usually feel like I have to blog every day, but I TRY not to push myself too much on it. If I don't have anything to say for a couple of days, I just don't post. I would rather have no posts at all than to half ass something just to have material on the blog.

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    1. This is something I'm working on/getting better at. Quality is better than quantity :)

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  7. I'm glad you're feeling better after taking a break. Sometimes we just need a mental health day (or more than that), and there is nothing wrong with that!

    I schedule a lot of my memes on weekends to post on the appropriate day, but I try not to do a lot of memes. I will post them if I don't have content that day and I really want to share something with my readers.

    I even schedule all of my ARC reviews. The only posts that I don't schedule are reviews for books that I'm just reading. If I finish one, and don't have a post that day, I end up posting that day. It works for me. Then I don't feel like I'm rushing.

    Erin @ The Hardcover Lover

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    1. Thank you! You're right, there's definitely nothing wrong with taking breaks!

      I schedule nearly everything, when I have the time, but I have this bad habit of scheduling up to a month in advance, then not typing up a post for another month. I need to start doing something more consistent.

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    2. Oh wow! A month in advance!? That's some serious dedication. I usually have most of my stuff scheduled for the next two weeks, but right now, I do have a few posts scheduled for June.

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    3. It sounds better than it is, haha. Because usually when I do that, I spend the next month after barely posting, or typing everything last-minute. I think I burn myself out trying to get ahead.

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