Tuesday, February 07, 2017
6 Reasons Why Bloggers Stop Blogging (And What To Do)
Tuesday, February 07, 2017Hello... It's me. I was wondering if after all these years.... ( admit it you sang to Adele's song! ) you're still there and su...
Hello... It's me. I was wondering if after all these years.... (admit it you sang to Adele's song!) you're still there and supporting my blog.
It has been quiet here lately. This post has been on my draft since January 10. It's the first time in many years of blogging that I haven't finished a blog post for more than three weeks. Actually, I haven't been active either on my social media accounts as much as I used to.
WHY?
I also asked myself that question. What has happened to me? Why even if I have a long list of blog topics, products and services for feature and review, inspirational and helpful tips in mind, I can't seem to start typing my thoughts whenever I click New Post button? I start with a high energy but when I see the white empty space, my mind gets lost in that space and I am left staring at the screen. The next thing I knew, I just click the close button. And posts in draft get piled up.
But I told myself, I have to brave that empty space, fill it with my thoughts and just type away. I have to otherwise, I wouldn't get my groove back. This hiatus has to stop.
It's not just me. I'm sure many other bloggers out there at one point in their lives almost gave up on blogging or had a hard time making a comeback or just felt they don't want to be too present in the online world anymore.
The reasons for this could be anywhere between "I can't find time." or "I don't feel like it." Let me share with you some and also what to do to address them (warning, some reasons may be lame, but if you're a blogger and you do have the same reason as mine, could you cheer me up and comment that you also feel these too?!)
HOLIDAY HANGOVER - Sure, it's already February and it's the love month already and here I am still reminiscing about new year and even CNY celebrations hence, I can't make this hangover a valid reason for not updating the blog. But give me the benefit of the doubt, maybe my hangover from the holidays filed its overtime or indefinite break until the blogging mojo comes back. Having a hangover makes a person quite lethargic about things which makes going back a hard start.
What To Do: Wake up and accept that the holiday is waaaaaaay over. Face the new day, new week, new month, and new year! This reality should be plastered on your face. Remind yourself by looking at the calendar, looking at your planner, and looking at your blog and the last time you posted. These should remind you to get up and write something.
CAN'T FIND TIME - Honestly, since baby #3 came beautifully in our lives, I rarely find time for myself. The haircut, manicure and pedicure I've long wanted to happen for months, just took place last weekend (and my nail polish already chipped by the way as of writing!) Days became busier as he grows older month by month. I have two older kids who I prepare for school early in the morning and of course a husband I need to make coffee and eat breakfast with everyday before going to work. Yes, I go to an 8-5 job in Makati by the way. The break times I used to spend drafting a post are now occupied with my pumping schedule. By the time I come home, I have to attend to my husband, a teenager, a preschooler, and a baby. If I still have little time for myself, I just choose to spend it breathing in and out deeply to relieve stress. I don't even watch TV anymore. So these activities, among other things, occupy my day. So I think I can legitimately say I really can't find time.
What To Do: But still, if I really want to blog, I will and should find time! That's me talking to myself. Well yeah, that's one motivation to get up and write. If you can make time for other activities, then you can fit blogging into your busy schedule. We don't need to publish posts everyday anyway. Start by content planning (which I already did), plot it on your calendar, draft the post, edit as necessary, then publish. You and I just have to keep on doing these steps repeatedly until it becomes habitual.
NO INSPIRATION - Do you rely on inspirations to be able to create a personal or event a sponsored content for your blog? Do you feel less compelled to write a quality post when you feel down or when your offline life is not doing great? If your answer to this question is a yes, then we're on the same page. Sometimes, I tend to delay finishing a post (or posts) when there's something going on in my life that is least likely to be shared online. I may be an active blogger, but what I share online doesn't necessarily reflect my life offline. Personally, when I'm not feeling great, my blog postings are affected.
What To Do: Get inspiration elsewhere. It's true what's been said that it's all in the mind. If the heart is not well, then let your mind work double time. Let deadlines be an inspiration. Stick to the WHYs of your blog. Make your readers your motivation to keep on creating content. Feed them with the info you'll be sharing through your posts and be their source of inspiration instead. Always think that your blog brings value to other people to make you continue blogging.
OVERWHELMED - When you are pressured to write or produce a post whether a blog or vlog because you honor commitments, there are deadlines to meet or you just want to tick them off your to-blog-list, sometimes you tend to feel too overwhelmed which leaves you point blank. The tasks or topics to write keeps on adding to the point of haunting you already to get the work done. The more it piles up, the more you're stuck up and just couldn't think because you're too overwhelmed. When this happens, sometimes you don't know which task to take on first that you end up not doing anything at all.
