It’s Ok to Not Always be Busy

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe we are already one month in to 2019 – January felt like a whirlwind of a month. I was traveling in Cyprus and Jordan for the holidays (will share pics in an upcoming post with suggestions what to 

do/what to see, stay tuned!), I got back about 10 days into the new year, and got back to work with a new outlook and motivation!
Every year I try to set new goals of things I want to accomplish, and it’s not because I want a “new me”, but mainly because I want to have new things to work towards and look forward to!

2018 was a rather difficult year for me personally, and so I put this blog a little on the back burner while I tried to figure myself out. I started focusing on my work, and eliminated the “extra” and non-essential things I had committed myself to during Grad School. Things like running social media accounts for different things and stressing out about generating new posts just weren’t serving me. Instead they drained me. Also, getting sucked into the Instagram void and worrying about follower numbers really sucked all of the fun out of blogging. It was hard because in the various communities I am a part of, success seems to be defined by num    ber of followers, how many likes your posts get, who reposts or shouts you out, etc. etc., and I found myself feeling shitty when other accounts that are a year old were surpassing me on the follower count and being deemed successful by others. This wasn’t what I had signed up for when I started blogging in 2012. I started this website. I didn’t start out being an Instagrammer or Instagram Blogger.

” It was actually quite freeing – eliminating the extra things, and being able to focus on what I need to get done – and not feel guilty about it for once.”

I hadn’t been invited to events all year, everyone else seems to be invited consistently to give talks about their social media expertise — and I was like, what! I have experience in social media and marketing for the last 7+ years. Can’t let myself lose my focus or self worth because of what I’m seeing and being flooded with on social media. I had to remember that the Instagram algorithm has changed, so the constant posts that I see on my feed are only there due to IG, and it is not representative of what’s actually going on. It’s a nasty cycle and it’s caused me to step back from everything and just focus on my main task – my postdoc and my projects. It was actually quite freeing – eliminating the extra things, and being able to focus on what I need to get done – and not feel guilty about it for once.

Social media makes you feel like you have to constantly be BUSY. Constantly have to be hustling. That every second of your day needs to be accounted for. If you aren’t working towards your social media reach, your social media content, your X Y Z for your brand/account/whatever, during your downtime from your experiments or day job, what are you even doing with yourself?

Let’s get this straight – it’s ok to not always be busy.
I get home from work mentally exhausted, and tell myself I’ll read some papers, I’ll create some content for my Instagram or blog because I have some extra time in the evening. But does it happen? Right now, it hasn’t. It may seem like I’m aimlessly wasting time when I could do something more productive, but watching my shows on Netflix or Hulu for those two hours I have at night to wind down before another busy day at work is just what I need. Getting rid of the guilt of always being busy because I see others being busy really helped.

“Let’s get this straight – it’s ok to not always be busy. “

So with that – I am hoping to get back into my blog a lot more in 2019. I am hoping to post twice a month if I can, with new outfits and articles giving you more Grad School and Lifestyle advice. Having fun with photographing new outfits and getting creative again, writing again, is all I want. A creative outlet to have. To continue having.

I’m hoping this makes sense. It’s been something I want to get off my chest for a while. 

I am enjoying just being the moment, doing what I need to, and dancing to the beat of my own drum.

By the way – this is an outfit I wore to a friend’s birthday this past weekend. It was cute and even though it was cold, the nylon tights kept me warm! I was also pleasantly surprised that my feet didn’t hurt in these high ankle boots!

Outfit: Top: Express | Skirt: Just Fab | Felt ankle heeled boots: Forever 21

 

Have you gotten sucked into the social media vortex? Do you ever feel the pressure of having to “always be busy, always be hustling”?

Is there anything you want to see as far as new content? Please let me know, I’d love to create more of what you want to see!

Let me know in the comments below!

xo

Andrea

 

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