A CHANGE IS HAPPENING

I recently sat down to an episode of the Ear Biscuits Podcast by the well-known Youtubers, Rhett and Link. If you don't already know, Rhett and Link are two family guys who produce daily videos on their Good Mythical Morning channel - I totally recommend that you watch some of their videos, they certainly never fail to make me laugh. It was one of their recent podcast recordings, though, that caught my mind.

The podcast was titled 'How do we deal with Youtuber 'Burnout''. Throughout the entire 1hr episode, the guys discussed the idea of 'Content Creator Burnout' and how, not only is it becoming more and more visible across YouTube, but that it was happening to themselves. They discussed 'burnout' as an issue which sees YouTubers under so much pressure (from both their audiences and themselves) to the limit where they're at breaking point. It's been seen where some YouTubers have taken a break from uploading content or, in severe cases, completely quit the job. And, of course, to quit or give up something that you first started for enjoyment and passion is sad.
The particular message that I got from this podcast was the moment when Rhett said: "You have to choose. You have to choose between complete creative control or mental health". This statement, for me, spoke a thousand words.

Obviously, you've probably already worked out that all of my thoughts were adapted to fit the context of my own content as a blogger, rather than a Youtuber. Either way, they're both platforms and types of content that bring along that inevitable fear of 'burn out'. The work that goes behind a blog post is a lot more than what's often seen on the other side. And, while I've been told before 'are you not just taking it too seriously?', I often think 'Well why would I have this blog, why would I work so hard, and why would I stick with it, if I just didn't care about it?'.

But that begs another question: is taking a step back showing that you don't care? Of course not.

As the guys mentioned in their podcast, it's coming to the point now, in the age of growing mental health awareness, that taking time to look after yourself and, in this case, avoid 'burnout' is acceptable. In fact, I wish I could say it's not 'acceptable', it's just 'expected'.

I started University at the start of this month and, boy can my stats tell me so. I had 3 posts up at the start of the month then even I started wondering where I went after that. In that time, I also started a new job as a Digital Content Creator within my Uni which meant that a lot of my creativity is being used within that role. At the end of the day, after working on content creation, understanding Uni work and battling through general day-to-day anxiousness, I am burnt out. I want my blog to stay where it is, I want it to succeed and I'd love to have content up there to show for myself but what happens when this burnout just means I can't. If I'm at home, I'm probably asleep - tired from the day's work. And I'm scared. Because what happens when Exam season comes around and I have even more to think about but that niggling thought of having a 'neglected blog' just sits in my mind?

Listening to Rhett and Link in that podcast has inspired me to make a new move with my blog. It's something that I haven't seen done before and something that, for now, I'm just going to experiment with to see how it goes.

I'm going to set my blog into 'Seasons'.

Just how your favourite TV show does so, I'm going to allocate certain parts of the year in which I'll upload blog posts and they'll be called 'Seasons' (for example, I'm currently in Season 1). I've been doing some planning recently and decided that, from now on, I will upload content to my blog between October-December and between March-June. There'll also be a week in August and perhaps some bits and bobs in between if I find myself with time and inspiration but for now, I've decided that the best way for me to look after myself and avoid any kind of downfall with my blog, this is something worth giving a go.

While I'll only upload content to my blog within these time, it does give me a better chance to focus on other parts of my 'brand' in the meantime. Not only should taking breaks build better content on my blog, but I should potentially be able to focus on new kinds of content for my Instagram. On the other hand, there could be some changes on my Twitter too. I'm going to tone my tweet scheduling right down. Over the summer, I was at the point where around 30 promotional tweets were going up per week but now I'm going to listen to my mind, body, and schedule and take that down to around 7 tweets a week. At first, this change might start off a bit slow, but I'm really excited and confident that it's going to work out in the long run.

There may be more changes along the way but right now I'm accepting the idea that planning my blog into 'seasons' isn't giving up or 'not caring', it's simply working out a way that's best for me in order to make the best blog I possibly can.

What do you think about Blog Seasons?