What To Do: Being visual at this time gives you help more than you think you do. Make a blog calendar, plot on the dates of the current month the topics or features you need to write about at a schedule that's workable for you. It may be overwhelming yes, but once you cross out one published post after the other, it's such a relief. Keep on doing it until it becomes regular and a habit and sooner or later, you won't feel too overwhelmed anymore. The key here is to just START with one post. When you start with that post, concentrate on that alone. Don't think of the many others following it, because you'd just panic. Just start with one. Then another... then another.
COMPETITION - I haven't been too long in the blogging scene compared to those I look up to like Martine de Luna of makeitblissful.com or Frances Sales of topazhorizon.com, but I've been around long enough to witness the sprout of new and aggressive bloggers in the recent years who have the energy, time, and even technical skills to thrive and move ahead fast in the blogging scene. Personally speaking, I felt insecure and discouraged for a while, which I think is normal should you also feel this way. I felt this way because I don't have enough time as much as other bloggers do because I work full time and my hands are tied with the new baby and new household schedule. Because I work, I also cannot attend all the events I'm invited to even if I really want to make myself available for it. I used to sulk and be envious. The competition is getting tougher. I don't compete to begin with just to set things clear. But I could feel other bloggers competing with each other and although indirectly with me, sometimes I tend to leave the race and again, get stuck up. I also compare myself as a blogger, my blog's reach or influence, and even sometimes the manner how I write.
What To Do: If you also feel the competition eating you up, which is just normal and even healthy, here's what we could do. Instead of thinking of others, focus on your own blog. Go back to when you started especially on the WHY you started. Revisit your blog's core. What is it that inspired you to put up your blog anyway, get that back. As it is with fashion, be comfortable with your own blog's offerings. Write for you and your readers and not to compete. Personally, every posts I publish are still read by more than 500 people, so this just means I definitely matter to my audience. Sometimes it's really all in the mind and the worst critic is ourselves.
LAZINESS - This is not an excuse. But we all feel lazy at one point in our blogging careers. And it's okay, of course as long as it's temporary.
What To Do: Just don't get used to it too much that you don't blog at all or even think of which topics to write or publish even if the queue's already long. You've got to shake off that laziness and think that your readers are waiting for you to feed their social media timelines with useful information, bemome their daily reading inspirations, and satisfy their need for life hacks that would help them get through their every day. Your readers are precious and they count on you, they count on us.
So, now that I've FINALLY finished this post, it's time for me to get up, stand up, and blog the year away! I just hope I was able to reach out to you as well. You a blogger like me, whose blog is currently on hiatus or hibernating or on pause. Let's empower and bring out the best of each other! Happy Blogging!
It has been quiet here lately. This post has been on my draft since January 10. It's the first time in many years of blogging that I haven't finished a blog post for more than three weeks. Actually, I haven't been active either on my social media accounts as much as I used to.
Photo Source |
I also asked myself that question. What has happened to me? Why even if I have a long list of blog topics, products and services for feature and review, inspirational and helpful tips in mind, I can't seem to start typing my thoughts whenever I click New Post button? I start with a high energy but when I see the white empty space, my mind gets lost in that space and I am left staring at the screen. The next thing I knew, I just click the close button. And posts in draft get piled up.
But I told myself, I have to brave that empty space, fill it with my thoughts and just type away. I have to otherwise, I wouldn't get my groove back. This hiatus has to stop.
It's not just me. I'm sure many other bloggers out there at one point in their lives almost gave up on blogging or had a hard time making a comeback or just felt they don't want to be too present in the online world anymore.
The reasons for this could be anywhere between "I can't find time." or "I don't feel like it." Let me share with you some and also what to do to address them (warning, some reasons may be lame, but if you're a blogger and you do have the same reason as mine, could you cheer me up and comment that you also feel these too?!)
HOLIDAY HANGOVER - Sure, it's already February and it's the love month already and here I am still reminiscing about new year and even CNY celebrations hence, I can't make this hangover a valid reason for not updating the blog. But give me the benefit of the doubt, maybe my hangover from the holidays filed its overtime or indefinite break until the blogging mojo comes back. Having a hangover makes a person quite lethargic about things which makes going back a hard start.
What To Do: Wake up and accept that the holiday is waaaaaaay over. Face the new day, new week, new month, and new year! This reality should be plastered on your face. Remind yourself by looking at the calendar, looking at your planner, and looking at your blog and the last time you posted. These should remind you to get up and write something.
