I left my job as a nursery assistant when my Maternity leave finished after having my second baby, Elliw. It was the right decision for us all, especially that I had moved quite a fair distance and couldn't drive, never mind with childcare costs too. Moving on and I was adjusting to life as a Mum of two, it was a huge step for me. I suffered postnatal depression and anxiety a few months after having Elliw. I started to struggle with life as a Mum of two, but a year down the line I found this whole new world of blogging. Well, I didn't actually enter the 'world of blogging' that moment that I signed up because, in fact, I had no idea about the whole thing. In my eyes, at that time, my blog was just somewhere I could write about my girls.
As months went by, blogging was the place I could start to feel like myself. I started to find myself in a way, which is pretty hard to explain over this. But not having much adult conversation in real life, it was nice to be able to come somewhere, during the day or when the girls were in bed, and just be me. Write what I wanted and just let all my feelings and stress out.
Further down the line and I'm nearly 5 years into blogging. It's been an amazing journey, with a few ups and downs but I'm proud to say that my hobby is also my job, which not many people can say. It's crazy to think that I now earn money through something I love doing. Don't get me wrong, I'd be lying if I said I've enjoyed every single moment of blogging because I haven't - not at all. There have been days, weeks and months where I felt like I wanted to quit. I wanted to stop writing on my blog, I lost all my confidence in the whole thing. I was worried about what people thought about me, and I just lost motivation. Luckily, I got through it, and I come back at it with lots of ideas.
Another reason I can lose motivation is when everything feels too much. When I can't keep on top of my work, life and parenthood. It can suck at times when I just can't find that balance. I feel guilty when I work on my blog when the kids are awake (when my partner is around), and I feel extra guilty when I'm working all day on it. But since the start of this year, I've told myself I need to be more organised, stop taking on so much work and start to balance my work life with my family life.
The whole idea of working from home is, so I don't miss so much of my kids growing up. However, working from home doesn't always work like that. Work from home parents/people still need roughly the same hours as an office worker needs, we just need to balance that work-life out with normal life, somehow.
I was recently kindly sent a Linx Tablet from AO.com as part of their new year's resolution's campaign. It has definitely helped me balance work and family life. Having a tablet that you can just either take out with you or wherever you go, really helps. It's helped me be a lot more organised than normal, such as meal prepping and getting on top of my blog work. As said above, I normally work when the kids are sleeping or when my partner is around. Having the tablet around with me during the day has really helped me, a lot. When I get e-mails through, I tend to write them in Word and also write a to-do list of what I need to do in the evening. Some evenings when I have no motivation to go on my laptop in my workplace, I tend to use the tablet in the living room and work on the social media side of things. This means I get to spend time with my partner as well while watching tv.
Each morning I have been writing to-do lists, and it has helped me be a lot more organised through the days. It's become a habit to do each morning now. I also love the perfect sizing of the tablet as I can just pack it in my bag if we are going out, which means I can work on the go without carrying my laptop around with me. I have been writing draft blog posts on Word document, which has helped a lot. As well as getting organised with my blog work, I've been making sure I add some things to do with my children or things to do on the weekend to - which again, has helped a lot.
Having someone that's really helped me balance my work and family life, has taken a lot of stress away from me. Knowing I can either do things on the go, do things during the day quickly without having to open my laptop, has really helped. The tablet is exactly like a laptop but on a smaller screen.
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* Thank you AO.com for kindly sending us a LINX TABLET as part of your campaign
Great post, Beth - congrats on making blogging your full-time gig, that's so awesome!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work! :)