I would like to start this post with a preface: I love blogging. I wouldn’t even do this blog if this weren’t the case.
I wanted to state this because I don’t intend this as a moany post about how hard blogging is. Go on Twitter, and I guarantee you’ll see dozens of tweets about the daily challenges of blogging and how it’s so difficult to do. And sure, it can be difficult with its own challenges and issues. Writing, designing, editing, doing social media, shooting photos – blogging really is a mini creative agency. It’s also even more difficult for people who are full-time bloggers and rely on this as an income source. The stakes are probably higher for them.
But for me, and a lot of others, blogging is a hobby. A source of creative joy. So whenever I talk about the challenges of blogging, I still want to retain positivity and some perspective. No one is forcing me to do this. And I urge everyone to keep the same mindset; otherwise, the joy can disappear incredibly fast.
With that said, there are some aspects of blogging that I find challenging. Interestingly, they are closely related to issues I have to deal with in my career or personal life – like being an introvert, trying to balance self-promotion with shyness, or sharing, while also maintaining some privacy. These things often make blogging a little challenging, but also provide me great opportunities for some development – both professional and personal.
This post is about 9 important things I’m trying to balance in my blogging and real life. That balance is crucial because it’s the single most important thing that can make or break my wellbeing, attitude, and mindset about blogging. And it’s the key to making sure I can keep this hobby for a long time, without burning out or losing my enthusiasm and creative urge.
How to create a balanced blogging life
Creation vs. consumption
A crucial aspect of balancing blogging and life and something it’s often difficult to find the right ratio on, especially if you’re hard pressed for time. Consuming others’ content, reading, writing comments, and sharing is incredibly important. But we’re often faced with the issue of abundance. There’s just so much content out there, how can anyone truly keep up with that? How do you separate the value-adding ones from the junk? And if we spend too much time on consuming, where do we fit in creation? It’s a difficult thing to balance and I think we often need to step back a little and take a hard look at where we actually spend our time and whether it adds value to our lives. I think it’s very important to regularly declutter our feed, and say no to content we consume out of habit and not because it truly excites us. I’m always open to finding new blogs and creators to follow and support, but I learned to say no to others. Be intentional with your time on the Internet and social media.
Authenticity vs. We’re still on the Internet
Probably the absolute golden, frame it and put it on your wall, most often-recited blogging advice. Be authentic & real. OK, sure. But what is real exactly? And how much realness is OK?
Realness and authenticity are much more complex than they seem. We all have many faces in our everyday lives. I’m probably different in professional situations, with strangers, with my fiancé’s family, with my own family, with friends. There are situations that bring out the best in us and situations that bring out the worst. Which one is the real one? Which face do I share? Am I less authentic if I don’t go on Insta live in a moment when I’m moody and irritated at every single little thing? Am I fake if I try to show the positive aspects of my personality?
Funnily enough, it was a very mundane issue that got me thinking about this – and it’s swearing in blog posts. In real life, I’m prone to using a quite colorful language. It’s not something I’m proud of, just a fact. If I’d be talking about some of the issues I’m talking about on my blog, it would probably be accentuated with a variety of swear words. But I cannot really bring myself to infuse that into my writing. I don’t exactly know why. It seems too try-hard, even fake sometimes, even though that would be closer to my authentic self. Does this make me less real?
I’m not totally sure where the line between realness and self-constraint is, but I feel there is definitely one for me. After all, we’re still on the Internet and that’s a big responsibility and opportunity at the same time. I don’t shy away from sharing my challenges, shortcomings, or fears. I always try to be honest, and for me this is what real authenticity is about. I may not be able or want to project the exact “me” my closest friends or family know, but I’ll try my best to bring realness and rawness to my writing and online presence.
