Blogging Overwhelm: Having A Break, Not A Break-Up

Blogging Overwhelm: Having A Break, Not A Break-Up.

This travel blogging lark sure is a story of ups and downs…

This week I fell out of love.

I fell out of love with blogging.

I went days without even thinking about our little corner of the internet, not wanting to put fingers to keyboard to produce anything at all.

I also found Twitter stifling, Facebook cluttered, Pinterest visually irritating and my own blog...just a source of massive stress.

My natural response was to take a step back, avoid these spaces online and just give myself a break.

Sadly my other natural response was to fall into a pit of mild creative despair and stress.

I felt pretty upset and anxious that when it came down to it, during the time where I was realizing just how much I want to do this professionally and long-term, I also felt completely bored, bummed and baffled by it.

I suddenly didn't want to write anything, and I didn’t fancy reading another ‘How To’ post, experience another sea of graphics and headlines on my Pinterest feed, or even read posts from my favourite bloggers.

I know that it's entirely normal for my energy and enthusiasm to wane time to time. If things in other areas of my life aren’t going so swimmingly, I am more likely to sink under, instead of swim in the ocean of expectation I have for myself and my goals.

That has definitely happened recently as my casual job role, outside of the blog, has pretty much dried up due to the end of the tourism season in this part of Australia. We are yet again experiencing money struggles and feeling disillusioned and discouraged from our life of perpetual travel.

We still have no regrets about embarking on this crazy and unpredictable adventure but the downs have been more powerful lately than the ups.

In the face of our work struggles I knew I had to get more serious about my freelancing career, and I had to truly knuckle down.

But it’s amazing how when you actually zero in on your creative expression to try and make it something more, the fun gets sucked right out of it in the same moment…

This week I had 7 days of no paid work outside the house. I suddenly had a long week ahead of me with no structure, and it was easy to feel overwhelmed by this void of spare time. Usually I strike a balance whereby I work for 3-4 hours outside the home and then I do the blog, but this week I felt like I should take this chance to work non-stop on it.

Instead, I pretty much shut-down and turned my back on my to-do lists, plans and creativity altogether. For me, if I spent all my days off working on the blog that would mean wholeheartedly acknowledging my financial worries. It would mean giving into the crappy part of travel, whereby you feel like the thing you love doing is at threat because you can’t maintain a decent and sustainable income on the road.

But when it comes down to it, it goes beyond just my external stressors; I also have a chaotic number of goals and ambitions exerting internal stress.

I have so many ideas, about so many different things, all hanging over my head like tiny little speech bubbles. They follow me around and steal my mental clarity, and even my sleep. I tried to unload some of my ambition baggage onto a wall of post-it notes; I literally wrote down all the different goals, short and long-term, that were muddling up my brain. Then when I realized my cheap post-it notes didn’t fancy staying stuck to the wall I had designated for them, I thought I’d try something more compact and functional.

I moved to Asana to try and outline my different ideas and suggest practical tasks relating to them. But since opening an account 2 weeks ago I have probably revisited it once…

Am I my own worst enemy, neglecting the very problem-solving routines I know can probably help me out? Or am I just totally overwhelmed?

• Overwhelmed by my goals, and the wealth of advice available out there designed to help me reach them.

• Overwhelmed by the acute internal pressure of building something financially viable out of a life-long vocation.

• Overwhelmed by the knowledge of potential and the struggle needed to make it a reality.

• Overwhelmed by the amazing output of my fellow creators and my desire to be a fledgling part of that community.

You might be feeling something similar, or, if you are passionate about your creative pursuits and have the goal to take them to the next level, then it's likely you too will find yourself experiencing general overwhelm.

What can you do to ensure a little break doesn’t become a full-on break-up?

You need to get back to the most fun part of blogging and make it simpler to do.

1. You need to implement a simple planning system.

2. You need to accept the bad days and write when it feels right.

3. You need to acknowledge your fears and worries as well as your goals.

Foremost, you need to enjoy the life you have chosen and live out the mantra's you advocate via your blogging creations.

You need to remember that having a passion and something that you are good at, is truly a privilege, something to be grateful about and empowered by.

Also, how can anyone find the stories they read on a blog truly aspirational if they feel like the writer is not actually enjoying living out those experiences, and relishing the opportunity to share them in honest and authentic detail?

