Lately it feels like I’ve been running in circles… like a crazy little dog chasing my tail while the family sits there laughing, pointing, and worse yet … encouraging it. So in this analogy I am the dog and everyone else around me is the family… online and in real life friends, family, co-workers, and everyone else around me. It kinda sucks and something has to give.
I’m starting to think that it’s blogging.
How I feel right now about blogging is totally different than when I first started. Then it was new, shiny, fun, and there wasn’t as much stress surrounding it. But now… now it’s not new, it’s not shiny, and there is a lot of stress that goes along with it. There is so much pressure and stress from it that I’m considering quitting all together.
The stress & pressure come from what feels like a requirement to build your numbers whether it’s your social media following (Twitter, FB fan page, Instagram, Pinterest, G+, and the list goes on and on), increase your Google Analytics numbers, lower your bounce rate, get a good Alexa rating and Google Page Rank, make sure that your site shows up towards the top of a Google search, post on a regular basis, create unique and searchable content, create pinnable images, witty updates to Facebook and Twitter, keeping up with what’s going on in the social media world, participating in various groups (FB, G+, etc) creating valuable conversation, and most important … comment, comment, comment!
Whew…
So, this on top of my day job, being a wife, and a mom to four busy kids is just too much.
I don’t know if I can do this anymore.
Honestly… I don’t know if I even want to.
The pressure to succeed and do something with blogging can be immense at times. Really, it’s a full time job to keep it all going and as soon as you take a little bit of time off your numbers start to drop…. Now, this could just be me. It’s possible that I’m not alone in this and there are others that feel the same way or it’s all just in my head.
This is what I know for sure and it something has to change and soon. It can be something as easy as scaling back on blogging, giving it up all together, or it could be something drastic as quitting my day job to really focus on blogging/writing. Of course we all that quitting our day jobs, that provides 1/2 the household income & all of the health insurance for the family, to go after our hopes & dreams is ridiculous.
There are days that I wonder what it’s all for and I don’t look forward to writing another post, reading another post, trying to find or start a real conversation on Twitter. This is heartbreaking because it’s all stuff that I used to love dearly.
Want in on a little secret? Part of the reason that I stick with it is because of the wonderful friendships that I’ve made. I have met so many wonderful people that I don’t want to lose those friendships and I worry that if I quit I’ll lose those friendships. Silly, isn’t it?
I also worry that without a solid social media presence that I will never be able to quit my day job and really focus on what I really want to do… work in social media.
Maybe I’m just frustrated with the way the blogging community has changed so much and it’s a big numbers game and everyone is out to make money with it. Me included… I’m guilty.
Have you thought about giving up blogging? What stopped you?
