Nizwa, Oman
Should you quit blogging?
Everyone reaches the point of considering this question. Sane people at least think about quitting blogging once or twice during particularly brutal low points. Deluded bloggers blindly charge forward not due to fearlessness but because the ego obscures their partial desire to throw in the blogging towel.
I experienced a series of blogging clarity moments over the prior week when I originally wrote this post. I want to offer a broader perspective of what it takes to blog in addition to when you need to throw in the towel.
Blogging is not for everybody. Becoming a professional blogger is only for a small lot. Anyone can go pro. I encourage you to go pro if you feel resonant with the blogging platform. But at some point, either you know blogging seems to be your path for a bit or you realize blogging no longer serves you.
Quitting?
I did not ponder quitting at the original post publish date but realized how incredibly challenging blogging becomes at various points during a long career.
Understanding the difficulties we all encounter reveals clearly why most bloggers quit. I get it. I feel you. After blogging for 15 years, I still slam into strong resistance at times because no matter how long you blog, leveling up is necessary. Become successful. Go pro. Level up. Level up once more. Do uncomfortable things you feared doing for 16 years. Level up once more. Dig deeper into fear. Level up. Or face, feel and release subtle fears. Level up.
Leveling up feels freeing, fun and sometimes overpoweringly scary, exhausting and not worth the effort.
Being attached to blogging outcomes feels tiring. Letting go of traffic and profits obsessions energizes you.
Never become heavily attached to blogging or else you will not see clearly. Quitters cannot see that they need to blog for just a bit longer for their next breakthrough, if too attached to blogging. Bloggers who should quit torture themselves for years, wasting their time on something best released to do something else that sings to them.
Does this Sound Odd Coming from Me?
I know this blog post topic sounds odd coming from me. I advise to see the journey through but only if you genuinely love blogging. If not, mail it in. Let go blogging. Do something else. Nothing seems worth trading oodles of time and energy for, if you lack passion for your craft. I love blogging so I keep blogging. However, legions of bloggers who just want to make money blogging, harboring no passion for the gig, need to exit stage left to follow their heart.
Blogging is one of many ways to profit online. Being a professional blogger is one of many ways to express yourself while earning a living. I am partial toward being a pro blogger but also encourage you to take my advice or to leave my advice. Do what works for you. Keep the ball in your court. At the end of the day, taking complete responsibility for your choice whether to keep blogging or to quit blogging gives you peace of mind.
Freedom seems resonant with blogging. Bloggers enjoy expressing themselves, helping people and prospering online. But blogging also demands incredible amounts of work as well as mental adventurousness revealing deep fears, uncomfortable situations and a sky high tolerance for risk.
Blogging Is One of Many Ways to Profit
Blogging is one of many ways to profit online.Click To Tweet
Do you see my email list opt in link here? Perhaps you have noticed how this post seems longer than usual? I began actively building my email list and optimizing blog posts for SEO based on a series of unfolding events. I resisted each activity but slowly see how I best serve most people through each activity. My preference dissolves a bit more.
No one needs to do each or either to succeed but everyone needs to figure out how to best serve people through your blog. Listening to your intuition helps, too.
But imagine if I quite blogging for months – or completely – because I refused to build a list and SEO-optimize blog posts? Each still feels heavy to me but I am learning to trust my gut. Our intuition knows the way. Immediately, the resistance began to dissipate. I noted increases through my blogging campaign. However, each increase only unfolded because I kept blogging to move in a previously unexplored direction.
Your blogging journey is intimately personal. Follow your path to decide whether or you should quit blogging.
Spotting the Signs to Change
Spotting:
- wild social media volatility
- various online and offline experiences from my life the prior few months
- inner pulls
- the power in ownership
let me shed my prior strategies of not actively optimizing posts for SEO or not actively building a list. Stop on a dime or else you may be in big trouble. However, the fear I had to face, feel and release to precede this decision felt highly unpleasant. I cannot lie; the sensations did not feel like a casual stroll in the park.
Should you quit blogging? In some cases, definitely. Rewinding to recent experiences reveals how some bloggers would be wise to quit if they walked in my shoes, not because I am some insane, fearless blogging machine but because if you face enough resistance for 15 years you may be prodded in another direction. No one knows the answer but you. However, understand that blogging is not for everybody.
I do not plan to quit blogging anytime soon. But I will likely quit blogging down the road to move in a different direction. Life is not meant to be spent in front of a laptop for years. Real living often begins the moment you step toward something far more liberating and freeing.
Let’s explore the question.
Should You Quit Blogging?
At the end of the day, decide for yourself whether or not to continue blogging. Look less for convincing. Go within. Obtain enough information to weigh different viewpoints. Spend time in quiet. Make the best decision for you and your family. Everything genuinely hinges on you. Never forget that. You decide whether to move forward with blogging or to move in a different direction.
I edited and updated this prior video-only post. Note the permalink: how to avoid quitting on your blog. I sway toward helping bloggers blog. Naturally, expect a bias toward helping you blog through ups and downs. But be aware of equally important warning signs that your blogging days seem to be over. See yourself and your blogging campaign in the light of truth. Few enjoy being honest with themselves but only you know the honest answer, for you.
Beware Who You Trust
Never make decisions solely based on feedback from friends, family or readers. At the end of the day, imagine if I had listened to most folks back when I trashed my old blog to create Blogging From Paradise? The majority of people who heard about my shift bemoaned my move. More than a few suggested I scramble for ways to save and convert the 3,500 blog posts.
