This image from Pocket Fuel basically sums it up.
In the last few weeks, I’ve had quite a few readers ask for advice on how to overcome discouragement and burnout as a blogger.
It must be the season for that because throughout the last few weeks of 2013, I myself have been working through that thing called burnout. Specifically food blogger burnout, teacher of struggling students burnout, and cleaning my new old house burnout. Cleaning. BLEH.
I recently read a post by an entrepreneur friend about this very topic, and after I read it I just felt better. There is something really comforting about knowing you’re not the only one. So if you’re feeling tired and burned out, take heart. Cause we’re all in this together.
Burnout.
Me? Ok, let’s back up a few weeks, to before I started sleeping in during the longest winter break ever. Before that goodness.
I was staying up too late.
I was getting up too early.
My expectations for myself were really ambitious, and frankly, way. too. high. Because one single person cannot possibly manage a teaching job while publishing three weekly recipe posts, responding to all emails, being an expert at all social media, improving their photography, working with a sponsorship team, creating a new product… AND staying physically active, being well-rested, investing in important relationships, and generally feeling happy all at once. Not. Possible.
Then Christmas happened. Planning did not. Our sweet, romantic evening of Christmas tree decorating got pushed back at least 73 times and eventually became a time to embark on house fixing projects. Hm, fun. There was present buying happening on Christmas Eve and last minute wrapping that happened just in time to hand the presents to their recipients. As a person who likes to think she has her ducks in a very straight row, that was yucky yuck.
Then came the real punch: the worst head cold I’ve had in years came and kicked me in the face. The lack of sleep, the working all the time, the skipped workouts, the never ending quest for “balance” (yeah, right)… it just caught up with me in the form of physical sickness and pure exhaustion. A horrible side effect of being sick was that my appetite basically disappeared. One night I literally stood in the kitchen, looking in every cupboard, thinking through anything I could make that sounded remotely good enough to blog about. The result was the pomegranate shrimp dish from that fail post. Ugh, gag. I needed a break. And a nap. And a bowl of Annie’s white cheddar macaroni and cheese followed by a Salty Dog chocolate bar.
The cold ended up turning into a sinus infection that knocked me down and out for a week leading right up to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And when I say knocked me down and out, I mean I was completely worthless to do anything and felt 99% miserable 99% of the time.
I’m not dramatic, though.
Sweet, Sweet Peace.
I am determined to change this year.
For the first 9 days of this fresh new chapter, I’ve been prioritizing this strange and wonderful thing called resting. After a nice long journey together, my sinus infection and I parted ways and I no longer risk coughing up both lungs when 9pm hits. I feel rested. I’m eating better. Things in my heart and mind are a little lighter. I have enough energy to try doing things like yoga pilates fusion. Once. Because, wow. That’s hard.
In 2014, it’s time for peace and rest every day, all the time, in every season.
- sleeping
- reading books
- learning from podcasts —> I challenge you to listen to this, particularly #8, #9, and #10, and not be changed for the better
- going to church, bonus if we make it on time
- exercising
- drinking water
- dating Bjork
- cooking and baking, not necessarily for the blog or a project but just for the pure enjoyment! I mean, gosh. Imagine that.
You, Too. Right?
If you are a blogger or entrepreneur, you know the pressure of being your own boss. You WANT to work all the time. And if you’re not an entrepreneur, same goes. You get it. Sometimes life just … yeesh. It’s a lot.
We all have down swings, whether you feel like quitting or you don’t have enough energy to do everything that you want to do or you have a nasty cold and are just plain old tired. So to answer the question that I set out to answer at the beginning – how do we get past burnout and discouragement and lack of inspiration – my answer, based on personal experience, is let’s take that seriously and bring rest and peace in before the downward spiral sucks the quality out of our work and our lives.
And take it seriously means chill out. For real. Slow down, stop working for a while, and come back in a few weeks and tell me if you find that a) your inspiration back, b) your work quality goes up a jillion percent, and c) you’re nicer to be around. Cause that’s what I’m thinking is going to happen.
I recently read this great article on why being busy isn’t respectable anymore. It deserves a read. Take it to heart, fellow over-committers and people who want to do everything and be busy all the time (ahem, self). This is really really good stuff.
I also recently read this great article on divorcing your phone. For my peeps who understand the love/hate phone addiction thing.
We have a framed print from Sacred Made in our bedroom that says Peace: Heavenly Rest. Beautiful prints that inspire – check them out.
One last thing – while writing this post I jumped on Facebook and low and behold, found myself distractedly clicking on links within two seconds. Preeedictable. But this is for people who like list articles: 37 things you’ll regret when you’re old.
