From Clearissa Coward’s Command Center
I Had An Epiphany-AChange Is Gonna Come
How is your summer going so far? I hope you and your families are enjoying the hot, hazy, and for some, lazy days. Up until Sunday, July 15, 2018, my summer had been just like my entire year so far, filled to the brim with stuff to do. But on Sunday, July 15, I Had An Epiphany and it may have saved my life. Let me give you a bit of the back-story and then you can tell me what you think.
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If you follow me, you know both my mom and my hubs’ mom have not been well and were both placed in senior living facilities and neither of them live close to us. I am not going into all of that again. But suffice it to say that because of that we have been stretched out traveling to see each of them. And in my case, to make sure all is well with her and her property and her life in general. This all falls to me because I am an only child. Thankfully, my husband has a sister living in the same city as his mom.
However, even before our mothers’ situations took a turn for the worst, I have been on my hustle to make my blog a successful one and I have driven myself into the ground and into burnout without even realizing it. As a DIYer/Crafter and lifestyle blogger, in order to have projects to share with my readers/with you, I have to create and complete projects. Sounds easy enough…right? Wrong. While working on a project, photos and videos must be produced, each step of a project recorded, and supply lists developed as well. Also, pictures and video must be edited which is the most time-consuming part of it all. Not just any old photos but good photos and believe me when I tell you, a photographer I am not. 🙂 But I try. I have even invested in a decent camera, lighting, tripods and all sorts of little do-dads to make my blog a positive experience for my readers/for you. And if I say so myself, my photography and videography are improving. I love my blog. I love my readers/I love you. It is my passion.
With all that said, since I began taking my blog, my Youtube channel, my Etsy store, and my craft boutique seriously, I have done little else and on Sunday, July 15, I realized something had to give. You see, I have gained 17 pounds because I have stopped going to the gym. I do not see my girlfriends hardly ever, I rarely spend a day doing absolutely nothing or just sitting and enjoying my deck. And even more upsetting, hubs and I have not taken one vacation this entire year unless we were going to see my mom who lives 3.5 hours away or his mom who lives 2 hours away. If you would call that a vacation and believe me, it is not. It is some alone time in the car where we can catch up and just be for awhile. At this point, we take what we can get. However, it is not time enough to whoosah.
On July 15, I decided to reevaluate. I decided to regroup. I decided to reestablish myself and to make myself and my family and friends a priority. Do not get me wrong. I love my blog and I love you guys to pieces and I am so grateful for those of you who have been on this journey with me from day 1. But in order for me to make it worth your while and to keep you coming back, I have to be happy and relaxed doing what I love so much. Being the organizer I am, I decided to take myself on as a client and to organize my schedule as I would for any other client. The epiphany is that I can’t keep working 8 hours or more on my 9 – 5 and coming home and working another 8 hours on my business every night and most of Saturday and Sunday as well. Nope, the pace is not sustainable and it allows little time for anything else. And the 17+ pounds I have gained are proof positive of that. 🙄
I want to bring you good content. I want to be consistent on all fronts and to do that, I must find a balance in my life. I began this journey because organization, DIYing, and crafting are my passions and I thought it would be fun to share those passions with you. I have to get back to the fun and away from the stress of the hustle.
I promise you that I will get it together. I will create a schedule that allows me to take care of me, spend time with my family and friends and to make the Command Center a place where you want to hang out, learn something, share something and simply enjoy.
I began that change in my flow this past week. I went to the gym 3 days last week. I ate lighter lunches and I spent some quality time with hubs just having a cold drink on the deck 2 evenings. I even kept my grandson over the weekend and it felt good. I think I have come up with a workable schedule and I thought I would run it by you, my blog family.
Do you think it would be enough if I posted once a week to the blog and once every other week to the YouTube channel? That is the schedule I am thinking about working towards. I will also send my subscribers my newsletter once a week as well. I was thinking I would post to the blog every Wednesday, upload a video every other Friday and upload my chit chat newsletter every Monday. That schedule seems sustainable to me. It allows me time to live my life while bringing you good, consistent, and quality content. Quality over quantity. Of course, there will be little extras thrown in here and there but as long as I am working my full-time job, I think this is a good and realistic schedule.
