How Blogging and Real Life Can Co-Exist

I fellow blogger never fails to tell me often that blogging is like losing weight. It is easy and kind of fun for a while but then it becomes hard work. What I find interesting about losing weight is I know exactly what I have to do to lose 20 pounds in 2 months, but the hardest part is sticking with it the entire 2 month period.

Blogging is similar. We listen to all the success stories that surround dieting, exercise and losing the fat. They all tell you it is a lifestyle change. In other words, it isn’t something you should just go out and do and then you are done. It should be something you do today, tomorrow, and for the rest of your life.

Can you imagine starting a blog today and telling yourself that this is a blog that I want to create and work at for the rest of my life? Sometimes it is the attitude to have whether you seriously believe you will be blogging at 70.

The point is… blogging has to be a priority. But sometimes “real life” gets in the way. Sometimes it is our job that is demanding and we need to step back from blogging. Work becomes a priority over your blogging. Sometimes you get sick and need to rest. Health has to take priority over blogging. Family too. So is blogging just not a priority?

The key to a successful blogger is not necessarily giving up on health, or the job, or the family. It is learning how to manage real life and blogging so that they can co-exist. This takes extreme dedication but the key is to make sure that both the real world and the blogging world overlap a bit and share in some type of harmony. When the blogging clashes with the real world, it is almost certain the real world will win out. I mean let’s face it, blogging is more than just writing. It takes a lot of will and ambition to blog.

The other option is to let blogging enhance, or enrich your life. Maybe it is a release of pent up energy. Maybe you love to write…. In some instances it could further your career. The successful bloggers make blogging a priority and allow real life and their blog to co-exist.

Why do I care so much about blogging?

The next question to ask yourself is why should you care so much about blogging… The fact of the matter is most people don’t. But if you ARE looking to further your career, make a second income, or you are blogging for your job like Kristine over at the Hunt Smart, Think Safety blog. I know most of you out there have thought about what it might be like to quit a full time job working 9-5 and take up writing a blog. Is it possible? Anything is possible, but it takes not only hard work and dedication, it needs to take a priority in your life. Again, that doesn’t mean you have to neglect other important aspects of your life. You simply need to work it in as a priority so that it can enrich your life in some way.

Me at Skinny Moose has made blogging a priority. Though I do other things such as take care of 5 young children, brush and floss my teeth, eat well (to some degree… maybe ‘hearty’ is a better word), etc. But fitting blogging into my busy schedule is by no means easy, but I make it a priority in order to enrich my life through a second income to the family (wife = breadwinner).

So are you making blogging a priority? Do you even take blogging seriously? Have you thought about going full time on writing blogs? I would love to hear from any of you about this.