Realness vs. amplified reality
A very closely related issue to the above authenticity question and something I frequently ponder and go back and forth on, especially when it comes to visuals – like blog photos, Instagram, and Insta stories. On one hand, I kinda miss the Instagram-era of circa 2013/14. The era without a myriad filters and third-party apps, the era of blurry photos and real snaps of everyday life. When there was no pressure to Facetune or to dress up just to get an outfit shot.The same with stories. One of my absolute favorite IG-story masters is Eva Chen. She’s a prolific user who really pulls the curtain off of her life. She shares the good, the bad, the hilarious, the make-up free sweaty faces, the crying babies, but also the travels, the Fashion Week shows, the celebrity meetings (plus she’s hilarious). Although I’d never share that many details about my own life, she’s definitely next-level real and authentic.
On the other hand, I do enjoy the curated Insta feeds and stories, and the gorgeous professional blog photos as well. Sometimes all I need from the blogosphere and social media is a big dose of visual inspiration, beautiful, curated content, and yes, that means amplified reality. Sure, it gets really boring after some time, but I cannot say it shouldn’t have a place on the Internet.
Balance is crucial I think in this aspect as well. Sure, share the latteart instead of the muddy morning coffee. Share the travels. Share your best outfit posts. Share the photos you spent hours creating and editing. But sometimes it’s OK to share the less than stellar moments as well. The pre-edited photos. The mess of your home. It’ll probably, if done right, help you connect with others a little more. We all need inspiration, but we want to relate as well.
Shameless self-promotion vs. Absolutely necessary self-promotion
The balancing act that’s probably the most difficult for me personally. Although in my case, it’s probably more like zero self-promotion vs. absolutely necessary self-promotion. There’s such a thin line between zero, necessary, and too much and it’s so difficult to navigate. How do I make sure I don’t annoy people but still get my content out there? Writing something and putting it on the net often makes us vulnerable enough. And then we should actually work to put it in front of a lot of people? These can be totally legit frightening thoughts. However, no gain without pain. When I find it difficult, I try to switch sides and think about what I feel when I see other bloggers promote their posts. It’s usually a variation of good for them, great job, and I want to support them. Why would other people feel otherwise? And if they do, why do I care? They are definitely not my target audience then.
With that said, I think there IS such a thing as too much self-promotion. If you never show support for anyone else, never share anything else other than your own content; people might get tired of you. Experts say the magic ratio for pinning is 70% other content, 30% you. This might be a good starting number, especially if you put adding value above anything else – with the articles you share, as well as with what you write.
Sharing vs. Privacy
To say I was a prolific and enthusiastic personal social media user before my blog would be a total stretch. I have a personal Facebook page, but my activity kind of peaked around 2010-11 and meant mostly birthday wishes and the odd sharing of a cool gif. I could never figure out Pinterest so my page sat totally unused for years. I didn’t even bother with Twitter. I had an Instagram account, but it was private with a gigantic following of around 25 people. I’ve never been comfortable with sharing my life online and that didn’t change enormously. Maybe it’s a personal preference or stems from the fact that I didn’t grow up surrounded by social media, I don’t know. So I can relate to anyone who has a hard time sharing even basic things about their lives.
But, like it or not, this has become an integral part of blogging. And I can even understand it, up to a point. After all, I too am invested in the lives of bloggers I like and follow. I like knowing what they are up to, what they use, like, read or do (of course in a normal, non-stalkerish way). They are influencers for a reason, it’s perfectly understandable that if we relate to another person or enjoy and agree with their content, we are curious about what they think about other things or how they lead their life. Voyeurism is a second nature to humans.
So, even though it’s not easy, I do try to take small steps into lifting that veil up a little. I’ll keep my boundaries, that’s for sure, but I need to be a little more open. Especially, because it can bring about great connections and opportunities to engage with others. This is how I try to approach this – sharing a little more and finding common interests with other like-minded people all around the world.
