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There are a lot of upsides to being a full-time blogger. Setting your own work schedule, being your own boss, and having the opportunity to collaborate with some of your favorite brands is pretty amazing. However, you’ve got some definite downsides: not getting paid every two weeks, being unsure of your next collaboration and dealing with competition can all bring a person down. Being an entrepreneur has been one of the most rewarding and stressful experiences of my life. After doing this full-time blogging thing for over a year, I’ve had to learn how to keep my spirits up even when I’m going through the most stressful of times. Here are some helpful ways to de-stress!
Prioritize
Prioritizing my daily tasks has been the biggest learning curve for me. Being a one-woman show is difficult, and I found myself focusing on things that really didn’t matter in the long run. Instead of planning out photo shoots and executing the ideas I had in my head for collaborations, I found myself negotiating campaigns that would never come to light, attending events that weren’t really worth it in the long run or just sitting at my computer and not really focusing on the one project I need to knock off my list (hello: you’ve gotta eliminate distractions so you can get through a task/project faster!)
Every morning when I wake up, I write out a to-do list for myself. By writing out all of the tasks I need to get done, I can then prioritize what needs to get accomplished during the day and helps me focus. The more focused I am, the faster I can get through my to-do list and the less likely I am to get stressed out.
Get Another Hobby
Oh, man. This piece I’m still working on. Before I started blogging full-time, my blog was my hobby. It was my fun creative outlet that I could passionately work on in my spare time. Now that my hobby has become my full-time job, it’s definitely not the relaxing hobby that it once was.
What are some new hobbies of mine, you ask? You guys know that I enjoy traveling, and I always make it a point to see a modern art exhibit of some sort while I’m on the road. Also, since I’m nearing the end of physical therapy, I’ve been taking the occasional dance class. Last thing that’s on my list this spring? Since I love food so much, I’m planning on taking some cooking classes so I can finally learn how to whip up delicious dishes myself. Since I share most of my life online, it’s hard for me to separate my hobbies from my blog work. However, I think it’s a good thing to have moments of your life that aren’t documented on the blog as one of your ways to de-stress.
Take Breaks During the Day
I had a really bad tendency to roll right out of bed, not eat breakfast, and start my emails and blogging for the day. I would then continue to sit on my computer for the entire day, maybe getting up a couple of times to feed myself or take a conference call. However, small breaks during the day are necessary to keep my stress levels to a minimum. I like to schedule small errands during the day to get me out of my house and away from work. I also schedule my physical therapy sessions during the workday; it’s an hour out of my day where I’m not on my phone and focused just on myself and well-being. When I don’t have an errand or doctor’s appointment, I’ll simply take a walk around the block during the middle of the day to get some fresh air and reset.
Have Friends Outside Of Your Field
Listen: I’ve had some solid blog friends over the years. It’s incredible to have someone in your life who does exactly what you do, and someone you can lean on for advice or vent about a campaign gone wrong. However, sometimes when I’m logged off for the day and still chatting about the blog to my blogger friends, it’s a little overwhelming.
I like to kick it with my friends who don’t have blogs as often as possible. Some of my friends don’t even have their own Instagram accounts, so even if I wanted to vent about a silly IG algorithm, they would have no idea what I’m talking about. We don’t bring up social media at all when we hang out, and it’s a sigh of relief when I can spend time with them. Seeing friends that work outside of my field has continuously been my saving grace over the years, and it keeps me level-headed.
Set Solid Office Hours
I’m not gonna lie: I check my blog email all the time. Like, as soon as I wake up. Right before I go to bed. On the weekends. All the time. However, do I respond all the time? Nope. I’ve learned to set boundaries for myself over the years, and I’ve started implementing office hours for myself. If I get offered a major campaign at 8:30 pm on a Friday night, I’m not going to stop hanging out with my friends/family at that point to run to my computer and respond to an email. It can wait until Monday morning. As of right now, I typically start working at 7:30 AM every weekday morning, and I try to log off by 6 pm each night. I try not to schedule shoots or work on projects over the weekend, but sometimes I might not have a choice — in that case, I’ll let myself log off a little on Fridays if that happens. I still end up working far more than 40 hours a week, but at least I have a little more work/life balance by setting office hours.
