Not many bloggers talk about the dark side of blogging and how dangerous it can be for your health, so I decided to bring up the subject.
I will discuss the dangers of blogging as I’ve experienced it since I started blogging more consistently in 2020.
How can blogging be dangerous for your health?
Blogging is a complex endeavour. Among others, it involves creating content, having a good grasp of digital marketing and SEO, dealing with website malfunctioning issues and having complex business management knowledge. As rewarding as blogging can be, you need to be aware that blogging can also be dangerous for your health.
Because bloggers have so many things on their plate to deal with, this can rapidly snowball and harm their overall health.
As a fairly new blogger, I often find myself sitting at the desk for hours trying to resolve some blog-related query. And I bet I am not alone in this. Bloggers are often a jack of all trades, meaning they deal with everything blog-related. This is common, especially among new bloggers whose revenue is limited and cannot afford to outsource some of their work.
It is easy to overwork on your blog!
It’s very easy to slip into a vicious circle where you work on your blog until exhaustion because you think that once you’ve finished with that task, there will be fewer things left you need to do later. The truth is blogging involves ongoing work because new things happen all the time.
There will always be the next Google core update to worry about or a new blog post you will need to publish. You will never be done with your blogging tasks. So, you better get used to this idea. This way, you’ll avoid the urge to finish everything today.
In the last 3y, since I’ve been running this blog, I’ve had ups and downs. I’ve had times when I would intensively work on the blog, followed by breaks to recover from the burnout. I realised this approach was not healthy, so I wanted to write about my experience here. Because perhaps some of you don’t even realise how blogging can be dangerous for your health.
Why is blogging dangerous for your health?
There are many reasons why blogging can be dangerous for your health. The reasons I listed below come from my experience. You could have had a different experience from mine, and your reasons can be slightly different.
Blogging can affect your self-esteem
As much as social media can be your ally in growing a blog, it can also quickly become your worst enemy. Why am I saying that? Because social media is where everyone gets to post about everything. We all know a good percentage of social media posts are pure exaggerations. As a new blogger, I often found myself in a position where I would compare myself with someone better, and more successful than I am. Someone who got better results in perhaps half the time I did it. Someone who already managed to GET WHERE I ASPIRE TO BE IN HALF THE TIME I NEEDED TO GET THERE.
These comparisons have a nasty effect on one’s self-esteem. You will feel down, you feel that you’re not good enough, and you will never succeed in the blogging world.
The truth is every one of us is on a journey to achieve something, even if that something is not becoming a successful blogger. What might come across as a failure in blogging, can open doors for other opportunities. So, stop comparing yourself with successful bloggers and focus more on your blogging journey, celebrating every success along the way. I bet we all had some success at some point on this journey.
You can develop mental issues
Blogging can feel lonely. Writing all those blog posts involves a lot of time by yourself. You can spend hours indoors trying to put together the best possible content. This can make you feel alienated from the outside world. Very rarely do bloggers have blogger friends in their immediate circles they can meet up with in person. Most bloggers usually only have online communities they are part of.
You need to be determined and enjoy what you write about to be able to keep up with your blogging work in this working environment.
You can develop complex health issues
Apart from the mental issues I mentioned above, blogging can be responsible for a series of other health-related problems. Too much time sitting in a chair can make you gain weight if you don’t keep an eye on how much physical activity you squeeze into your regular workday. You might even develop eye and posture problems if you don’t use a good-quality chair. Other health issues can involve headaches and sleep problems.
Feeling numb after a good few hours of sitting in front of my laptop used to be a good day for me at the beginning of my blogging adventure. I quickly reconsidered this working approach when I started to feel the negative effects blogging was having on my health.
You can experience stress
As much as blogging is portrayed as a fun activity, it can quickly turn into a stressful one. As with any other freelance activity, blogging can be an unstable income source. Not knowing how much income you will make each month can make you feel stressed about it, especially if you have some sort of debt or you are the breadwinner in your household.
No one said blogging would be easy. That’s why it is important to not put all your eggs into one basket and have multiple income sources. Also, be aware of income fluctuations and build an emergency fund, so you can be covered when your blog might not generate the revenue you were expecting.
How do you get to the point where blogging can become dangerous for your health?
Now, that we discussed what triggers the negative side of blogging, let’s see how we get to the point where blogging becomes dangerous for your health.
It is pretty simple. Bloggers get to this point because of their desire to prove things fast. They quickly want to become the best in their field, they quickly want to quit their job and follow their passion. Truth is things don’t happen overnight and one needs to have a long-term strategy to make blogging doable long-term.
