The first few days of 2020 have been… interesting. Not quite what I was expecting.
I received a book from a publisher that made me realize that the reason I often feel burned out is due to overstretching what I’m actually capable of, both mentally and physically.
I received a copy of Fuel Your Fire: 200 Ways to Instantly Beat Burnout and Reignite Your Passion from Adams Media at the very end of 2019. It was the very second book that I read this year.
I’m so glad to have read this book when I did.
I’ve talked before about burnout. Burnout, in all areas of my life, is something that I deal with pretty much constantly. While reading Fuel Your Fire, I suddenly realized why.
I set my expectations of myself much too high and overstretch myself between large projects that I have no time or energy to complete.
At the end of December, I announced that I was going to be posting my first BookTube video on the first of January and that didn’t happen. The reason that it didn’t happen was that I made that commitment before knowing how to edit videos. Which, as it turns out, is pretty damn hard for a complete beginner.
I have a tendency to get ahead of myself and commit to way too much at once. I’ll take a look at what I want to accomplish without taking into account the fact that I still have to work a full-time job, spend time with my loved ones, take care of myself, do chores and errands, and, you know, live.
I love this blog, and yes, I’m still planning on uploading that BookTube video as soon as I figure out how the hell to edit it properly. At the same time, however, I need to be realistic. I can’t commit to posting fifteen articles and reviews a week, three videos a week, maintain social media constantly, and still have time to do everything else that needs to be done in my life.
Now, don’t take this to mean that this is the end of my blog. What I can commit too is posting a couple of reviews per week as I finish books and a few unique articles every week. Once I teach myself how in the hell to edit a video, I’m pretty sure I can commit to one BookTube video a week. Those goals are realistic.
I’ll have a review of Fuel Your Fire coming soon, but I wanted to take this time to just write about the revelation that this book woke up in me. Our world today is a constant whirlwind of information, to-do lists, and activities, and it’s so easy to forget that you can’t do everything. I’d rather be able to relax and enjoy life rather than constantly stressing about the next thing I need to get done. I doubt I’m the only person going through this.
Read Yourself Happy 
Yes, absolutely! I can completely relate to this. I often have to reel myself back because I get so excited about all the blogging I could do and then I remember everything else on my plate. A little goes a long way sometimes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh yes, and i’ve taken a hard look at it before and reduced author requests and eliminated one of the days i was posting. apparently that wasn’t enough as i’m still finding myself rushing just to get through it–not enjoy it. something has to give–again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Weekend Update – 4 Jan 2020 | Penny @ Read Yourself Happy. In this post, Penny talks about burnout and how it has affected her book blogging. Her determination to prevent burnout in 2020 really resonated with me because I also have a tendency to bite off a bit more than I can chew… […]
LikeLike