BLOGGING: Taking an Impromptu Holiday Break

The title speaks the truth, I took a two week break from blogging until this week. This post should be up by Tuesday of this very week, and I'll explain why I didn't blog in these few weeks as consistently as I started the schedule. It's an honest approach and I hope this post finds someone who also struggles with maintaining consistency when handling a blog.

source: pexels.com

First off, I got my Puerto Rico State Bar results and I didn't pass this time around. I found myself strangely at ease knowing this fact and it's very easy to see why. Before I got the notification, I was uncertain at how my life would be. If I passed the Bar, I would've been a state bar certified lawyer and that meant a shift in in career in some way. If I didn't, my plans would be on hold until I did. In a sense, that uncertainty ate away at me and may have contributed to bouts of insomnia (an overactive mind doesn't allow sleeping until I'm exhausted).

Another reason I held off on blogging is the most important one: being social. When I come home, it's mostly to relax and study for the licence exams I have on hand. I try to spend some time with family since everyone has their own schedules and their own worries. It's no secret that having a desktop at home reminds me of the work desktop and I've already spent a good chunk of my day sitting in front of a monitor. The last thing my body wants is to sit down and work on a desktop or anything. It's one of the pitfalls that comes with creating any sort of content 

Third reason is probably lack of prep work and writing. As a somewhat avid Pinterest user, I love searching for tips to improve and implement in my life, including blogging. And rarely do I find posts about scheduling blog posts or how to write out a consistent schedule (note to self: should write a post on that). Sure, it takes away some of the spontaneity perceived by blog readers but I find it as an underrated tool for bloggers. So many people use batches for any other means, like recording videos or powering through a project, why can't that be used for blogging as well? There's always a bit of wiggle room to write down a spontaneous topic, like a new launch or an event in life. But the blog is and remains active, which ensures that there's the consistent flow of content.

I try to have at least a week's worth of blog posts written on Sunday and schedule their publishing date as well. In the last few weeks, I've been running somewhat ragged at work, which in turns makes the rest of my productivity and personal activities suffer for it. I should at least have 2 weeks' worth of blog post lined up but even I can see see how that could be a marathon rather than a sprint. 

Another reason is that pesky thing called self-doubt. I still do not consider myself a content creator in any way, even though I have ideas and a drive to do something. I want to continue vlogging and blogging, expressing my ideas on the Internet and getting that hustle. But I fall into the hole that is perfectionism and thinking I'm not good enough for any platform. I still compare myself with the most successful people on each platform and find myself falling very short of the ideas I have. I may not be the most skilled in video editing, or creating content, and sometimes I feel like I started too late. And of course, I still feel afraid of what will happen if people that know me find out. 

But there's a saying by American Journalist and MSNBC Commentator George Will that "the pursuit of perfection impedes improvement". I interpret this line of thinking as perfection demands of us to look at ourselves in a negative light, forcing us to see that which makes us different as insurmountable flaws, that we then try to fix, and it keeps us from moving forward because we become stuck in an endless loop of finding flaws and fixing them. It's better to strive for something consistent and growing to get to an ever changing and evolving ideal rather than this static notion of the Perfect content. Because if I've learned anything from being on the internet as long as I have...it's that there is no such thing as a flawless content. 

So on that note, I ask you, how was your Thanksgiving holiday? Were there things you put on hold to reexamine and enjoy? Leave a comment with your answer. 

- SP