CAN'T FIND TIME - Honestly, since baby #3 came beautifully in our lives, I rarely find time for myself. The haircut, manicure and pedicure I've long wanted to happen for months, just took place last weekend (and my nail polish already chipped by the way as of writing!) Days became busier as he grows older month by month. I have two older kids who I prepare for school early in the morning and of course a husband I need to make coffee and eat breakfast with everyday before going to work. Yes, I go to an 8-5 job in Makati by the way. The break times I used to spend drafting a post are now occupied with my pumping schedule. By the time I come home, I have to attend to my husband, a teenager, a preschooler, and a baby. If I still have little time for myself, I just choose to spend it breathing in and out deeply to relieve stress. I don't even watch TV anymore. So these activities, among other things, occupy my day. So I think I can legitimately say I really can't find time.
What To Do: But still, if I really want to blog, I will and should find time! That's me talking to myself. Well yeah, that's one motivation to get up and write. If you can make time for other activities, then you can fit blogging into your busy schedule. We don't need to publish posts everyday anyway. Start by content planning (which I already did), plot it on your calendar, draft the post, edit as necessary, then publish. You and I just have to keep on doing these steps repeatedly until it becomes habitual.
NO INSPIRATION - Do you rely on inspirations to be able to create a personal or event a sponsored content for your blog? Do you feel less compelled to write a quality post when you feel down or when your offline life is not doing great? If your answer to this question is a yes, then we're on the same page. Sometimes, I tend to delay finishing a post (or posts) when there's something going on in my life that is least likely to be shared online. I may be an active blogger, but what I share online doesn't necessarily reflect my life offline. Personally, when I'm not feeling great, my blog postings are affected.
What To Do: Get inspiration elsewhere. It's true what's been said that it's all in the mind. If the heart is not well, then let your mind work double time. Let deadlines be an inspiration. Stick to the WHYs of your blog. Make your readers your motivation to keep on creating content. Feed them with the info you'll be sharing through your posts and be their source of inspiration instead. Always think that your blog brings value to other people to make you continue blogging.
OVERWHELMED - When you are pressured to write or produce a post whether a blog or vlog because you honor commitments, there are deadlines to meet or you just want to tick them off your to-blog-list, sometimes you tend to feel too overwhelmed which leaves you point blank. The tasks or topics to write keeps on adding to the point of haunting you already to get the work done. The more it piles up, the more you're stuck up and just couldn't think because you're too overwhelmed. When this happens, sometimes you don't know which task to take on first that you end up not doing anything at all.
What To Do: Being visual at this time gives you help more than you think you do. Make a blog calendar, plot on the dates of the current month the topics or features you need to write about at a schedule that's workable for you. It may be overwhelming yes, but once you cross out one published post after the other, it's such a relief. Keep on doing it until it becomes regular and a habit and sooner or later, you won't feel too overwhelmed anymore. The key here is to just START with one post. When you start with that post, concentrate on that alone. Don't think of the many others following it, because you'd just panic. Just start with one. Then another... then another.
COMPETITION - I haven't been too long in the blogging scene compared to those I look up to like Martine de Luna of makeitblissful.com or Frances Sales of topazhorizon.com, but I've been around long enough to witness the sprout of new and aggressive bloggers in the recent years who have the energy, time, and even technical skills to thrive and move ahead fast in the blogging scene. Personally speaking, I felt insecure and discouraged for a while, which I think is normal should you also feel this way. I felt this way because I don't have enough time as much as other bloggers do because I work full time and my hands are tied with the new baby and new household schedule. Because I work, I also cannot attend all the events I'm invited to even if I really want to make myself available for it. I used to sulk and be envious. The competition is getting tougher. I don't compete to begin with just to set things clear. But I could feel other bloggers competing with each other and although indirectly with me, sometimes I tend to leave the race and again, get stuck up. I also compare myself as a blogger, my blog's reach or influence, and even sometimes the manner how I write.
What To Do: If you also feel the competition eating you up, which is just normal and even healthy, here's what we could do. Instead of thinking of others, focus on your own blog. Go back to when you started especially on the WHY you started. Revisit your blog's core. What is it that inspired you to put up your blog anyway, get that back. As it is with fashion, be comfortable with your own blog's offerings. Write for you and your readers and not to compete. Personally, every posts I publish are still read by more than 500 people, so this just means I definitely matter to my audience. Sometimes it's really all in the mind and the worst critic is ourselves.
LAZINESS - This is not an excuse. But we all feel lazy at one point in our blogging careers. And it's okay, of course as long as it's temporary.
What To Do: Just don't get used to it too much that you don't blog at all or even think of which topics to write or publish even if the queue's already long. You've got to shake off that laziness and think that your readers are waiting for you to feed their social media timelines with useful information, bemome their daily reading inspirations, and satisfy their need for life hacks that would help them get through their every day. Your readers are precious and they count on you, they count on us.
So, now that I've FINALLY finished this post, it's time for me to get up, stand up, and blog the year away! I just hope I was able to reach out to you as well. You a blogger like me, whose blog is currently on hiatus or hibernating or on pause. Let's empower and bring out the best of each other! Happy Blogging!