Everyone is excited when they work on their passion projects because as opposed to their day-to-day job, they feel they own their blog project, and they identify with it, they feel passionate about it.
Plus, there has always been this fascination about being your own boss. Although you work 10,000 more, get paid 1000 less (at least at the beginning), and you are not even guaranteed any success.
There is nothing wrong with running a passion blog and wanting to be self-employed. Remember, do not stretch yourself too thin!
Learn to grow your passion blog patiently while having a good strategy in mind, and only add more things to your plate when you’ve mastered the basics of blogging.
How can you make sure blogging does not become dangerous for your health?
It all starts with the right mindset. This can be daunting since solopreneurship and blogging are such complex things to figure out by yourself.
Yet, this is what you can do to take care of yourself while growing your blog. I use the methods below myself, as I am still navigating my blogging journey.
Plan and distribute small tasks across the days of the week. This way, you will avoid sitting for hours in front of your laptop trying to get everything done.
For example, plan to proofread the article on Monday and choose the pictures for the same blog post on Tuesday.
You can find more useful tips on how to write blog posts faster in this blog post:
WRITE GOOD BLOG POSTS FASTER THAT RANK HIGH ON GOOGLE
Have regular breaks from blogging the same way you do with your regular day job.
For example, I use my phone alarm and give myself anywhere between 1h to 1,5h to finish a task. This way, I make sure I’m not sitting for hours on end.
Don’t beat yourself up when you cannot fix everything. There is always a way out of it, it might not be available for you now.
I cannot stress how many times I thought I fixed something only to realise something else needed fixing next. I felt so bad that I wasn’t more tech-inclined. Don’t be like me, and be more confident about your capabilities. Trust the process and reach out for help. Facebook groups and YouTube tutorials are wonderful, free resources that can probably help you fix most of your blog-related issues (including the tech and non-tech queries you might have).
Work with flexible deadlines. This doesn’t mean you will compromise the quality of your blog, but nothing happens if you don’t get to hit publish today.
As the saying goes, tomorrow is another day. I know this can come across as counterproductive. It is against what society promotes nowadays. The more you work, the faster success will come. From my experience, I noticed that things do still happen even when you slow down a bit.
Make sure you join a bloggers’ network. Whether the network is online or offline, it is always better to discuss what you go through with someone else.
When I started as a blogger, I felt so embarrassed that I never asked any questions. I would suffer in silence. Nowadays, I ask friends for feedback and publish my questions in Facebook groups, forums etc. Getting a different opinion helps you see there is more than 1 choice out there.
Do not start blogging just for money. Find a more noble scope to blog: helping others usually gives us joy.
Feeling a purpose of service through your blog is much more rewarding than making money from it. Just think of the income as a nice addition, but don’t make that your ultimate priority.
Have patience, and things will turn out just fine. Not necessarily when you want to, but when you are ready to embrace the new opportunity.
I got my first sponsored activity when I almost gave up and admitted that perhaps this blog was not good enough. The good thing was that it happened at the right time, as I was in a place where I could take advantage of what I was offered.
The positive side of blogging
Although I have focused mainly on the dangerous aspects of blogging, let’s not overlook the top benefits that come with this career.
Despite being an unstable source of income, blogging is still lucrative and in my opinion, will continue to be so for many years from now on. As long as genuine and helpful information is what search engines will promote, there will always be space left for blogging.
If you manage to establish several income sources through your blog, blogging is lucrative and can provide a substantial source of income.
Furthermore, blogging can easily turn into your full-time job. The good part is that being a blogger comes with greater flexibility than a traditional job can offer you. Whether you want to spend more time with your family or plan on becoming a nomad, being a blogger can support these lifestyles.
I am writing this blog post from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on a day I decided I would work on this blog post instead of exploring the city. There are few jobs which allow you this degree of flexibility. Luckily, blogging is one of them.
Knowing that blogging can be dangerous for you helps
Becoming a blogger and knowing the dangers this career path comes with is the best way to go forward.
You might have noticed that I called blogging a career option. That’s because I believe blogging can be a viable career.
After spending some time in the industry and reading a few memoirs of highly successful bloggers, I believe anyone motivated to put in the work can become a full-time blogger.
The key is to figure out the right strategy for you and have patience to go through the whole process.
The downside of blogging ( the same applies to any other business) is that nobody guarantees success. But this is a risk anyone takes when they start a new venture.
What to take away from this blog post?
Blogging can be dangerous for your health. But this does not mean you should not strive to become a blogger. As long as you are mindful of the pitfalls of blogging, you should not be afraid to launch your website today!