I can always tell when I’m going into a slump. I’ll stop reading books, my emails will go ignored, maybe even my hair will go unwashed. Instead, I’ll spend a little more time playing games, too many hours watching mindless shows, and days thinking about writing instead of writing.
Lately, I’ve been in a slump. And hence the lack of regular posts. I have so, so many things I want to share, but instead of the beautiful fluid sentences in my mind, they come out in horribly fragmented bits and pieces on screen (so please excuse me if this post does not make sense).
This kind of slump always ties back to frustrations over a lack of purpose. Last time, putting all my efforts back into blogging helped. Not only did it fill the hours of my day, it made me feel like I was offering something important to the world. For the first time, I felt proud to show others my blog. I knew I spent an abnormal amount of time on it – time that surely could be more wisely spent, – but I felt justified in seeing my page views creep up (slowly) month after month. And so in turn, I spent even more time on it.
But the thing is, blogging is just my hobby. I don’t make any money from Slightly Astray. Basically, I’m not disciplined enough to learn about SEO or analytics or whatever, and too cheap to take courses or pay for sponsorships, so there you go.
I have very mixed emotions about this blog. It’s strange because this is one of the most important things to me, but at the same time, I know it’s completely unimportant and irrelevant.
I spend a ridiculous amount of time on this blog because I’m not sure what else it is that I could be doing. Blogging provides a distraction from real life. It gives me an excuse to seem busy (look! I work even harder than D!), to seem like that I’m doing horribly important work, and perhaps, most detrimental of all, to not actually look for paid jobs. When people ask what I do, I have something to show. It makes me look like I’m a productive, functioning human being, when in reality, it’s not contributing at all to our life.
Currently, our life is traveling. And while we’re unsure about what the future would bring, we know one thing for certain: we would really like to keep on traveling. So I need to start doing things that actually contribute to this future we envision.
So that brings me to: I have a new job! Well sort of. Not exactly.
The reason we’re even able to travel in the first place is because of D’s online retail business, which allows him to work remotely. However, because the US economy has been in the shitter for a while, business hasn’t been great, and well long story short, it’s no longer a reliable source of income. We need something else if we want to keep on keeping on.
So recently, D started a new business venture, because the best way to combat a struggling business is to start another, right (as he has already done three times over)? This new one is an online software-as-a-service business, which complements our lifestyle nicely. Unlike the other business, it requires no employees (as of yet) and the profit margins are crazy. It has been several months now and it’s been a slow but decent start, and we’re very hopeful about the growth!
So all this to say that for now, I’ve put this blog on the back burner in order to spend more time helping D with the new venture. It’s rather monotonous work and I don’t have anything to show for it, but the fact that this could be the start of our new future excites me. Most importantly, it gives me a new sense of purpose. It makes me feel like I’m finally working towards something great, that I’m helping to build our future.
As for this blog, don’t worry, it’s not going anywhere. I love that this blog serves as a digital scrapbook of our travels. I’m already kicking myself at how behind I am, so I will still try my best to write regular posts (even if it’s just weekly or mostly pictures). I’d love it if you stuck around. :)
Do you have a love/hate relationship with your blog too?
P.S. I’m on North to South this week as part of their traveling couples interview series talking all about our nomadic lifestyle and how we fund our travels, if you’re interested in knowing more!
Well this one certainly hit home. I absolutely know how you’re feeling and it’s so nice to hear/read that you feel the same. It’s such a tough balance between being fulfilling and draining. I understand your transition completely and — of course I’ll stick around!
Thanks so much Caroline! :) I I’m glad you and so many people can relate. And oh gosh, I can’t believe I’ve been so behind on blog reading too that I didn’t even see that you had to cancel your SEA trip. I’m so, so sorry to hear that. I’ll go comment over on your blog soon!
I felt the same about my blog too but then I realized that the purpose of my blog was to make me happy and that’s really all that matters. If I’m not happy with it then I take a break. If I love it then I pour myself into it. People go through phases so you should never feel guilty if your priorities change! If it’s a hobby and you enjoy it then that’s all hat matters. :)
I agree that we should love working on our blogs. And if we don’t love it for the moment, then it’s okay to step back until we’re ready to get into again. :) Thanks so much for reading and the support, Julie!
I think I have been in a slump for a very long time then, as far as my book is concerned, because I too, have been thinking about writing more than writing it. In fact, think about writing is all I do nowadays, gosh!
