Sunday, October 07, 2012

Lack of motivation

What keeps you blogging? 

I've been doing this for nearly 7 years now and I'm finding lately that the motivation and the drive that I once had to maintain this blog, to continually improve it and to work hard at it is slipping.  And this is for a lot of reasons.  The main reason being a slip in my mental health earlier in the year which had a dramatic effect on my reading and blogging.  Falling behind in both areas had me constantly scrambling about to get myself organised, prepare and schedule posts in advance and it left me feeling disheartened and unmotivated. Several months later, I'm still finding it hard.

Never in nearly 7 years of blogging have I been so close to throwing in the towel and giving it all up.  My heart just isn't in it as much these days.  And perhaps that just means that I need to shake things up a bit.  Lower my expectations for what I'd like to accomplish for this blog and move forward in a possibly new direction. 

I'm finding it easier to write bookish posts as opposed to reviews, so I'm going to carry on with that.  I feel a heavy weight on my shoulders to continue my Awesome Women series of posts, so I'm letting it go.  I find for every day that I don't post something on my blog, the pressure that I put myself under is slowing slipping away and I like that.  I like the freedom of not having such a rigorous blog schedule. 

Do you have any motivaitonal tips or suggestions for me to get back into the swing of blogging and to regain my enthusiasm? I'd love to hear them.

14 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear you are struggling, I know only too well how mental health problems affect the desire to read and write reviews and the endless scramble to catch up.

    You aren't letting anyone down by discontinuing some features or putting them on hold for a while. Take some time to do the things that DO interest you right now and the rest should come back in time. Your followers (including me) would much rather you do that than stop doing it completely.

    Lessen the pressure as much as you want or need to and take care of you first. We will still be here :) *hugs*

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    1. Hi Grete, thanks for the comment! It's always nice to know that people will be supportive of any changes I make/blogging breaks! Thank you :)

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  2. Awwh I'm sorry to hear that your finding it hard to continue with blogging. I feel like that sometimes..I put pressure on myself to keep up to date with reviews and my school work and revision for my exams and do everything else I want to do like write(I am a budding writer:))so my advice is just do as much as you can and don't think your not doing well just because you haven't done a particular feature. We all love your blog and no-one expects you to be constantly on your toes the whole time! You should try doing less blogging and try to relax...and you'll pick everything in your own time. Don't put pressure on yourself to do things. We'll love you and your blog no matter what happens! :)

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    1. Thank you! I am really doing my best to ease up on the self-pressure! Hard to do though, but I'll get there!

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  3. If you prefer writing bookish posts to writing book reviews, that's fine because we love reading your bookish posts! Don't put too much pressure on yourself - perhaps you could try taking a blogging break for a month and see how you feel. xx

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    1. I think if I took an extended break, I'd never come back! As much fun as breaks are, they're a nightmare to return from! :)

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  4. My only advice is to continue doing whatever it takes to lessen the stress. Blogging is supposed to be enjoyable but there a comes a time when it isn't. I've learned that when I'm struggling with blogging to take a step back and do what I need to do to lessen the stress that I put on myself. If that means that I get backed up on review books, oh well. If that means that I read only mysteries, then that is what I do. Or I just take a step back and get back to blogging when I feel like it. I hope that you figure out whatever works for you :) It sounds like you've started to already!

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    1. I have started, and I know it's for the best, taking a step back and working out what needs to change. But here's where the guilt kicks in as I try to tell myself that I need to do this, this and this because that's what I normally do.. It'll be a slow process, but I'm still doing what I can to return to enjoyable blogging and not just chore-blogging!

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  5. Hiya,
    Don't worry lack of motivation is pretty common, but for it to hit after 7 years is an amazing stretch of motivation.

    How about these ideas:
    -What what you want
    -When you want
    -After taking an enforced holiday from publishing blogs (1 week, 1 month, 6 months) which ever amount made your heart sore.
    -Or give yourself rules like ... I will only blog once a week and no more. Sometimes when we restrict ourselves we want to go against ourselves and it renews our motivation.

    Some of my favourite blogs have taken holidays and it's not affected their readership at all. If anything I think a number of us realised how much we missed their blogs and our commitment to them was re-newed without them doing anything what so ever.

    Good Luck,x

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    1. Thanks Fiona! I've been thinking a lot about what would make me happy again with blogging and I have decided on several things that I think will help. It's just taking awhile to put into action :)

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  6. Don't worry, you're not alone in it all. I think it happens to us all at some points. Hell, I've only been blogging a year and for the second time I feel like giving up because I keep forgetting or just don't have the time to read and review and I'm now so far behind on reading and reviewing that it's starting to grate me.

    But last time I took it one step at a time and so should you. And I will be and have been too. I try to post every day but lately that routine has been stressing me out, now I just post what I want, when I can. It's a slow progress but I'm getting more motivated to blog again which is great.

    So I just say do what you can, don't review if it's stressing you out, just do what you want and don't worry about the rest. Everything else will follow and if it doesn't, then it doesn't, you know? But just make sure your decision is for you and no one else <3

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    1. Thanks Faye :) I appreciate that. I love that I DID feel all alone when I posted this and now I really, really don't feel alone. In fact, I feel fantastic that I have so much support around me!

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  7. I had to give it up for a while earlier in the year due to uni work getting on top of me! Even though I'm still at uni, I'm back and it worries me a little. However, now I think if I have a post ready then great and if not, its kind of tough. I don't get to read for pleasure as much now either so I'm just going to carry on doing what I can. I think the trick is to do what makes you happy and not other people.

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    1. I think that's excellent advice, Lyndsey! I'm glad that you're back blogging again :)

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