I have been comparing myself to a lot of people recently as I feel as though everything I read is about having to work yourself in to the ground in order to succeed. I completely understand that it takes a lot of hard work, working endless hours and determination to reach a goal. However, I feel as though I am constantly made to feel as though whatever I do isn't good enough. I have definitely had periods of time in my life where I have doubted myself and my self-esteem has taken a knock. I feel as though I have been witnessing it in all areas of my life. I love that with my job I kind of leave it at the door. I obviously keep up to date with things I need to know about and attend courses, but I have no access to my work email at home and I obviously cannot really take my work home. I think I am lucky in this regard, as I do not think work and home life should mix. On my days off I use them to unwind as it is what I need.
I think blogging as a career is something which you must struggle to leave at the door. You can constantly do your work at home, you can pick up your laptop and start to write a post to get ahead. If I was ever lucky enough to turn blogging into a career, I would have to gain that work/ life balance for my own sanity. Victoria / InTheFrow is my biggest blogger influencer she has done some absolutely incredible work and she deserves all the success. I know on YouTube and on other social media outlets you are only seeing snippets and a snapshot of someone's daily life, but you can tell Victoria puts in the hours daily and nightly. She herself has openly expressed in her vlogs how stressed she has been recently. I also saw Tamara / GlamandGlitter who travels the world on a weekly basis for work, on one of her Instagram posts she flew from the USA to London and back to the USA in 48 hours. Someone asked her how she does it all and she replied honestly saying that there is no time for jet lag as work and content is always needing to be produced. Lastly, she said that it is "mandatory within this industry so I just do it". I honestly think Tamara is also one of the top worldwide influencers and it is easy to see it is due to her hard work. I am just not sure I could cope with all.
I know we all do things in different ways; I am not trying to compare woman to woman in the slightest. All jobs have different schedules and I am not going to deny this year I have come home from work and cried quite a few times at what I have seen and coped with. I know with time this will improve. I look up to the more senior staff for support but it can be crazy. We are all tested in life, but what I really wanted this post to be about is - does working all hours god send = success?
I do see certain influencers telling their viewers to chase their dreams and that everyone can do anything they want to. I just worry that we are moving in the direction that success only comes from running yourself into the ground. We are only appreciated if for example I volunteer to go into work on my day off. I am only coming from the perspective of the industry I work in, and I have also been a blogger for 5 years.
My friends and I have discussions about this often. Honestly, my friends have achieved so much already, and I have friends who are still working on their final goal. I do however find we all have a common ground of being realistic. I get people saying why don't you travel the world whilst you are young and have no attachments. Hun, I would love to, but it isn't just as easy to get up and go. I am just not sure that we can do everything that we dream of.
You can clearly see from how I have portrayed this post, that I have been comparing myself to others. Social media can be the devil, and I know that we have to be open the idea that most of social media is just the best and sometimes fake aspects of someone's life. I am just not sure how we measure success. I think many measure successes by the amount of money you have in your bank account. But does this equal happiness? I think we can often overload ourselves with work. I understand that in the blogging industry, it is difficult to earn money as you are relying on campaigns and regular readers in order to secure a steady income. It is essential though that we get that balance for our own sanity. It is not healthy to have no time away from your work life. Working so hard with such intensity at some point it has to come to a head and an aspect of your health whether it is physical, emotional or mental is going to start to be affected. However, once you are in the routine of this 24/7 work mode, it becomes life and it is harder to get out of the cycle than we think.
I can see it from the other side of this, that hard work does take determination, sleepless nights and sometimes risks. I am not in any way denying we shouldn't work hard to reach our goals, as it does take a mixture of so many things to become successful. I think what I am really trying to say is success is measured in lots of different ways. We need to all be a little kinder to ourselves and learn that things can take time to get there. I have learnt to stop comparing myself to others, and measure my own success by what I have achieved already. I have a mental list of everything I want to achieve but I know it will take time, and I need to not be too hard on myself. Things can sometimes takes a little bit longer than expected and that is okay.
Lucy
xoxo