I think D’s (and yours) new venture could be a good move. It is not just the US economy, the shiity economy is worldwide, and I think retail is doing badly on all fronts, so going into a services based business really does make sense. And I think you’re right to put more focus on helping the business. As much as I (we) hope you can focus on this blog, at the end of the day it is what puts food in your mouth and a roof over your head that really matters, and we’re not going to be able to help much on that. I’m sure most of us would be understanding.
[I always thought your blog would be more revenue generating than mine. Maybe you should update your Contact page to let people know you are open to collaborations/income opportunities]
You know, I’ve thought about that, but then I think, if I really do start to make money from this or do sponsored activities, then I’d be forced to post more on a schedule or write about things I don’t necessarily want to write about. And then I may really lose interest in blogging. Not generating revenue means that I can write about whatever I want and post whenever I want, but then on the other hand, sometimes I do feel like it’s all a waste of time, heh. So I realized that right now, it is more important to focus on what will let us to keep on traveling. :)
Best of luck with your new business! I go through slumps as well and then remind myself that my blog is my hobby and I try and focus on just having fun.
Thanks so much Kiki! I SO admire you because I honestly don’t know how you post so often per week (I can’t even catch up!). I wish I could do that!
Thanks so much! If I don’t plan and write over the weekend for a bit it is so tough to get posts up during the week for me!
Oh I definitely have a love hate relationship with my blog! I go back and forth with how I want my blog to be….do I want it to just be an all time consuming hobby or do I want to really put in even more work to make a couple of dollars! haha! Good luck on your new venture and can’t wait to see your upcoming posts!
I think about that all the time too. I feel like if I did put ALL my time into blogging and take the time to learn everything, maybe I can generate some revenue… but then, I would probably only make a tiny bit of money for all that work! I’m just a lazy blogger so it’s easier to keep it as a hobby!
Lovely honest post, Anna! Let me tell you though, your blog is definately not irrelvant, it may not make money but so many people enjoy reading your blog. I travel through your eyes as I’m not travelling at that moment and have learned so much about the places you have been :) Honestly, I adore your blog!!
That is also geat news about the new venture, it sounds like just what you need at the moment :) Sometimes I have times when I don’t want to write, or feel I have nothing to write about and so I think to myself, I won’t. You are right, it’s a great hobby but not an income so you don’t have to do it! X
Awww thank you so much Marcella! That meant so much to me, seriously!!
This is what is great about a hobby blog, we can post whenever want to and write about whatever we want! Which is one of the reasons why I also don’t really want to turn it into a business. Luckily D has a million and one business ideas. I don’t know how I got so lucky with an entrepreneur bf!
Agreed 100%! :) Have a wonderful weekend, Anna!
Congratulations on your new business venture. I go through this lumps every now and then. Honestly, I feel the blog gives me the necessary tools for my career (I studied marketing) and I learn (and mess-up!) a lot through blogging and social media. Now I’m diving my toes on SEO and Adwords, and by diving my toes I mean I just installed plugins and they work but I still have A LOT of studying to do. I feel like the more I do this blogging thing, the more consistent I get, and the easier it becomes to manage. But we will see how this develops, for now I’m embracing this complicated process.
I think your major is perfect for seriously launching your blog into something more! I wish I knew something about marketing (I know nothing), and I’m too focused on the writing part to learn it. Best of luck with your learning. I would love to hear about what you’ve learned and if they are helping with the blog!
Congratulations on the new business! Firstly, I wish you both a lot of luck with it :)
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with me blog. OK, I never hate it but I have that dilemma about the amount of time I spend on blogging versus what I get from it. Which, right now, is a pretty fun hobby, people to talk to and a place to share my stories. I am definitely not making money from it.
I like that it gives me something to do all the time, but I admit, I wouldn’t mind making something back from it. A little bit of money, or at least a consistently growing readership. I’d like to dedicate time to more useful blog posts, but I just don’t have that time.
I thought about blogging when I trying to decide whether to quit my job, I thought about trying to turn it into something that would bring in money and I found that quite exciting, but I’m still at my current job, so that’s not happening. yet.
One of the reasons I didn’t want to just quit is because I didn’t want to feel like I wasn’t contributing to I can appreciate the importance of this new project to you. Plus, we can wait for blog posts :) What makes you feel happiest is what’s important.
Thank you so much Kerri! I do like that I “meet” so many like-minded people through blogging. I would say this is the best part and that’s why I continue to do it. I would probably feel so lonely on this journey without the community. I always wonder too if I should write more useful, informative posts too. But I honestly hate writing those! You have such a huge readership though, I’d be surprised if you can’t turn it into something more, with a bit more work.
I definitely don’t feel as lonely any more, I prefer interacting with people like this haha. I sound so unsociable, but in some ways, I really am that unsociable.