I personally would rather see my favourite blogger produce one amazing blog post a fortnight, and take their time creating products, than try to produce and publish non-stop, because the quality of their offering will suffer.

I get that us creatives are always tweaking our strategy, changing our routines and finding what works best for our audience, but we shouldn’t lose sight of what works best for us.

I truly believe that blogging overwhelm is a double-edged sword; on one hand it proves your passion and reaffirms your 'Why' for doing what you do, and on the other hand, it literally sucks to experience.

But the path to where you want to be, who you want to be, is littered with obstacles, up-hill climbs and stress, but so much of that will come from your own internal dialogue.

Pressure isn't bad, ambition isn’t either, but when the two become bigger than the act of doing what you enjoy, then the balance has been tipped out of your favour.

I took some time out, time I didn't measure or dwell on, and I did all the random things I felt like doing, like binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy, and reading a novel, but what felt like wasted time was actually a much needed break.

The break clearly worked because I felt refreshed and ready to write this post. It wasn't a long break but it was enough.

I did think through my goals, and realized that I can likely reach them one day, but if I don’t chill, take a step back and remember to enjoy creating and living, they will become insurmountable dreams instead of entirely possible outcomes.

Suggested reading for some inspiration when you aren't feeling so overwhelmed:

The Ultimate Guide To Boosting Blogging Strategy

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Thanks for Reading!

Hannah here, one half of NomaderHowFar. I love reading, the beach, proper fish and chips, and a good cup of tea. But I mostly like to chat about minimalism, simplifying your life, the beauty of travel and sometimes I get a bit deep. Get to know us here!

Be social and come follow us across the virtual world!

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Sell Out or Miss Out? [The Travel Blogger Problem]

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I can see this post being received in a couple of ways. They’ll be a few who will agree with me, nod their head in sage agreement. Some might agree even though they are kind of the subject of the blog. Then they’ll be some who are downright offended.

And I welcome them into the discussion.

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Sell Out or Miss Out? - The Travel Blogger Problem

Travel blogs have gained popularity and thus commercial value in recent years. As a result, there is a trend toward a formulaic style of travel blog, designed to market the blogger as a good salesperson, in response to what is supposedly commercially appealing. They use their blog as a way to sell themselves, doing what it takes to get freebies, press-trips, product placements and sponsorship deals. Cause’ obviously that’s the only way to afford travel right?

Photo of attractive individual in a perfectly photographed shot, check! ‘As seen on…’ various websites, check! A tagline about your unique approach to travel, check! I get it, any travel blog aiming for the big-time needs bold branding, and wants to demonstrate their gravitas by highlighting their total online domination.

But since when did a travel blog become less about great content, genuinely useful tips and above all, storytelling, and more about marketing, bragging, image, and money?

Blogging grew from a niche hobby people were embarrassed to admit to, to a fully-fledged business model, with successful blogs on every topic out there in the world wide webs. Over time amidst the rise in blogging popularity, a dumbing-down of sorts has occurred. People begin a blog with the express purpose of it becoming their job. Now with thousands of travel blogs out there, bloggers end up rehashing (side-note: check out South Park episode, '#REHASH') content shared by other blogs, barely making any effort to cultivate an original voice. They become a content pumping machine without much regard for quality.

Admittedly, some people think there isn’t an original thought in existence these days, so what hope does the blogging world have?

But in pushing for the further commodification of our blogs, are we not also bastardizing what can and should be a beautiful expression of life-changing adventure?

Definitely loving that I got to use the word ‘bastardizing’ there.

Maybe I am bringing too much of my own prejudices into this. Maybe I am just envious of the success of others. Maybe I have to accept the fact that anyone can start a blog, and that they certainly won’t all care about content as much as I do. Maybe I am just a hateful individual who vomits in their mouth several times a day whilst looking at other travel blogs. Maybe. But I do believe it’s a positive thing that many of us are able to make a living off of our talents, because some of us are actually talented. Then again I know why I began blogging, with no thought of money in mind, and I always remind myself that each time I write. I always ask myself if I actually believe in what I am sharing, and I always do, considering I write a travel blog not advertising copy.

THE UN-RELATABLE TRAVEL BLOG

Often when visiting the more popular blogs (and the ones trying to be), I am made to feel like I just can't join this group of people who are generally quite pleasing on the eye. The back of my head with its curly ginger locks looking at a view just isn't that aspirational. My hairs really average. A focus on image and appearance is understandable in the fashion/beauty blogger realm, but ours?

