Lately I’ve been struggling with something that I believe everyone struggles with at some point – Finding Balance. Some days I feel as though my life is pretty good. I have a great husband, my cat is awesome, and I love my job (which is writing for all you wonderful people!). My apartment is getting cleaner and I’m working on improving myself in many ways. Other days I feel as though everything is about to come crashing down. I worry about money and I stress about forgetting to do a load of laundry or whether people will like my next blog post.

I’ve read articles on avoiding burnout and how to deal with stress but they just don’t seem to help much. They all tell you to get your mind off things by doing something fun or try meditation. That doesn’t really work for me and all it does is make me feel broken.

So yesterday, I sat down and really thought about what I’m doing and why I might be stressed out and overwhelmed. I realized that it’s likely because I’ve been trying to do too much. In the past month, I’ve completely redesigned the blog, started posting more on social media, restarted Konmari, started two online classes, and I’m working through the Dave Ramsey program trying to get out of debt. I’ve got a lot going on and trying to do too much is the reason why I’m having such a hard time finding balance in my life now.

So what am I going to do?

1. I’m going to stop tweaking the design for Jersha & Dup – I think it looks pretty good already (what do you think?) and I think I’ve been obsessing over minute details that no one is really going to notice.
2. I’m going to stop worrying so much about social media – very few of our readers comment on Facebook or Tweet me on Twitter so I’m not going to stress over whether my posts look perfect or whether I post at the “right time.” I’m also considering deleting my Facebook profile altogether because it seems like most of what I read on there is fake news and silly jokes that I’ve seen 17 times already.
3. I’m going to spend time thinking about what makes ME happy – I’ve been working on Konmari on and off for over a year now and I think about whether stuff sparks joy but I haven’t stopped to think about whether activities and projects I’m working on actually make me happy.
4. I’m going to focus on you, my dear readers – I’ve been blogging on and off for 4 years and have made many mistakes. I’ve gone long periods without posting. I’ve posted deals and freebie alerts hoping to draw in viewers. I’ve even “sold out” on posting things just to get something for free. I don’t want to be a deal and freebie blog (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I want it to be a blog that can help people as well as one that shares things about my life.

So what does that mean for the blog? Hopefully there won’t be a noticeable change but I will warn you that I am planning on deleting some old content. I know that every blogging expert in the world suggests that you never delete old posts but you know what? I don’t really care. I am not the same person I was when I started blogging and I want Jersha & Dup to reflect who I am and where Phillip and I are now. As the saying goes, the best is yet to come so I hope you stick around to see it.

How do YOU deal with feeling overwhelmed? Do you have problems finding a balance in life?