Blogger Burnout | Coming Back to the Blog After a LONG Hiatus, Plans, & More

It’s been six months since my last post, and there’s no doubt blogger burnout has been a part of that. But just good old regular burnout as well. So…what’s going on?

Where I’ve Been

If you’re a previous reader or know me personally, you may know that I’ve been holding down two jobs – my full-time job as an app builder/developer, and my part-time position as a bookseller and barista at Barnes & Noble. Then there were other obligations, like band practices and subsequent gigs, which, while they were amazing, took the last fraction of my energy. I was operating past my own capacity for months, and ultimately something had to give.

Two months ago I made the difficult decision to leave Barnes & Noble after two years of working there. Retail is retail, but at the end of the day, that job was such a gift to me, introducing me to people I will forever love and cherish. With my full-time role being from home, the bookstore served as a second home to me, forcing me to leave the home, facing my agoraphobia with that, and was truly the start of a new chapter of my life.

Well, two months passed, and I sort of…un-quit. But what can I say? It just wasn’t my time to go yet. I missed it quite a bit, but to make it work this time around, I did the work to balance out my obligations and say goodbye to what wasn’t worth my energy. I’ve been doing my best to only make way for what is most important and not fill my schedule for the sake of doing so. This is a HORRIBLE habit I’ve had for my entire life, and I want to change that.

“The Hustle” + Hobbies = Burnout

It’s funny as I write this post, because my last post is talking about blogger burnout and all the things I planned on doing, but ultimately never happened because I was way too involved with other things. 

Anyway. 

Something that I’ve also really come to enjoy in the past couple of years is knitting and crocheting. And over time I’ve noticed a couple of things. For one, I’ve had plenty of people tell me that I should start a business when I’m wearing a garment or accessory I’ve made. I’ve also seen lots of new fiber artists making and selling patterns right as they’ve started the hobby. There’s a lot that can be discussed here, but I ultimately see that there’s a lot of pressure to monetize your hobby, to monetize whatever you can. And while I don’t directly sell things or take sponsorships on the blog, running a blog and Bookstagram is definitely a hustle. And hobbies and the hustle…just haven’t been working out for me! 

Especially on Bookstagram, whenever I post, in the back of my mind I remind myself that there will be consequences if I don’t post. There will be consequences if I don’t use the app every day. There will be consequences for how and when I engage. I want to say I wasn’t concerned about numbers and following, but if my posting frequency was dictated by what Instagram wanted…well, I guess I did care about numbers a bit. 

There’s definitely a good feeling in having readership/viewership, but at the end of the day…how much do I really care if my posts miss the mark in terms of viewership? If there’s one thing I miss the most about blogging and Bookstagramming, it’s the people I talk to on the regular. And I miss writing and creating content, too! That’s what matters to me the most. 

So at the end of the day, I’m working on a mindset shift. I have the utmost respect for members of the bookish community who spend dozens of hours a week producing content, working with brands, and engaging with their audience – it’s an incredible feat, especially on top of other priorities! But I’m just not gonna do that myself anymore. 

What’s Next?

In coming back I’m reassessing what I actually liked writing, and what I didn’t. And truthfully, I think I liked writing about books in general more than anything else. What exactly does that mean? Well, let me sum it this way: I didn’t like writing things I felt obligated to because it made sense to. I liked writing reviews, but not for every book. I did not like writing wrapups, because they were incredibly tedious and they had to be written in a particular timeframe. 

But I don’t have to review every book I read; I don’t even have to share every book I’ve read in passing! (Am I just figuring out that I can do what I want with my own book blog? Yes. Yes I am.) So I’m going to try not to center my content around every book, and continue down this path of reading at a pace that feels comfortable to me. Because at the end of the day, I love reading, I love content creation, and I love the idea of not getting burned out from blogging every three months.

So, I think that’s it.

Blogger burnout is something I’ve gone through so many times at this point, and at this rate it’s about creating boundaries for myself and what I can handle. Taking breaks and pacing things out is okay! I’ve been blogging for, I don’t even know – 5 or 6 years now? And it’s something that I don’t want to let go of. There’s always going to be pressure to be constantly putting out content, but at the end of the day, it’s just a hobby, and I’m totally content with that.

It’s been such a long time – so tell me, how have you been doing? How has your 2023 treated you? I hope you’ve been doing well and that you have a wonderful 2024 ahead of you.