As I was getting ready to write this post about why I have been MIA the past week I was thinking about some blogger advice that I read somewhere. I cannot recall exactly where. One of the bullet points was something to the effect of “Don’t post why you haven’t posted”. I cannot remember the exact wording, but it was saying not to tell your readers that you have been busy, or traveling, or whatever other excuse that you have for not posting. As I thought about that today I thought, “what silly advice!” Of course I think that anyway because I have done it before. And why not? I mean, our readers are human too right? I sure hope so.
I strongly believe that readers enjoy a blog more if they know that the writer is human. If they know that you are a person behind the words. If they know that you have a sense of humor, a life, a business, or a job. All of that helps your readers to connect with you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with establishing a relationship with your readers. If your blog is too boring they may not come back. If your blog does nothing but spew facts at them they may feel like you are talking at them. Be yourself. Type in your own voice. And if you want to share how busy your weekend was, then do that.
And with that said, every now and then we all need a mental health break. I took one kind of inadvertently over the past week. There was a lot going on at work. I wrote a post over on ChiTown Moms venting about work and why the heck we need money anyway! And besides that all of the travel and events, etc. had caught up with me. I was completely exhausted for most of last week so every chance I got, I slept! It is usually normal for me to be up until after midnight every night. But not last week. I was mentally checked out by about 9:30 every night! It made getting things done impossible. So, I knew that I needed a break. And there is nothing wrong with that. It happens to us all. No one can be on 10 each and every day without it eventually catching up.
My old boss used to say every now and then that he was take a “mental health day”. This meant he was taking a day off work to do absolutely nothing. If you are feeling overwhelmed from work, life, or blogging, grab yourself a drink (or some tea) and take your own mental health day (or week). 🙂
I think people shy away from getting personal is because of business factor. You’re “supposed” to leave the emotions and stuff aside when it comes to business and you don’t want to come off as unreliable or flaky I guess. But anywho… I do both ’cause I’m human. Emotions are set aside when I mean business and want to ensure that I am not being taken advantage of and a little emotion and life insight when needed. Just depends on the people I’m communicating with.
Yay for Mental Health days, I’ve been taking a lot of them lately!