Finding Rest From the Hustle & Bustle of Blogging // Flourish

As a blogger, there are so many elements that can play into the success of your business, but it all comes down to the work you put in and the belief you have in yourself to keep moving forward no matter what. I've spent countless nights staying up late creating and writing, running on little sleep, trying to make things happen. I never once regretted it, but without proper rest, one is bound to feel exhausted. When exhaustion hits, there's only so much one can do at that point. But I tell myself, "If I don't keep going, I'll be a failure", a lie I used to feed myself as a way to "motivate" myself. So I press on and on until I start to feel the burn. Then the work & faith in myself starts being overshadowed by doubt, fear, and discouragement, a clear signal that I need to take a step-back and rest.

Lately, my mind was in a fog. I had major writer's block and just couldn't get myself to sit and write anything. It's as if I was paralyzed with defeat. I'd tell myself, "Ah, I'll do it later." And of course, later never came around.

Looking back on it all, I was in a slump. Truth be told, I still kind of am. I decided to lay low and re-focus on other parts of my life. It's been nice to adjust my attention to everything else aside from my blog and social feeds. But eventually, I needed to get to the root of everything; What was making me feel the I way I did?

Plain and simple: I was overwhelmed.

I held myself as a blogger to a high standard, something that is just too familiar to me as I tend to this to myself with most things. I strive for perfection, I compare myself to others, I become obsessed with wanting to do all these projects for my blog. Then I try to do it all and get burnt out. The last time this happened, it was right around the time I came up with the decision to create this series, Flourish: Living your best life nourished & confident in mind, body and soul, but I couldn't sit and write this series long enough to actually publish the content.

I found myself in a situation where I was going to write about flourishing as a person through nourishing myself, but didn't fully understand what that really meant because I wasn't nourishing myself as much as I thought I was. I was exhausted. I was tired of the rat race. I thought that doing a billion things at once to the point of exhaustion was okay because society has romanticized that the more you do, the more successful you'll become.

But riddle me this: How can I give my 100% to things in my life if I'm not 100% at my best?

This break from blogging taught me a lot about myself, most importantly, my limits. I've been in this place before, feeling burnt-out, not really sure if blogging is something I want to continue to do. However, I don't have to quit. I just need to learn how to balance my life with blogging.

Here a few small lessons I’ve learned/re-learned from finding rest from the hustle and bustle of blogging:
 

🌸 It’s okay to disconnect. 

The constant pressures of blogging and consistently needing to expose your life can be exhausting. I have control of what I want to expose and how often I want to expose it. Also, I need to stay more in tune with myself in regards to work. I shouldn’t expose myself to the point of burn out. When I start to feel like my passion is lacking and I'm posting something for the sake of posting, that’s when I need to take a time-out. 
 

🌸 “Don’t compare your Chapter 1 to someone else’s Chapter 52.”

I read this quote a zillion times and it means so much to me. I think every blogger has their moment of comparison, wishing they were at a certain place with their business. I know that I tend to let that get to my head and it discourages me. To help me get out of this rut, I try writing a list of my achievements as a writer and re-read them to myself when I start to doubt my abilities. It reminds me of why I started blogging, how far I've come and where I want to be.

Another thing I do for myself is release the control I think I have of my own personal time-line. As a faithful woman, I need to trust God's timing, not my own. I believe things happen for a reason in the most perfect season. Where I want to be in my career isn't happening now for specific reasons. The best thing I can do is keep doing my best work. The rest will follow in the Lord's perfect timing.
 

🌸 Rest is important.

When things get rough, it's okay to lay low and give yourself the proper recovery you need, but don't stay down forever. I lost myself a bit, but the great thing is, I always find myself when I make time to rest. Now, I can move forward in the right direction. I can focus better, write clearer and give my business my best effort; I can give YOU guys my best effort. 

How do YOU find rest from the hustle and bustle in your life?
Xo