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| Photo by Chris Shafer |
In recent years I've usually taken an unplanned "burnout break" around the middle of the year, but this year I thought I was going to make it all the way through.
I've been having great fun with my Knight City material for the last couple of months and that's certainly not a factor in my current mental health troubles.
Those stem more from anxiety fuelled by 'behind-the-scenes' blogger issues, that are probably nothing but fuel my inescapable habit of catastrophizing.
Couple that with an extended spell of bad sleeping and the dark clouds of depression have been rolling in, spitting voices into my head demanding to know why I'm "wasting my time" blogging...
So, it's time to take a step back.
The plan is to ease up from now until November. There may be some random posts, if the Tuesday Knights get their game on or if I watch something I really like and decide to review it.
Actually, that's one of the the new "rules" I shall endeavour to enforce for the future: I'm only going to write something up if I really enjoyed it and want to share the love (hence the absence of any commentary on The Flash).
I'm also strongly considering reining in the "news" coverage here. I mean, who am I kidding? HeroPress is not a news outlet. It started as an avenue for gaming chat and things just got away from me.
The plan, now, especially given the enormous fun I've been having with the Knight City bits and bobs, is to head back towards square one, start emulating blogs I respect (e.g. The Other Side, Halls of The Nephilim, Barking Alien, Monstrous Matters etc) and focus more on gaming (and comics/films/TV etc that relate to gaming).
While treating HeroPress like an (unpaid) job has definitely helped in some respects over the years, it's also created a massive rod for my own back. And I'm not getting any younger. Or healthier.
Sometimes I just want to kick back and binge a whole season of My Hero Academia or watch some films without that nagging pressure that I should be taking mental notes for a review... that, maybe, one or two people will react to.
In a roundabout way this is me saying HeroPress isn't going anywhere, it's just not going to be as frequent as it currently is, and when I post I'm going to try - for the most part - to make it more relevant to the core ethos of the site.
I'm sure the odd post will appear between now and November, there may even be a flurry of reviews now I have all this "free time" to recharge my batteries, but either way, barring any major catastrophes (real or imagined), normal service will resume in about six or seven weeks' time.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; you don't need to make as many posts as you do...unless of course you really want to. Hey, if it makes you feel good to do so, keep on keepin' on. If it's adding anxiety rather than relieving it, ease up a little. Do what works best for you. No one is keeping score.
ReplyDeleteI've recently being going through a rather strong bout of anxiety and depression myself. Blogging actually helps me and not blogging makes me feel like I'm letting myself down. I get it. Even so, this ain't a paid gig. There is no deadline, no quota to fill.
Do it because you enjoy it. Nothing else really matters.
Thank you for your wise words. It was your previous comments about the volume of posts I was putting out that helped pull me up and realise part of the problem I was making for myself.
DeleteAs I've always said I blog primarily for myself and the whole recent Knight City shindig is a case in point. When I took a step back I realised that the gaming material I was writing for my own enjoyment was still giving me immense pleasure, while the self-imposed 'need' to fill three to five 'slots' a day was sometimes giving me more grief than really necessary.
When blogging is fun (ie most of the time) it's an amazing fillip, that shot of endorphins you really need. But, invariably, as it was this time, it only takes something "technical" to happen for the whole joy train to come crashing off the rails.
Adam writes truth. You should do it because you enjoy it, and if you don't, you deserve to figure out what you do enjoy in its place. A few notes: (1) You are way too kind to lump my woefully neglected blog in with those other incredible landing spots, but I appreciate it! (2) For whatever it's worth, I DO get news from your site. Actually, making the rounds of those blogs you mentioned typically does a pretty good job of getting me caught up on important stuff when I've been away from these corners of the web for a while! With that said...don't do it for me, I can find news if I care enough about it. Which brings me to (3) The best part about your blog is the personal touch anyway, and finding out about stuff you're excited about, not just the most visible stuff in the geekosphere. So, I hope this break does its job in pointing you back toward what made you excited enough to start writing in the first place!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind - and wise - words. I think you've helped me focus my "concerns" a bit here. I was getting worried that the "personal touch" was being lost in some of the "news coverage" and I guess that's what I want to get back to.
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