So here is where you come in. I need your opinion. I need your feedback. Do you think this is a schedule that is worthy of a successful blog? If you are a blogger, please I would love to hear your thoughts. It’s taken a while to get to this place. Do you think I am on the right track to having balance in my life again? Can I do the things I love (blog and be an entrepreneur) and still maintain a normal life that includes time with my family, friends and especially myself?
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Until next time…I remain in my Element – God Bless!
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XOXO,
When I started a regular blogging schedule several years ago I decided I would only blog on certain days to post and I take weekends off. Right now, that’s just 3 days: Mon, Wed & Thurs. I chose certain topics for each of those days because I didn’t want to drive myself into the ground. I think you’re doing good with your schedule changes. I don’t see why you couldn’t just drop back to just doing a “Crafty Tues and Thursday,” so you have the other days to work on projects & photographing the steps, etc. I do a recipe blog on Mondays trying out Pinterest recipes and sometimes, I just run out. Last year, I took Oct-Dec off on posting recipes to have a chance to get ahead and just posted Wed & Thurs. To me, it has to stay interesting and fun. If it’s not, something needs to change. Good Job!
Sounds like the perfect plan! Good for you for putting YOU first!
That sounds like a workable schedule… and a good idea before you wear yourself totally out. You know my saying, ‘If you don’t take care of YOU, you can’t take care of anybody else.’
Hi V. Thank you. I think it is going to be workable as well. And if not, well I will just change it again. As you said, gotta take care of me first. Thanks for stopping in.
Hi Elisa. Thank you. I hope this will work for me and my subscribers. And thank you for stopping in. 🙂
Beverly, you have no idea how precious your advice is to me. Thank you for validating that I am on the right track. I will keep your ideas in mind too. And thanks for stopping in.
Okay lady,first of all, your personal life takes priority over your blog and especially You Tube. I got rid of my channels because it was too much work. Most readers to any blog dont catch 100% of what was written. Most readers dont care how often you post. I’ve struggled with this delima for awhile and realized, you post when you post. There are many successful blogs that only post once a week or once a month. They key is quality of quantity. You should never put anything above your own health and family..that’s goes for all walks of life and all jobs. Your fans and loyal readers wil understand and if they don’t thts their problem. The problem also is we all try to spread ourselves all over the place and from an emotional and physical standpoint thats not healthy. We will be here regardless of you post once a week or once a month.
I love you. Thank you Stacey. I know you are right and that is where my head is right now. It is so nice to hear it from a fellow blogger and once upon a time YouTubber. I know you get it. I know you are aware of the amount of work that it takes. But I also know that you know that when it’s your passion and you love it, well, it’s difficult to stop. So I am happy to hear that you will stick and stay with me while I get my footing. Thank you. I am figuring it out and I am happy you are on this journey with me.
Do what makes you happy and what you can deal with. There is no set number of posts per month required. You will get burn out real quick if you overdo yourself ♥
Hi Dee, Thanks. I totally agree because that is where I have found myself. I think cutting back for now is the best for me and my readers. I was not consistent when I was overwhelmed. Hopefully I will be now. Thanks for stopping in and for your advice.
Clearissa,
this really speaks to my heart as well. While I began blogging with very high hopes, real life keeps stepping in with surprises and challenges. I am down to only writing 3-4 new blog posts a month, and while that makes me sad, it is all I can manage. It really is a lot of work producing, promoting and managing our blogs, and I think you are making the wisest choice in putting yourself first. As a fellow blogger, I appreciate so much you sharing your struggles with us, and your plan for adjusting life to make it work. While you are not generally blogging about life as a daughter caring for an older mother, that part of your story hits close to home as well. It is a hard phase of life, but it sounds like you are doing a great job being a great daughter for your mom.
Hi Sonja and thank you for the encouragement. Let me first say, I did not go in depth about the struggles with my mom because I really didin’t think anyone wanted to hear about that process. It has been quite an emotional journey and all I can say is…I am doing the best I can. As for my blog, I almost did not post this article either because I thought it may sound like I was complaining but I hope that is not how it came across. I was and still am at a place where I was simply exhausted. I gained weight and generally felt unhealthy. So I put it out there and waited for the backlash but everyone, including you, has been so very kind. And I found out I am not the only one in this place. I think my fellow bloggers understand more than some and if sharing my struggles makes another blogger feel less alone, then I am happy I shared. Thank you Sonja for stopping in and for your empathy.