Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Overwhelmed

You'd think that being jobless would allow me oodles of time to browse blogs and comment left and right. I wish that were the case. The fact is that I am as busy now as I was when I was working. A different kind of busy, but still. The only difference is before I forced myself to carve out time to Internet. And the time I carved out...usually in the middle of the night. Now I have more "free" time as in I'm home. But honestly, and so many people can attest to this, if I don't keep myself busy, I will go completely wonko!

So I garden and I craft. I do chores and bake bread. I cannot stand or sit in one position for too long (for health reasons). I write. I run errands and do yard work. I pick up children and (jobless) have the ability to run them to different activities. By the end of the day, honestly, I’m beat. When I was working I never felt this physically tired – emotionally tired yes, but physically? Not ever. If I can manage it, I make it to ten o’clock. But I’m finding more often then not, I am ready for bed by nine…sometimes eight. How pitiful is that?

Over the past two and a half months I have added nearly 75 new blogs to my blog list. I'm almost at 100. And those are just the ones I am officially following. There’s about another 50 or so that I just check in with occasionally. There is seriously no way I can keep up with them all. And to be frank, I've actually found myself not checking in with my blog because I feel guilty that I haven't been visiting as I want to - notice I say "want to." I certainly don't feel obligated but the sites I've joined I joined because they are pretty freaking awesome.

I guess what I’m getting at is how do bloggers do it all? How do they manage to update daily or at the very least on a schedule and comment on so many blogs? Do they allocate time? Stay up until dawn?
Blogging is supposed to be fun. And it is. I love writing stories, I love reading them. I love commenting and meeting new people (in so much as becoming blogging buddies is meeting new people).

Way back when – in January – when I posted my twelve goals, blogging more regularly was one of the ones I figured would be the easiest to achieve and maintain. I think I’ve done well. I hope I have. I have a few more followers than I did before so I must be doing something right.

I’ll throw it out into the ‘sphere:

How do bloggers make the most of their time? How do those with gajillions of followers and those that follow gajillions manage to keep up to date with everything?

8 comments:

  1. I'm going into my first summer at this and it's been getting harder for me to keep up as well. I love getting all the new followers that seem to be showing up lately. I love interacting with them and reading all the new blogs i'm finding. I've been trying to keep up on the reading from my phone when i have a spare minute but i try to come back to comment from the computer because sometimes, commenting doesn't work from my phone. (or from the computer at times either.) I've run out of hours as well and i found that i'm sitting in front of the computer when i'd rather use that time to be with my wife. I haven't really got a good answer for you, i'm just kind of glad to hear that it seems to be happening to everyone right about now, so i think everyone understands?

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    1. I'm glad I posted this because I was really alarmed that I was the only one with these concerns. Because, you know, I'm a Leo and everything is about me! :)

      But seriously, I am in even more awe of you because you are blogging from the back of a tractor or while calving a cow! That should be...I don't know...banned or something - although I'd certainly miss you! Seems dangerous.

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  2. I keep my blog list very small for this exact reason. The ones I follow I want to interact with and really read. It stresses me out if I can't. I have found that 24 is the number I can juggle, and still not be on my computer at home. Don't let it stress you out. It's not THAT important. I tell you that 'cause I haven't convinced myself of it yet. :)

    As for not having a job and being busy, you are a mom. That is more job than most people can handle. Whenever people talk about stay at home moms like they have all this leisure time, I want to smack them. I have no idea how you craft, bake, blog, read blogs, and are a mommy. When I read you read 100 blogs it made me tired.

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    1. I'm thinking about downsizing. There were a bunch I added for the photo a day and even more for the A to Z... but I'm still debating.

      Don't forget, in your praise up there, I also do chores! :)

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  3. I'm with Sporky up there. It's not that important, hit up just a few a day if you don't want to drop a few to make it more manageable.
    I only post three times a week. That's a regular schedule I can keep up with. There's no way I could do everyday, lest the quality go down even further than what it is now. As for reading, I like to wake up an hour early and read some then during breakfast and some before bed. Sprinkle it in throughout the day instead of looking at it as one bug chore.
    Be thankful you're keeping yourself so busy rather than wasting away on the couch.

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    1. I'm trying to keep with my Monday and Friday posts and then I'm scattering a few in between as I feel like it. This week I think I had a little bit more to write about...next week maybe not so much. And I'm am starting to feel okay with not commenting.

      Trust me, if I didn't keep myself busy...I'd probably already have planned and executed a bid for world domination! My husband was quite freaked out the first month or so I was home because he could only imagine all the mischief I could get into! Yes...I'm trouble when I get bored. Big. Big. Trouble.

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  4. I don't manage it all. I write when I feel like it. Maybe once a week, sometimes more but lately it has been a lot less. I really got burnt out from the A to Z Challenge. I visit the blogs that I can. Today, I only visited four blogs and only commented on three. That's all I can do.

    You're right, blogging is supposed to be fun. As women, we gravitate to self-imposed pressures. Why is that? I don't know about anyone else but I'm not offended if no one comments on my blogs so no pressure here:)

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    1. Thanks Jamie! I wish I knew why I put these pressures on myself too. Although I think men do it too, they're just more low-key about it. I think maybe it has to do with control. The world is so crazy that maybe if I can control my little section of it it will make me feel...secure? a productive member of society? I don't know!

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