Heyo Bookaholics!

Real talk now.

Side-note (get it, the note is on the other side of the screen (okay, I’m sorry)):
Everything I speak about here is from my personal point of view/ experience and all remedies for this are what I personally find that works for me during these times. I also do not get paid to release content as most bloggers, I do so purely for creativity and expression.

More often than not, when I do not post as scheduled, I feel horribly guilty as if I’m letting my readers down and as per usual my thoughts spiral down negatively.

As a blogger and maybe also someone who tends to write posts only hours prior to posting them, you may too know the feeling of being severely exhausted after a long day of university, homework, or just work in general.

The most prominent thing on your mind, amongst others, might be the blog post you’ve promised your readers that you’d post tonight, the only issue is that you; 1) Haven’t written it, and 2) Don’t have the time to.

This, in turn, brings on feelings of bargaining, intense and unrealistic planning, stress as the day goes on approaching your intended deadline (for me it’s 11:59 pm), and guilt of not having delivered on a promise. Almost like the 5 stages of grief.

I’m here to tell you that you aren’t alone.

I could spew posts and posts about “How to fit blogging into your daily schedule,” “Don’t be scared to change your daily plan.” or “Why I love writing lists so much!”, all of the above, posts I have planned for the future (and for the optimist in all of us). But realistically, our days are not always so structured and generic. Shit happens, things change, and our emotions, energy levels, etc. don’t always remain the same. We can let ourselves down this way. This is why I am a huge advocator for writing lists, especially to-do lists, and many of them.

For example: Right now, it’s 10:36 pm. I’m sitting in bed after having done all my set homework and notes for uni, a test and a yoga class. I’m sick, exhausted, with a giant headache and an 8:30 am class tomorrow but I’m currently writing this post. Why?

Well, the answer is simple really, I have inspiration. When I have inspiration there is nothing that can stop me from writing. When I don’t…

I won’t force a blog post or an idea. Here are the reasons why you don’t have to get that post out. Your blog is for you and should be an enjoyable ride not feel like a horrific 9-5 job that has a shitty commute.

It’s okay to delay that post.

For whatever reason, you are so dedicated to your blog schedule. Whether it be to keep a promise to followers, gain viewer count, tick off a to-do list item, or to have a neat line up on your stats, nothing is more important than your mental health and a good nights sleep.

If I am going to put a post on my public blog as a reflection of myself, I want the content to be good. Of decently high quality, and have it be something someone will want to read and gain either knowledge, comfort or entertainment from. By rushing a post, I have neither of these elements and the post ends up being sub-par content that even I don’t want to look at.

I’m not going to lie and say I’ve never rushed a post because I have and it came out as not great, but I kept it anyway because that was who I was at the time. I was content with that content then and I’ve learnt from it now.

It’ll take a hell of a lot of time (to slow down)

Much like your blog has taken it’s sweet time to gain traction and progress to where it is now, your mindset won’t just change overnight, but you can start now.

It took a while but I have learnt that I am busy and need rest to create enjoyable content, as well as stay afloat in my studies. As much as I want to push myself to create and learn, it really wasn’t happening. There is a time when you have to step back and re-evaluate what you are doing with your time and how you wish to spend it.

Remember why you started in the first place.

This is one of the top things I kept telling myself when I was going through a tough time with my blog earlier this year. I kept repeating every reason I started Jasper and Spice, and the reasons it has survived until today because that is the only way for it to survive in to the future.

Jasper & Spice was started on a want to create. To build something that I could be and express myself in any way possible. I wanted to explore the internet and connect with people. I put each and every one of those reasons in bold because nowhere in there does it say that I am doing this for anyone or for any gain. This is a personal journey meant to be creative, educative, connective and entertaining.

Another big thing for me is that I don’t have a large reader following which makes it easier to have more leniency on when I want to post. During one of my life crisis’/ evaluation of how I wanted to spend my time, I realised that I only had an obligation to myself and the promises I had made to myself.

All of this starts with you and your mindset. Once I’d realised that I needed to be easier on myself and prioritise what was most important – oftentimes that means uni over blogging – I understood that I could manage my time better. Reward myself with things I liked to do (blogging, reading and writing) and speed through those I didn’t (homework and assignments).

If you have set goals, reward yourself!

This is the simplest thing, yet even I forget to do it.

For every goal achieved in every sport and even in a classroom, the participant receives points to go towards a larger prize (like a medal or trophy), or in other cases, the reward is more of a prize (such as lollies or chocolate). Either way, the person who achieved the goal is rewarded by an enforcer, and you should be too, but in this case, you yourself are the enforcer.

Please be kind to yourself. Positive reinforcement will help you along the way as it has helped in other areas of life.

Some helpful reward ideas:

• • • A piece of your favourite candy
    • Watching an episode of a t.v. show
    • Re-reading Harry Potter/ A comfort novel
    • Buy a book
    • Exercise
    • Cloud gaze

Bad rewards:

• • • Doing the same thing you’re being rewarded for
    • Something that is unpleasurable

One other thing that goes alongside rewarding yourself, is being positive to yourself and telling yourself that you’ve done a wonderful job and that your post is amazing, so on and so forth.

Positive Affirmations – Give yourself the praise you deserve.

No one else will do it for you. As I said with positive reinforcement, you have to be the giver and receiver of positive affirmations to yourself.

Love yourself, be kind to yourself, and above all, recognise your achievements as they are important and you deserve it.

I really really hope that this post helps someone who is struggling with the guilt of not blogging/ meeting self-imposed deadlines. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed reading and gained something of value from the words I’ve shared.

Leave your opinions in the comments or alternatively on my social media channels!
Instagram // Goodreads // Twitter // YouTube .

See you back here on Monday’s (book reviews), Wednesday’s (storytime/ writing updates) and Saturday’s (other bookish content).