Well, I suppose people can't help if they are attractive, but then again there is a widespread attack of the filters and overly posed photography across many travel blogs.

When I see articles pop up on pinterest, or see a blogger has made it onto some trashy news site, my attention is often drawn to the appearance of the bloggers, not their ‘amazing’ story. That’s because they look like frickin’ supermodels.

Our best attempt at a piss-take model shot haha!

They don’t look anything like I do when I’ve just hiked 3 hours up out of a rainforest, or even just walked 2 minutes to the shop in the Australian heat. I rarely see much of the sweat and sun-tan lotion combination that is the key everyday look of the average pale traveller in hot exotic land (disclaimer: this is not pitch for free sun-lotion).

Even on the blogs created by so-called relatable budget travellers, it can still feel like they are pandering to being a marketable product void of edge and self-awareness.

I can’t imagine Christopher McCandless posing up a storm whilst listing his achievements boldly and intimidatingly, alienating those regular folk who just want to read a well-told story and look at some pretty pictures. Nor can I imagine him purporting to be unique or special, as if he is doing something nobody else is doing or has done, when in reality, there are a lot of travellers out there (not all of whom travel into the Alaskan wilderness and eventually die). Very few travellers ever blog about it, some just travel, embrace it, enjoy it and don’t feel the need to try and make money out of it.

Of course its great to share and be proud of your achievements, if you put in the hours being creative, you deserve the joy of sharing that. But when your achievements all lead back to numbers and figures, then you just aren't that relatable any-more as a travel blogger. Just remember how it felt that day you had 1 visitor and then that day you had 100. That's still pretty cool. And much more a common occurrence for most bloggers.

Others, like us at NomaderHowFar.com decide to share things. In a selfish sort of way, we like to believe our words make a difference. We write out of compulsion and love, whilst also hoping to find some modicum of an audience, to engage people, and potentially inspire them. But I cringe at the idea of ever representing ourselves as anything other than normal people.

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GAINING FINANCIAL FREEDOM THROUGH BLOGGING

We are not against the idea of travel bloggers earning an income via blogging which enables them to keep travelling. But of course when they do, it kinda takes them further away from the members of their audience who aren’t being paid to travel.

We are naturally very open to the idea of making an income from our blog. Why? Because obviously we don’t want to spend our entire travel life going from one short-term and uninspiring job to the next. It’s often quite demoralizing. And let’s face it, if a company wishes to pay for my lifestyle of choice, then I am not going to throw it back in their faces. But I also won’t compromise my world view for a payday.

But a major reason why it might be nice to earn a bit, is because we bloody love creating. We love writing, taking photo’s and making movies.

Whitehaven Beach was an amazing place, this is the view in the evening when all the tours leave!

We pour love into all that we do, but money (or the lack of it) won’t alter the way we do things. Even though the short-term jobs we take on, pull us away from our creativity and temporarily ground us, blogging is still the thing we do most evenings and weekends, out of pure passion. It has been for two years, and we have never made a penny from doing it. But its a priceless collection of memories for us, and the connections and conversations we have as a result, are pretty awesome too.

Some of the bloggers that I genuinely do put on a pedestal, are not the ones that everyone would immediately recognize by name. They are the ones who found success naturally and over time, their own small pocket of opportunities and travel experiences, which does technically mean their blog is also a business. But the humble manner, and content-focused way in which they conduct themselves, is done with so much more elegance and integrity, it feels right to aspire to them.

It’s refreshing to witness their success via their continued creativity and engagement with their audience, as opposed to seeing them shout from the social media rooftops, just how great they and their blog are.

WHEN EMULATING SUCCESS ANNIHILATES INDIVIDUALITY

I suppose it is a double-edged sword. We witness bloggers gain commercial success, we look at the way they sell themselves, and we copy them.

We all dream the same dream and end up resembling a queue for the X-factor auditions; we all have our own life stories of hardship and how travelling is the dream we just have to live out. And the other edge is that we try to write stuff which will be frequently clicked and read, based on the algorithms of trends, social media sites and hashtags. We create differently, we alter our natural output, do some nipping, tucking and censoring, occasionally raising feathers with attention-grabbing posts when we believe it will equal clicks.

We iron out the kinks of our own individuality, because we think it’s the only way we can be successful.

