11 Ways To Manage Your Blogging Anxiety

Blogging Anxiety? Does blogging affect your mental health?

Blogging is a journey; an immense pursuit than many realize when they are just starting out. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you didn’t know and as soon as you begin to feel you have “arrived”, it suddenly dawns on you that you’ve barely scratched the surface.

A lot of people talk about how blogging or writing has been a full time source of income for them but many do not talk about the failings and the psychological mind battles they had to go through to get to that point.

6 Ways Blogging Can Take A Toll On Your Mental Health As A Content Writer

• Times you wake up and the first thing you want to do is to see whether you made some money -in your sleep and how much.

• Any affiliate marketing sales today?

• Conversions on your email list?

• Traffic…the Achilles heel of every blogger or writer – how many sessions or views you got in closing the day before (because you were tired and had to go to bed early, so you did not get to see those statistics).

• Everyday you wake up in the morning and the first and only thing on your mind you want to see or interact with is…you guessed it right. Your blog! -Either to make corrections or add some more points you realized you skipped from that special post before it was published.

• During the day when google analytics becomes your sweetest addiction as you see those lines strolling in, showing someone is on site. Yay!

• Or when what you see is “0 active users right now on site” and you think it’s because of this very reason you can’t have nice things. Ugh!

Talking about generating traffic and what you can do in addition to your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social media strategies, Pinterest is a great place to start, to widen your reach to your right audience.

If you choose to give Pinterest a try, you need to ensure you do it right from the very start to get the best out of it. You can sign up for this course by Ellduclos on “Pinterest Strategies” here. It guarantees a great start on what exactly you should do and shows you how to stand out from the crowd on Pinterest. What’s the point of writing a blog or book with no exposure or anyone reading it…right? Sure no one ain’t got time for that.

Related: What To Do When Success Happens Suddenly And You Are Unprepared

Blogging is awesome if the results are positive, but what happens on those days when the numbers are down or you see no reward for your labor-or so you think?

Times when you doubt yourself and wonder if this is the right path to have taken or whether you are in the wrong niche to begin with or if blogging is dead or whether you are chasing shadows or may be you are just tripping and will only have wasted your time at the end of the day.

The glaring truth is, those days are seen as bad days and they take a toll on the mind and mental health. Can you cast your mind back to the time before you started your blogging journey and how you had none of these “blogging worries” you now have?

What great bliss!

Yes, things saturate the mind which could lead to anxiety. But blogging has its own kind of anxiety. It’s exciting and could be demotivating at the same time depending on the kind of results you see when measured with your level of input in your blog.

This is not to say your blogging dreams and goals are dashed or unattainable. So before you throw in the towel or cry “Woe is me!”, just so you know, YOU CAN write or blog and be successful at it- IF you work on your mindset.

At such times when you wonder if you would achieve anything on your blogging journey or probably wonder if you are just wasting your time (which happens every now and then, regardless of whatever you choose to do in life), these are things you should actively keep in mind when you feel anxious about your blogging adventure.

What to do when you feel you’ve reached rock bottom and wonder if your blogging dream will ever work:

1. Ditch Comparison

You need to run away from comparison like a plague if you want to avoid blogging anxiety. Comparison exterminates joy and happiness. It will only succeed in getting you discouraged and drain your motivation. Any bit of growth you achieve, should be success in your eyes. Comparing what you have achieved so far with the journey of others is not a place you want to be. Instead, surround yourself with positive people who would encourage you to continue pressing forward.

2. Celebrate Your Little Steps

Celebrating your very little baby steps keep you motivated and away from blogging anxiety. When you celebrate your little successes and achievements, you feel more inspired and accomplished to forge ahead. Your celebration doesn’t have to be something out of this world but you know- acknowledge you’ve attained a new height and celebrate it in your own little way.

3. Be Patient

Most times we want to get to that next BIG milestone overnight or even within a few weeks and that’s not always possible. You need to be patient with yourself. These are waters you have never navigated before and you are doing all you can to do it well. So instead of wanting overnight success, be patient and work at it, to get better as you continue along in your journey.

Related: 10 Practical Ways To Overcome Anxiety

4. Do It At Your Own Pace

One step at a time. Make sure you accomplish a task before going on to the next. It may seem like things are not moving fast enough the way you envisaged at the beginning, but you need to work at your own timing to make sure things align at the end of the day. You don’t want to put the cart before the horse, so you can get the exact results you want.

5. There Is A Difference Between Blogging As A Hobby And Blogging As A Business

People blog for different reasons. Find out what your “why” is because that will determine a lot of things. Is your blog a hobby or do you want to make something out of it as you go along? Determining this from the start could have a huge impact on what you do as you progress and knowing which it is, also determines what you would get out of it on the long run.

6. Measure Your Success By What You Learn And Implement

Your yard stick of success should be what you are doing with the information you gather. Amassing information alone is not enough. Execution of the information, is what is key to be able to achieve that dream you see. Thankfully, there are many articles out there to show you exactly how to go about each phase you are in. You could also join blogging Facebook groups so you can expand your knowledge base and possibly meet other bloggers or writers to help you along the way.

7. Create Realistic Goals And Work At It

For you to properly manage blogging anxiety, you need to set only realistic goals which is dependent on your individual circumstances. It’s good to create realistic goals and it’s great if you outperform them. If you however fail to achieve them within the time frame you have set aside for yourself, give it another shot and don’t be too hard on yourself. Give yourself some grace and don’t stop till you reach the top…YOUR top!

8. Your Writing Is Helping Others

Always keep this in mind. Knowing that you are helping at least one person out there with your wealth of information is something to be proud of. Remember that regardless of what happens, one head is resting easy because of your writing skills. This should help your motivation and continue to nudge you to keep going.

9. Enjoy What You Do

You need to enjoy what you do to be able to keep at it. If you don’t, it could be very frustrating just as it is with any other thing in life. If you don’t enjoy your niche or keep your goal in view, you could get easily discouraged when you don’t see the results you expect immediately.

10. Consistency

Being consistent is key -though some times, life could get in the way. Always dress up and show up at your station. It’s very possible to feel like you know, not doing anything especially when you face the writer’s block. Take a break, but not for too long so you can nail down those fresh ideas as they come along. Remember it’s when you push through during those times, that you actually grow and evolve.

11. Don’t Give Up

When you are about to give up or before you raise up your two hands in defeat, remember your goals and how far you’ve come. It’s too early to throw in the towel and it’s never too late to follow your dream. Give it time. If you persist long enough, you will get to your goals.

Related: 16 Ways To Keep Moving And Never Give Up

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Bonus Tips

-As a writer, always have your note pad ready because you don’t know when or where your next inspiration topic would come up. And when it does, scribble the thought in one or two lines immediately, to set you up for when you are ready to pen down your thoughts.

-Don’t forget to diversify your assets to mitigate your risks -be it affiliates or source of traffic because one slight change in search engine algorithm or sudden inactive affiliates, can take a huge hit on your goals.

Your turn…

Happy writing!