Another great post by Drtanya at Salted Caramel, who asked ‘what is the cost (not financial) of blogging to your personal life?’
# Cost of Blogging — Questions
- Does it infringe upon your leisure time? Unfortunately, yes. I was an avid reader and now I can’t remember the last time I picked up my kindle. Sometimes my partner has to drag me away, kicking and screaming from my laptop. I’ve only started blogging recently and now I’ve got the bug. There’s so many great blog posts to read (such as this one from Drtanya) and I have so much I want to say, so much that I want people to know about mental health, my time as a mental health ward manager…….. I could go on
- Worse still, does it distract you from your work/studies ? Unfortunately I am now disabled and unable to work but fortunately, it’s given me time to spend studying online and more time to spend reading good blogs and blogging.
- Is it taking a toll on your personal relationships ? Hhmm, well kind of, but not really. My partner and I both have laptops and we both spend a lot of time on them. Him watching or listening to the news and the latest politics and me – well blogging, of course. I suppose that means we spend a lot of time in silence (apart from him who has the tv on constantly too). He often says “Here, listen to this.” Me, eyes rolling “ah ha.” and I listen to his boring facts or figures until he see my eyes glaze over and grunts “Shall I just say nothing then?” We both smile and return to what we were doing.
- ‘Has your health suffered? Not really but, I suppose because I have Transverse Myelitis which has its own aches and pains, my back often hurts, my arms and shoulder too, probably from sitting in the same position blogging for long periods. My sleep pattern is disturbed by my illness anyway and I can have days where I don’t sleep at all then I start to hallucinate or days when I sleep forever and just get up to go to the loo. This means that when I’m awake for days I can continue blogging – until I start hearing voices, which distract me. So it’s a bit of a conundrum really – does blogging impact on my health or is it the other way round? That all said, perhaps I now have an addiction 😜
- Have you gained weight ? Ha, that’s a good one. Of course when I’m blogging I drink endless cups of coffee and I love biscuits. I love crisps, chocolate, sweets and……….. it would probably be quicker to give a list of what I don’t like or snack on. So I suppose I probably do put weight on, particularly as it’s known that we lose weight during sleep. Because of my sleep pattern, on and off for days, it probably balances itself out. I’ve only been blogging for two months and I can’t say I’ve put on weight because of it.
- Do you ever get writer’s block? Not yet, because I’ve just started. However, I do lose my train of thought easily. For example, when him interrupts me with his inane utterances or if I stop to take a telephone call.
- Have you ever suffered from blog related stress or blogger burn out? Maybe? Not sure if it’s stress but I found it really difficult at first when I was receiving so many emails with blogging post, 180 one day. Then I learned how to deal with this, courtesy of another fantastic blogger. Perhaps, because I don’t really have many other commitments i.e the boys have flown the nest and I don’t work, it’s a bit easier for me. I only have to stop for Dr’s, dental, hospital appointments or when him suggests we eat then I go help him cook 😂
Thank you once again to Drtanya at Salted Caramel # Cost of Blogging. We’d both be interested in your answers to the above questions. You can answer on Drtanya’s blog post or if you do a separate post, please link back to Drtanya and don’t forget # Cost of Blogging.