I was thinking about the “useful posts” but they bore me, I have to really be in the mood to write one and then they just turn into something sarcastic, so all use becomes lost.
Thank you! I hope by the end of the year to break the 1,000 followers barrier. I don’t know why, I just have my heart set on that number. Though, I’m not going to cry if I don’t get it.
I hope you go home safe and everything is OK! Or as good as can be! My thoughts are with you and your family. Take good care of yourself.
The first response I had was: Just because something doesn’t make you money doesn’t mean it’s not important or meaningful! :)
But I have to say that your questions about blogging mirror my own, so I can’t be too quick to say words like that without saying them to myself.
I think, though, that sometimes we underestimate the unseen benefits or unquantifiable benefits of things like blogging or just hobbies we enjoy. Maybe the purpose or joy we find in them isn’t traditionally how we find value but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
Your thoughts make me think of my own contemplations about happiness, worth, and usefulness. I think they are all interlinked.
Anyway, good luck with your new ventures and path. Maybe it’s not so much that blogging isn’t valuable but that you need to diversify your interests? I know I am guilty of trying to derive all of my joy from a sole source (not saying you do this, saying that I tend to do this). Maybe this also will put less pressure on blogging and also stretch your brain or use it in a different way? :)
Thank you Erika! I do tend to put all my energy into one thing at a time too. I think I have an obsessive personality where I will get completely obsessed over one project until I’m sick of it. I’m still obsessed with blogging, but I should be devoting more time now to something that will keep us traveling. :)
And btw, I’m still so excited for you and your book!!
I totally feel you. I love/hate mine so much, which is a huge contributing factor to my clockwork slumps. Only the development side is viable in a hobby sense, not a make-a-living sense, and I haven’t even felt like doing that. I started it as a way to get used to writing every day, meaning to eventually transition into fiction. So, uh, three years later, that hasn’t really happened. Aaaand it doesn’t help that I’m incredibly secretive about my blog stuff, so to the real life observer, I’m really just being a housewife – not good because student loans, ugh.
Good luck with the new venture :)
Thanks Kelly! To the real life people, you can totally say that you are a web designer who make beautiful templates for blogs, and that you get to work from home. :) I would love to write a fiction book too, but… no ideas… sigh.
Oh, yes, I totally feel you. In fact I think I’ve probably already written two similar posts! My malaise primarily occurs right after we return from a major trip abroad because our lifestyle/income/situation means that we generally get only one big trip every year or two. With Baby Gypsy on the way, the stretches between trips will probably grow longer and bring on more bouts of a love/hate relationship with blogging. Anyhow, I hope your muse comes back in full force and all the best wishes to y’all’s new business venture!
I go through ups and downs as well – like you said, soooo much time, and effort, and heart go into keeping up a blog, and even though I think we would all say we enjoy blogging, it’s still a ton of work to keep up and on top of! So I can completely relate with where you’re coming from. I know it’s so easy to think of worth as something that makes money – I have struggled with being secure with myself and my identity when I left my job, and the feelings still come back. But I hope you know your blog has great worth – I love reading it, and experiencing life through your eyes. Everyone has a voice that needs to be heard, and I love seeing your travels as narrated by you. I hope you aren’t too hard on yourself, and when you feel inspired, I look forward to reading more on your blog (can’t wait for some France posts!!!).
I love your honesty, Anna. I have a love/hate relationship with my blogs, too. They bring in a little bit of money, but month after month my boyfriend Ian’s Milky Way photography blog (lonelyspeck.com) still kicks my blogs’ asses!
You’ll still have me as a loyal reader, regardless of how often you post. And I’ll still continue to share your stuff with my readers, too!
P.S. Come back to Stylish Travel Girl! I miss you!
Haha I just figured you were too busy eating French food and wandering around summertime Europe to post! I feel the same way about blogging – SO much effort and no dollars to show for it! (And I’ve even paid for some courses to try to learn more.) Only, it’s SO hard to make myself do them or post when I finally get off work… and get back from the gym. I just type away on my laptop on my lunch break outside… trying to hide it from my coworkers. Keep posting, I check back all the time for more!
I haven’t blogged in months now, and it’s only after I made a lot of changes in my life, things that were making me unhappy, that I realised that while I love writing, I was blogging with the aim of trying to prove to myself that I could achieve something and be a somebody amidst millions of other somebody’s. Blogging was a distraction from real life, but the wrong kind of distraction. It stopped me from making decisions I should have made long before because all my attention was distracted from really thinking about what I wanted out of life.