I understand their concern but more than a few offered feedback through the filter of the fear and loss. Would I want to trust loss? Why would I make such a critical decision by listening to someone suffering from the fear of loss?
I intuitively knew I had to release the old blog to make room for Blogging From Paradise. Based on feedback alone I may have made a mistake in clinging to the old blog. Friends, family and loyal readers often mean well but how many have clarity, confidence and detachment enough to offer spot on feedback?
Some may be attached to you, your blog and your prodigious blogging skills. Others simply advise “not to give up”, being ignorant of how you genuinely feel. Trust your gut before everyone else to make the right decision for you.
All answers flow from within. As odd as it sounds, we know the answers to all life problems. But we need to get help from others to find out answers sometimes as guides teach what ego obscures. Bloggers often appear at the moment you need these people to offer you timely advice. At the end of the day though, trust your gut.
Keep Blogging
Blogging feels fun most of the time. Moments of frustration arise here and there. Be at peace with discomfort. Keep blogging. Do not quit. Blogging is for you based on your predominant feeling of love, passion and relaxation about blogging. Again and again, blogging is a feeling thing. Never forget that how you feel dictates your blogging direction.
Passionate, fun-loving bloggers need to keep going. Even if you feel some deep fears, suffer temporary setbacks or slam into some hopeless moments, you need to keep going. Keep blogging. Go for it. Do not quit. Do not give up. Allow your feelings to be the guide. Let your inner pull guide you. Intuitively, we know when to keep blogging and when to quit. Feeling good most of the time clearly indicates you are not done with blogging yet.
Factors
- feel good about blogging most of the time
- blogging work tends to flow smoothly
- you feel energized sufficiently to dissolve blogging obstacles with solution-based thinking
- you hold realistic expectations for your newbie blogging journey
Warning
Do not use quantitative factors alone to assess your blogging career, in terms of deciding whether to blog or to quit blogging. How can numbers on a screen alone dictate whether to blog or to quit? Avoid using stats-mad approaches to figuring your blogging path.
Bloggers stare at a screen, observe numbers, observe specific low energy feelings triggered, and throw in the towel solely based on numbers. Madness. Never let numbers rob you of your dream. Some passionate bloggers even quit if numbers do not seem big enough to their ego’s liking. Do not make this shockingly common mistake. If you love blogging, keep blogging.
Usually, choosing to keep blogging does not feel like an agonizing decision. Passion pulls you to stay the course. Your mind knows blogging is the way, online, at least for the foreseeable future. However, keep the numbers-factor in mind from the prior paragraph. More than a few of the top bloggers on earth spoke of barely making scratch for quite a while before success flowed to them.
Each of these pros loved the blogging gig; numbers simply had not caught up for a while. Imagine if these pros chose to quit blogging because of screen numbers, even if said pros felt passionate about blogging?
Ride out the Blogging Bumps
Blogging is not always a peachy-keen journey. Passionate bloggers struggle, fail and sometimes want to quit. Human beings are dynamic creatures experiencing a wide range of emotions. Be at peace with riding out blogging bumps. Never make the blanket assumption that fun-loving bloggers never want to quit or never slam into stout obstacles. Goodness knows I have. Every blogger who puts in years nudges through obstacles sometimes. This is par for the course
Understand how every pro blogger suffers through low points. Never believe that it’s quitting time solely because you slammed into strong resistance. Edge through the lows. Tomorrow is another day. If your heart tells you to keep blogging simply keep at it.
Quit Blogging
Blogging may not be for you.
Do not worry; you have billions of other things to do with your life. Blogging is simply one thing you choose to do or choose to not do. No big deal. Never make a huge deal out of blogging because doing so forms attachments to an activity often best left behind. Goodness knows I attached to my old blog for way too many years before knowing I could simply let it go.
I pondered quitting a few times during my blogging career. But I kept blogging because I did not flash any of the below warning signs.
Warning Signs
- lack blogging motivation most of the time
- a dearth of fresh content on your blog
- slam into writer’s block every time you try to publish a blog post
- after creating and connecting generously for years you have yet to make more than a few bucks and traffic never seems to grow
- general feeling of depression, hopelessness and despair concerning your blogging career
Pay close attention to the time elapsed since you felt crappy about blogging. For how long have you felt depressed? Has blogging felt heavy for 3-6 months? Every blogger suffers through some doldrums but if you have felt genuinely horrible about blogging for 6 months begin assessing whether blogging is for you or not. Based on the average human lifespan, spending 6 months of your life doing something depressing usually means it’s time to do something stoking passionate fires within your being.
Perhaps you spot the above warning signs 1 month into your blogging malaise. Only you know. Trust your intuition. Honor your inner pull. Know that following your fun pulls you in different directions at various points of your life. I loved playing basketball for decades but lost my passion and quit the game. Bodybuilding became my passion. After losing my bodybuilding fire, I jumped into blogging. I intend to be doing something else with my life down the road. I love blogging but passions change.
You know the answer. Spend time in quiet. Allow your inner pull to reveal itself.
There is no shame in quitting blogging. Admitting that you need to move in a different, fun direction is a bold, brave move.
Conclusion
Trust your gut. At the end of the day, your intuition knows whether to keep blogging or to quit blogging.