Motivation vs. doing it for the Gram
“Doing it for the Gram” is an expression I’ve been seeing a lot lately. Mostly as a self-ironic, snarky comment on the lengths we go to to get that perfect Instagram shot. And while, yes, doing it for the gram exclusively is strange, using it as a motivation tool can be totally beneficial. As silly as it sounds, sometimes I do push myself to do things because I know I need a good photo or some new content inspiration. It’s not my SOLE reason for doing that, but it’s definitely a nudge. And I think it can be a good means to constantly go forward, be open to new experiences, and yes, find content in new places. But ALWAYS balance it out and do not let it take over your whole life. Going out for a city stroll even if you’re tired because you need new photos? YES. Going out and remaining glued to the phone 24/7 so you don’t miss the opportunity for a 10 second Instagram story video with a lifespan of 24-hours? NO. Take that shot and put away your phone.
Creative hobby vs. source of pressure
We’ve probably all started blogging as a lovely, creative hobby. That was definitely one of the reasons why I began my blog. I wanted to write, get creative, take photos, and share some of my ideas and thoughts. But I don’t know anyone who’s been blogging for some time, who didn’t lose sight of this at one point or another, experience shorter or longer blogging burnout and as a result, think of blogging more like a source of pressure. A pressure to keep writing even when the dreaded writer’s block struck, a pressure to keep up with numbers (your own from last month or someone else’s shiny monthly blog numbers), a pressure to create when inspiration was nowhere to be found.
And some sort of pressure is OK. I do have goals I want to reach, things I want to achieve, so it’s difficult to balance this and still enjoy blogging as a creative hobby. But it’s not totally impossible. For me, the key to successfully balancing the two are: 1. Realistic goals and 2. A quality standard I set for myself. I try to assess a realistic growth path and keep myself to that. And I also try to keep a standard regarding my posts. If I know that I’m putting everything that I can into something, that’s usually enough for me to remain happy about blogging. Also, whenever I feel like it’s becoming too much of a pressure, I step back a little to regain perspective – I take a break, go through my smile folder, or just remind myself why I started this. I also sometimes think about stopping it altogether and that’s when I usually realize I still enjoy blogging.
Inspiration vs. Comparison
There are a lot of bloggers I follow that inspire me all the time – to think more, be better, work harder, be more creative, think more outside the box. And I’m so thankful for that. However, it’s also very difficult to draw the line between inspiration and comparison. Feeling our content is subpar or our numbers are too low. What am I doing wrong? The fact that these feelings are perfectly natural and understandable doesn’t mean we have to go down that route, or at least go further. Whenever I feel I’m slipping into a comparison trap, I try to remind myself that we’re different. My path is different. Not better, not worse, just different. And I want to enjoy my own path and not spend valuable time on imagining what it’s like to be on someone else’s. Because it’s simply pointless. I switch back from comparison to inspiration and draw strength from others’ success.
Long term vs. Short term vision
One of the most difficult things most bloggers face, especially in the beginning is the patience game. Seeing other people’s success and thinking (or hoping) that we’ll be at the same level in no time. Probably, the frustration stemming from the clash of this expectation and reality is one reason why so many people try to find shortcuts to success – buying followers, using bots, or implementing less than honest growing tactics. Do they work in the short run? Maybe, depends on the metrics. Can they really game the system and become established bloggers on the long-term? Probably not.
Viral tweets are a great example of the limits of online overnight success. For months now, every time I saw a tweet go viral, with tens of thousands of retweets and even more likes, I checked the original poster’s stats. 90% of the time, their following numbers and the pre- and post engagement of their tweets remained virtually unchanged. For me, this is just a great proof that no one will become a standing Internet star overnight. Or even if you become one, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to keep that for weeks, months or years. It may sound like a boring cliché, but patience and hard work are the key components for long-term, sustainable success.
Some people may prioritize short and fast gains over a long-term strategy. And in a way, they are important as you are getting feedback that you’re on the right track. But I never overvalue a couple of days of above average pageviews or a higher engagement – I always try to look at the bigger picture. If the growth is slower but steady – I’m totally fine with that. That’s also the reason why I don’t force myself to publish every single day. It may show in my pageviews for some time, but would definitely lead to a burnout and I want to avoid that at all cost. This is one of my most important slow blogging principles.
How do you find your blog-life balance?
