By the time I’ve reached this point on Blaugust – really, any Blaugust I’ve participated in – I feel mixed emotions. Part of me is happy that I’ve managed to keep up with blogging this month. The other part of me is tired and just wants to be done. I’ve felt the same way during NaPodPoMo (where you post a daily podcast through November).
Here are some lessons I’ve learned while working on Blaugust 2022:
- I have a tendency to assume that I’ll have enough energy to participate in yet another Blaugust. The optimistic side of me wants to believe that my chronic illnesses will allow me to take the time to create content. This, inevitably, fails the moment that fall pollen season starts, or if/when any of my other chronic illnesses decides to have a tantrum. Potential solution: Make less blogs, or shorter ones, or opt-out of next year’s Blaugust.
- There has never been a Blaugust where I was able to read/watch everyone’s content during the month of August. I am consistently unable to keep up with it all. This is a problem that I also have run into when doing NaPodPoMo. Potential solution: I’m going to try my best to read/watch everyone’s content through September.
- Joining Blaugust 2022 – while trying to complete paid work – was a struggle. The paid work is getting done, but has taken longer than typical to do. In addition, I’ve become involved in several TTRPG games (Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire the Masquerade, Prowlers & Paragons, Hunter the Reckoning) that take up my time and energy. All of these activities are fun, and I honestly enjoy doing them. I’ve learned that I really don’t have the energy for all of this at the same time. Solution: I should skip next year’s Blaugust if I’m still this busy next August.
- I have learned that Blaugust is not the place for really long-form, in-depth, blogs. I miss being able to take the time to put together long blogs about health-related topics, good things the Biden-Harris administration has done/is doing, the 2022 midterms, and a series I’ve been putting together in bits and pieces about COVID-19. Solution: Save those blog posts for when I have more time to focus on them after Blaugust 2022 is over.
- I have learned that I really enjoy writing book reviews. There was a time when Book of Jen had a bunch of book reviews appear fairly often (especially when I was importing the best ones from an older blog as a way to consolidate everything here). Somewhere along the way I stopped writing them. Blaugust 2022 gave me the motivation to continue writing book reviews.
Put all of this together, and it shows that I really need to put my health first. All of my chronic illnesses appear at random, and none of them can be cured. All cause pain and exhaustion. Fortunately, I have some medications that can temporarily help with symptoms. I will finish Blaugust 2022, but there is reason to believe I won’t be healthy enough to do this next Blaugust.
#Blaugust2022
Lessons Learned Week is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.
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Every year, Blaugust brings a flurry of posts about how exhausting it can be, how there’s never enough time to read all the posts and how daily posting is a big commitment. I’ve been saying all of that this year, which for some reason does seem to have been even more of a challenge than usual.
It’s curious that no matter how much Belghast emphasizes the entirely optional nature of everything about the event before it starts, codifying all kinds of levels of contribution with specific titles and achievements, the perception still remains that the goal is to post every day for 31 days in a row, no matter what.
Really, all any of us needs to do is show up and say “Hi”. Anything more than that is a bonus.
Thanks for your comment, Bhagpuss. I think there’s a lot of wisdom in what you wrote.