Hey you out there? Take care of yourself. Go on a 15 minute walk around the block, watch a movie with your kids, cook dinner with your sweet, play outside with your fur baby, or just buy a nice big hot tub and soak in it for the rest of the year. And then go to Trader Joe’s and buy their salted dark chocolate almonds.
I MEAN IT.
He means it, too.
Hi Lindsay, thank you so much for writing this post. I am currently going through the same thing and you just made me realize that taking a bit of time out for yourself isn’t such a bad thing! x Happy eating/cooking and resting! hahaha
OMG I love this post. Thank you for taking time to write this out in such a relatable way. I’m a newbie blogger but already can relate to this need to *constantly* be doing something – anything – with my blog, because I’m in that phase where I want to grow the heck out of it!!! I am simultaneously thrilled and exhausted by the never ending to-do list with my newfound passion. Thanks again for sharing and I can’t wait to read more!!
I know this post is SO old in internet-years but YES! Exactly what I needed to read right now. I’m in this endless spiral of blogging, studying, being a mom, a wife, a friend and simultaneously I’m trying to improve my photography, my writing and my EVERYTHING plus redecorating our home. I didn’t manage to get ANY Christmas decorations up so far, haven’t gotten a single present yet and I feel like I could sleep about a million years. Which I will absolutely do tonight as much as my baby lets me. Thank you for sharing this post!
Love this post, Lindsay! Your advice is spot on. I’m heading over to read several of the links you shared. Thanks, in advance, for those. Blessings to you and yours.
Hey Lindsay
Just noticed we were getting some traffic from your site and traced it back to this post!
Man…pinchofyum is awesome! You guys are doing a stellar job!
Thanks again for the post…
Hope you’re having a great day!
Jesse
(PktFuel.com)
Whoops… I just scrolled up the comments and discovered that my wife, Lizzy, had already discovered and commented! Haha… Just like me to be trailing up behind!
haha – sounds like me and Bjork, except usually I’m the one trailing behind. š Thanks for stopping by anyways! I’ve always loved pktfuel and continue to be a huge fan.
Hi Lindsay, I just found this post today and I’d say, I’m sharing the same feelings and experience! My blog is still young, less than 1 year old, but the moment I started to take it seriously, I cannot stop working anymore. I felt guilty when I have a moment while not working. I reduced the time hang out with friends and became quite nerdy all the time… I have a full time job too and has been posting 3 times a week, although without replying emails or be active on social media, I already felt overwhelmed… I really don’t know how you made it!
One quick tip, I installed a treadmill at home. It helps a lot when weather is not good outside (most of time in Beijing), totally reduces work out time, and I can watch TV shows during running (only entertainment I got these days, and I don’t feel so guilty since I’m doing exercise the same time). I know it’s not enough, but I’m trying to strike the work life balance.
I hope you can achieve all the goals in 2014! Thank you for sharing and will keep following your blog. š
Great idea! Thank you Maggie – I’ve been forcing myself to come back and read this as a reminder to myself since I’ve already run into some “overworked” stretches this year. It’s a discipline to try to keep balance in your life! Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing, Lindsay.
I totally feel the same way as well! Especially as a blogger/entrepreneur and always wanting to give good and updated content to my readers. It’s not as easy as it looks to publish content all the time! Takes hours, and I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling this way š
Glad you shared š
Thanks,
Abby
http://www.primephysiquenutrition.com
oh man oh man do I feel you. I had that cold, except that it hit two days after Christmas. It knocked me flat on my feet and took a full month to totally stop coughing. I’m trying to remember to rest these days too, since I know full well it was exhaustion that made me such an easy target. Hope your January has been restful!
Hi! I’m Cat from Sacred Made and I visit your blog from time to time via our site’s traffic meter. Just wanted to give you a sincere thanks for the shout outs! It blesses our hearts that His Words have blessed you through us and our shop! Love your blog. Blessings, Cat (and Becca)
You guys are the best! Thanks for what you do!
Thanks for this timely piece. I had such a terrible November & December- family drama, health crisis with my husband, etc. It’s now 2 weeks into January and I just want to sob from lack of energy and motivation. I’ve been trying to rest but at a certain point I need to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully soon š
Hi Lindsay, I’m so glad you wrote this post! I can really relate to your story: sometimes I feel like I’m the only one struggling to do a million things in one day and that I’m surrounded by super men and women who never skip the gym, order take out or miss a deadline…
Thanks for making me realize that it’s okay to kick my feet up every now and then! š
I sincerely love this post, Lindsay! My wife Ingrid and I are all too familiar with the burnoutāwe know it’s on its way when our “taste buds” have been overworked and life’s “dishes” start lacking “flavor”. And when it happens, we know it’s time to savor the simple.
