What I Learned During My Break From Blogging

I know, I know. I’m coming to you with another “I’m back and better than ever!” post for the millionth time. Every time I came back, I was sincere in wanting to be back for good, but life happened. The last time it happened, I got so frustrated that I completely shut my blog down for good. It felt like I would never be able to do the things I wanted to do with The Cozy Compass, so why keep it?

Any of this sound like something you may have experienced? Trying to make something happen, but it seems like there is always some obstacle keeping you from moving forward in the way you want to. Super frustrating right?

Well here’s what I learned during this most recent break from blogging:

Perfectionism has its positives, but it can be a hindrance when building a brand

Perfectionism and positives in the same sentence? Blasphemy! I’ll talk more about this in a later blog post, but perfectionism isn’t all bad. Unless you’re trying to build a brand. I spent months dreaming about what I wanted my brand to ultimately look like, and rather than try to build to that dream I tried to make it look like that from the start. Big mistake. I was and am still learning the ins and outs of being a blogger/influencer so building has to happen. I tried to skip this step and ultimately only ended up frustrated when things weren’t going how I wanted them to. This realization also led to the next thing I learned.

Consistency is hard when it feels like your life is in shambles

A part of my perfectionistic idea for this brand included having a routine that was consistent and made sure I checked off everything on my to-do list. However, my reality was that I was really struggling in multiple areas of my life which led me down a path of depression and hopelessness. When you’re feeling this way, it’s hard to be consistent because you don’t have the energy to be consistent. I spent a lot of time on the couch scrolling through social media as everything around me continued to fall apart or stay where it was. It felt like there was no point in trying to move forward if I was going to keep getting hit with obstacles. Obviously, my mindset shifted at some point, but during that break I realized I couldn’t be consistent because of where my mindset was during this break.

You can do it all, but there’s a time limit

What ultimately led to my depression was having entirely too many things on my plate that I was trying to devote equal energy to. It was impossible to keep going the way I was, and I got burnt out pretty quickly. I still can’t believe I pushed myself for as long as I did, but I eventually reached my limit where I couldn’t do it all anymore and a lot of things suffered as a result of my burnout. I’m picking up the pieces, but in a way that makes sense for my life and what I am able to do.

So now what?

Now that I know all of these things, I know what I need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. This means giving myself grace and the opportunity to make mistakes as I rebuild this blog and therapy brand.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to make sense.

I’ve reminded myself of this multiple times as I’ve prepared to step back into this brand. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to be perfect. I just need to be me, and that’s enough. My posts just need to make sense so you can understand the message I am trying to bring to you.

By not focusing on how perfect it has to be, I can create a schedule that is consistent and allows me to show up for ya’ll. I can still have a full plate, but instead of letting things fall off the plate if it becomes too much I can put it aside to be picked up at a later time. I don’t want to do it all anymore. I felt like I had to do it all to be the person everyone expects me to be. Now I understand that being me is just doing what I can and doing it to the best of my ability. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty amazing. Even without all of my accomplishments, I am a person that people like to be around. I am more than my accomplishments.

I talked about me in this post, but if this resonates with you I encourage you to think of ways you can make changes in your own life to let go of the perfectionism, create the schedule that works for you, and create a plate that is full but not overfilled.