On Taking Breaks, Burn-Out, and Blog Changes

Posted September 16, 2020 by Kate

(But no… I haven’t read Midnight Sun yet!!)

hello!

How are you? We haven’t chatted since my last post at the beginning of August – a little over a month now. I’m sorry about that. It’s so hard to believe how fast time is flying now that my life went virtual.

I’ve been on a bit of an unplanned hiatus this past month. Every time I step away from my blog – even by accident – I always worry that this little hobby of mine will fade.

For bloggers, it’s extremely easy for this passion project to turn into a chore, with the increased effort and time that’s put in. 

I haven’t been totally happy with my blog for a while now. I redesigned it and moved to a self-hosted platform (which I loved) in June to help spice things up and get more control, and although it was definitely the right choice (and I’m so glad I did it!!!), I lost a lot of engagement by switching URLs. Which I was prepared for, but it still hurt. So in August, when I realized that the thought of returning to my blog wasn’t a joyful one – I panicked. It felt like an identity change and the end of an era in one go ? I’ve been blogging since middle school – who the heck was I now?? Just someone who collects books for fun?? Pfft ?

So I put myself on hiatus until the “joy” returned. And low and behold… I’m inspired to blog again ✨ I’ve been itching to publish content and get to chat with you guys again! I’m finally motivated to write things other than reviews, which has been all I’ve been able to churn out for about a year now.

Burn-out is real. With everything going on this year, I’m working three jobs, plus being a full-time student, plus blogging and bookstagram, and I have no social life to show for it, as I’m living at home, unable to return to school until hopefully January. Everything kind of came to a head for me, mentally, in August, and blogging began to feel like a chore, as sad as that is to say aloud.

But taking a step back and going on hiatus ended up being an incredibly good thing for me!! ?

I have a vision for a new direction I want to go in, and I finally feel like this is the passionate, fun thing that it was supposed to be all along ✨ I love reading, recommending books, and chatting with all of you!! That’s what’s important. Not comparing myself to others, not keeping to a schedule, not publishing content for content’s sake. We’re all about supporting each other, not to put pressure and drag people down (even if it’s myself), and I need to remember that :)

Part of rebranding to kateadreamer.com (other than my old URL being narrow and meaningless, chosen by freshman high school me), is because I want to talk about more than just book reviews – I want to chat about life things, bookish products, organization, bullet journaling, college, working virtually, and my absolute obsession with reading! Don’t worry, the reading content is not going anywhere, but I don’t want that to be the extent of what this space is for. 

Do you worry about burn-out?
Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!


6 responses to “On Taking Breaks, Burn-Out, and Blog Changes

  1. Atene Angione

    Looking forward to your changes and additions… Life is hard enough with out you being hard on yourself. Enjoy.. We’re here.

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