Yes, isn’t that funny how you can really sense it in the food? Thanks for the comment Michael!
I stopped blogging for a while, too, although I ended up taking a longer break from it than you š I never stopped wanting to blog. I just hit burnout, too. Some time away did help. Over that really long break we had, I finally jumped back on board and got then technical piece worked out. Now I’m excited to get started blogging again. This time, I think I’ll take it a little slower and lower those expectations for myself. Blogging is so much more fun when you are actually not stressing out about everything and still finding time to enjoy life with your friends, family, and to do the things you love most. Thanks for being real with everyone about how hard blogging is, Lindsay. It’s nice to know Superworman can’t do it all either š
Karen! All that you are juggling as a mom, a teacher, a blogger, and just a person in general is just insane! The best advice I could ever give anyone would be exactly what you just said – don’t stress out about everything, keep enjoying your life, and just do it because it’s a fun hobby that you’re passionate about. Thanks for the nice comment!
I love every single thing about this post!! I think we all can relate.
This is so well said, and thank you immensely for your honesty. None of us has it all together and we all want to be better people, but you’ve really given concrete words for actually making that happen. Balance is such a buzzword, and such a difficult thing to actually achieve. I now figure it’s better to err on the side of relationships than anything else – success anywhere else is secondary, as long as I can be successful there.
I’m glad you’re feeling better and sorry you had to have such a crummy couple weeks to lead up to this wonderful post!
I complete understand where you are coming from. I am more burned out that I have been in my entire life right now, in basically every aspect of my life. I haven’t seen much growth in my blog in over a year, I am struggling to find a way to get some momentum going in the right direction. I am trying to plan more rest time in my and my family’s lives. Taking the time to plan times of rest and giving ourselves a break from our stressful lives, so the stress doesn’t completely overtake us. I am glad to hear from another blogger on the challenges of the job.
Good on you. And I really appreciate you sharing this, we don’t get a lot of support in our culture for purposefully doing less.
Also, what does Trader Joes put in salted dark chocolate almonds? Those things are crack!
It’s a little scary.
I absolutely love this post. I think a lot of avoiding burnout has to do with giving yourself permission to take a break and rest and do things you love, like you said, going on a walk, yoga cooking just for the sake of it etc. It can be so hard though, especially with the “busy trap”. Did you read that article last year, I think it was in the NY Times – very interesting/relevant stuff.
I had a serious case of “life burnout” back in December – blogging, being a full time student and working 20+ hours a week is apparently a recipe for disaster – who knew! But I realized that there is so much more to being happy than accomplishing things and knocking stuff off your to-do list. Thanks for this reminder, it was just what I needed!
Extremely inspiring post! Thank you, truly.
So glad, Marcella! XO
Oh, you poor thing! I’m so sorry to hear about the sickness but go glad to hear you speak out on this subject! It’s so easy to lose focus and just keep running on empty, without taking time to re-fuel. Thank you for bringing this to light and inspiring all of us to make “margin” in life for ourselves and our families! xo
Thanks Sonja! ā„ļø
Feeling like I got a shout out! : ) Looking forward to lots of fun stuff from you this year. You have this audience for a reason and I’m so grateful for that. Thanks for sharing your heart!
Thanks Jodi!
Oh, thanks for writing this! I often wonder how you do everything you do. I can’t possibly keep up with everything in my life perfectly, or even really at all. I watch everything you have going on here and wish I could do it too, but I just can’t, and I’ve had to teach myself to be OK with it. Now is not my time for that. What a wonderful time for us as a human race – I know so many people struggling with balance and feeling overwhelmed, but when we become aware of it, we will then correct it. It means a whole re-ordering of life. And that’s the good thing about it. We’re heading back to the parts of life that matter.
All the best to you, my dear. Thank you again for this post. š
I love this comment. Thank you Sara!
Thanks for posting this. Its like a breath of fresh air š Glad you are feeling better now š
Thank you for sharing this Lindsey. You are one of the first food bloggers I found and began to seriously follow- I really admire your entrepreneurial attitude, your heart for others, and your attitude and fun writing style. You are a blessing to the blogging community. Praying for you. Thanks for everything you do. I will be sharing this post with friends. You touched on so many important topics.
Melissa! you made my day. ā„
Aren’t you just glad that 2013 is finally over? It just seemed like the ruts for everyone!
p.s. I LOVE vacuuming – and I am just a blog away!
hahaha! Yes please!