Conversely, we over-push the thing about us that we believe is unique, and thus create a vast distance between story-teller and reader.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO THE TRAVEL BLOGGER PROBLEM?

So you want to make a living travel blogging but you don’t want to compromise your integrity? Well, that might be a bit tricky. The marketplace for bloggers is a competitive world, and the advertisers and companies helping them make money, are pretty much all looking for the same thing; a marketable blogger of the aspirational kind, who can get high traffic that will provide a return on their investment.

If you can get high-traffic and commercial success whilst being your completely honest self, to the nth degree, then more power to you.

If you have the passion for storytelling, but still decide to follow the blueprint of others, and focus on the money, then you need to regain perspective on not just blogging, but the thing you are blogging about; travel. The truth and purity of that dream, the purpose behind it, goes way beyond your blog.

Long-term travel is something people have done and will continue to do for a long time. They will have amazing, challenging and complex experiences, and yet, many of them won’t make a commercially successful blog in the process. They won’t sell out, and they will certainly not miss out.

For more food for thought, check this this awesome piece 'Travel Bloggers are Lying to You'

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Thanks for reading!

Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!

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Our Goals for 2016: Growth and Travel Plans

Our Goals for 2016: Growth and Travel Plans

Originally we had a wix site, which was shocking. Then we moved over to squarespace. This was our first blog post ever. Bless...

The first year we just wrote about preparing to travel, because it's what we were living and breathing. The second year we started sharing our travel stories, as we hit the road in Australia. Now into our third year, we want to take things to the next level.

Yep, that was what our website used to look like...

We love our blog. We love being creative, and communicative, and love the interaction and inspiration. We simply wouldn't blog and make videos if we didn't enjoy it. But we'd like it to expand in ways that are even more creative and engaging.

Its a very British thing to do, play down your goals and achievements. We wouldn't want to seem a bit over-zealous or hopeful, or as if we actually have self-confidence and self-belief. We succeed but we do it quietly, most of us anyway...But we are not defined by the culture in which we grew up in, being international travellers, people of the world, so I am going to step out from the shy, reserved trope of an English person and be bold and honest with you.

We want big things for nomaderhowfar.com this year. And we want to continue enjoying Australia, and see the rest of this ginormous place.

• We want to increase page views, partner up with companies, causes and brands that we believe in, feature more guest bloggers, and feature on other websites.

• We want to try out new cool relevant travel products (we have our first product review coming soon).

• I want to get published somewhere other than on our website, as much as we love it and our audience. I love writing and reaching readers who i can interact with, so writing on some other platforms seems the right way to go.

• I want to work in social media, building great followings for other bloggers and companies, having learned so much in the past two years about consistent and quality social media strategy.

• Taran wants his videos to gain a broader audience. He spends hours creating these beautiful visual stories, hours editing the footage and hours sharing it, and it deserves a bigger audience. Especially with some of the absolute shit that people in their millions watch every day. I may be bias but I am the first person to say if I think his video isn't right, and he'll be the first to tell me he doesn't like something I've done.

• We want to keep producing original, topical and personal content. Sharing our travel stories, and our thoughts on all manner of topics that we care about.

• We want to get some more stunning shots and footage on our go-pro and our newer canon addition.

• We hope to meet some of our fellow blogging comrades and nomads.

• I want to finish, publish and release my e-book on minimalism. On the back of that release I'd like to create a consulting service designed to aid people with introducing minimalism into their lives.

• We both want to continue to travel Australia, meet its awesome residents, as well as our fellow travellers from all over the world.

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Maybe it seems like we are hoping for too much, that our goals for the blog are cliched or predictable. But we are encouraged toward these goals by the fact that we have witnessed a steady consistent growth in audience and page views. February saw a record-high of 12,000 page views. We get so excited to see that more and more people are hopefully being guided or inspired by our content. And that is what drives us.

At the core of all our goals is that fact that we obviously love travel, it is what we do, what we gave up our previous lives in England for, so we would like to keep doing it, capturing it, and sharing it, for as long as possibly can.

Blogging goes hand-in-hand with our nomadic lifestyle, so we hope this beautiful partnership only grows in 2016.

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Thanks for reading!

Hannah and Taran here. We hail from Southern England, where we met online and are now realizing our mutual passion for travel here at NomaderHowFar. We discuss Nomadic Living, Simplifying your Life and Long-term Travel, to empower, motivate and inspire our readers. Get to know us here!

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