I Took the Weekend Off

August 19th 2019

I skipped a blog post for the first time in nearly 2 years and it taught me something…

I have been posting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday all year this year and have been sticking to a relatively strict blogging schedule for the past nearly 2 years, and this weekend was the first time I missed a post since I implemented a stricter schedule. I didn’t even realize it until my boyfriend brought it up in the car on Saturday afternoon, honestly. I think it was a combination of it genuinely slipping my mind and the fact that I just haven’t had much to say lately.

Usually, whenever I realize I miss a post, I scramble to put something up and back date it to the appropriate date as to not disrupt the flow of content and break my self-imposed posting “streak”. However, this time, I decided I was just going give myself a rest and pick up on Monday. I allowed myself a break and it honestly has offered me a bit of clarity.

First of all, I realized that holding myself so strictly to this schedule has been stripping my joy of blogging away from me. I love writing and creating content, but when it is 9:30 at night and I just finished work for my second job and my work day has been 10+ hours, I realize that forcing myself to write on top of that has made me resent the process I used to love. The fault for that falls entirely on me and the fact that I haven’t been nearly as organized and prepared as I have been in previous months, but I shouldn’t feel the need to punish myself by creating content I am not entirely proud of.

If I were to have posted on Saturday and backdated to Friday, I would have ended up just putting out something for the sake of putting out something and it probably would have been a pile of crap that I don’t feel adequately represents who I am as a writer or person in general. So that is why I decided to ease off myself and take a break. Instead, I decided to enjoy my weekend and let myself come back to posting on Monday.

And honestly, I feel a lot better. It is currently Sunday evening and I am writing this post for tomorrow and will probably write one more for Wednesday so I can take my time and think of something better for Friday and take the pressure off myself a bit. But, if this tiny break has taught me anything, it is that this blog is honestly really important to me and I want to stop letting it slip through the cracks so much and I want to really invest more time into it.

I know I have been spreading myself kind of thin lately but, once I fall into a good groove, I think I will be able to find ways to balance everything and get back into creating content that makes me feel genuinely excited.

Back a year ago, when my life and schedule were way different than they are now, I was writing every night and creating some awesome and creative content (with the help of some awesome friends and added free time), but now that I am adjusting to tons of new things at once, I think that my blogging process needs to evolve with me. I don’t have full days to dedicate to blogging anymore (at least not during the week) and I don’t have as many friends around to help me out with creating content. Regardless, I want to rise above all of the things that are currently overwhelming me and get back to creating content that I find fun and meaningful.

So, if you want the TLDR version of this post:

I decided to do a normal human thing and take a day off, but now I am back and ready to work as hard as I can to get this blog back to where I want it to be and thank you to all of those who have followed or have continued to follow me despite this weird transitional period this blog is going through. I plan on posting a yearly favorite of mine this Wednesday so stay tuned!

Jess~