You may (or may not) have noticed that I have been stepping back from blogging and social media lately. When I started out, I used to post five days a week. I was in college and had ample time to create content and post regularly (I started blogging in 2014). Once I transitioned into the working world, I embraced quality over quantity and went down to three heftier posts a week. Over the past few months, those three posts have dwindled down to only one or two a week.
Why is that? Well, like just about everything in life there are several reasons. First, my workload in my 9-5 (which is actually more of a 7:30-5) has increased. For those of you who don’t know, I work in corporate retail here in Seattle and have recently added several new categories to my work portfolio. That means more work and responsibilities need to get done in that same 40 hour time frame.
Second, I’ve been focusing on other aspects of my life and my personal development over blogging. Last fall/winter, I started working out a lot and that lead to discovering a whole new side of myself. Who knew I’d be running a half marathon a year later? Not me! However, that all just takes a whole lot of time. Time that is already in limited and precious supply. (read about my marathon and exercise journey here)
Finally, my mental bandwidth has been running on fumes for a while now. I don’t think many of us realize how we are being pulled in a million different directions at every moment and just how exhausting it is until we hit bottom. I was lucky and realized that my mental fog was being perpetuated by always having my phone in hand, blogging, and social media all on top of being a young working professional who leaves the house at 6:45am and only returns after 7pm. Something had to give and I chose to step back from blogging and social media.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR NW BLONDE?
For now, not a whole lot.I don’t think that much will change from where it is now. I’m planning on sticking to this current Monday/Wednesday posting schedule with the occasional Friday post thrown in. This is just a temporary lull until I’m re-energized and ready to start moving on ahead at full force (aka posting three times a week).
What do you guys do when you need a break? Has there ever been a point when you needed to step back from your work, side hustle, or personal life? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time,
Ana Luiza
SHIRT: Old Navy // JEAN: American Eagle (similar here) // SHADES: Amazon (only $10)
Photos by Jenn of Hello Rigby