Three months later, all that time spent on blogging about the places I’ve visited and the things I’ve done is spent actually working towards the things I like and actually visiting places. Instead of spending my Saturday morning’s writing and editing and sharing and linking, I’m down the allotment tending yummy fruit and veg, or enjoying breakfast in bed with a good book. Instead of spending hours sorting out layouts and widgets and photos, I’m planning new adventures, working on building my business, catching up with friends in real life… so many more rewarding things.
So I agree with you – blogging is your hobby, and I enjoy reading what you get up to, but concentrate on the things you enjoy more and work on building your future with D. Because in the end, these will be the things that provide you with lasting memories and mean so much more :-) And somewhere in your travels, you might just find that passion in life and the knowledge of what it is you want to do with your time.
Congrats on the new business venture! I love your honesty that oozes through this post. I think most bloggers have a love/hate relationship with their blog at some point. Especially if they aren’t making money off of it! Personally, it’s really easy for me to let it go by the wayside if I get into a slump. Since it isn’t financially supporting me, I stop! But I shouldn’t, because creatively it keeps me sane. :) I’m glad you’re sticking with the blog though! Love it.
Yup, this is entirely how I’m currently feeling with my blog right now. So behind, and yet so uninspired to keep writing because I really have no idea why I’m doing it. I think it’s okay to take a step back and reaccess priorities though – it’s an important part of the whole process.
Happy that the two of you have managed to start up a new venture and the best of luck in battling the economy!
I hear ya. Sometimes I get frustrated when I can’t give the time I want to my blog, but then I have to stop beating myself up. I have a lot I have to give my attention, like my actual paying job, my kids, husband, housework and actually traveling. I started the blog with hopes of making enough income to work less and spend more time home with the kids, but sometimes my blog has me working more. Slumps are natural, but we have to keep our blogs fun for us so that our blogs are fun to read for others. Good luck with your new venture!
Hey Anna, found this port from North to South’s FB – I agree completely (and with most of the comments too); I often think to myself, if blogging was my business/livelihood, I wouldn’t hesitate to quit and find something more lucrative tomorrow morning because on paper it just takes huge heaps of time and resources, and gives little back; likewise, I started my blog (under a different name/idea) in 2009 and have gone whole seasons without updating it nor the enthusiasm to do so. But I also find if I’m not ‘in the mood’ then the articles look complete trash – and rarely get the same traction too – so whereas I try to put something half-heartedly out regardless, good on you for admitting to the ‘slump’ and favouring your quality first; and hopefully you’ll rekindle the spark again whenever you’re ready!
Very much so. I am going to a blogging conference next week so I inagine I will be motivated after that. Good luck with your new venture. I always enjoy reading your posts.
When life gets in the way of blogging this is definitely a good thing! (well when life isn’t ‘tv binge watching’ obviously). If blogging is a hobby and your life is travelling I think it’s super that you guys are focusing on a start up business that allow you both to keep travelling! Best of luck :) xx
I can definitely relate to this. I’ve been feeling like I am in the same position myself and the best thing to do is always to take a step back and relax and focus on you. As long as you’re happy and doing what you love, your blog will always be here as and when you want to return and I hope you managed to get some time to focus on you and what you love. All the best to you and I’ll be eagerly awaiting your return if and when you do! – Tasha
I think of my blog as my personal spark. I have a full time job and a very busy life, and blogging is just for me. It’s something I do because I love to tell stories and make pretty pictures. Blogging makes my heart + brain smile. On a side note, whenever I am in a slump, I draw great comfort from Dr. Seuss’s book “Oh the Places You’ll Go”! You should definitely check it out!
“When you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourselfis not easily done.”
Good luck on your newest venture. I get into a slump sometimes, too. That’s the great thing about my blog just being a side thing. It doesn’t matter! The world doesn’t end if I don’t post.
Don’t beat yourself up about it Anna. Because your blog is a hobby not a business you can have time off or post irregularly – I’m doing the same at the moment. It should be fun not a chore :)
Congrats on your business venture! And I totally get you with the blogging slump. While I haven’t been blogging long, I do find myself somethings thinking I have no motivation to type anything. I think that’s just “life” and without these little slumps, the highs might not feel as exciting :)
Good luck on your new ad/venture. I hope you find it fulfilling and if you don’t you can always try something new. Be fearless and have fun. Hope to see you around, xxoo
I agree completely with what you wrote in the 4th and 5th paragraph.I’m totally in a slump for a month now:( everybody else seems to have his/her life in order (great jobs, babies, new flats) while I.. just travel occasionally. be that good or bad:)