How To Do It All (and still be relatively sane)

There is a delicate balance as a blogger, between reading or watching things because it's research for our own blog, and watching and reading things just because we enjoy it.

 I am convinced true life balance is a complete illusion.

I have believed perfect work/life balance was a myth for many years work-life/balance requires perfection, this is an unrealistic goal to be chasing. 

None of us is perfect so why chase perfection?

With that in mind, the title of this post claims the content you are reading contains advice on how to juggle life as a blogger. 

It does. 

Trust me I am getting to that, but before I give you my tips for managing blogging and life, I first needed to set the scene just so I can give you what I think is the number one most valuable self-loving thing you can do for yourself as a blogger, and indeed a person.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself,

 take some time every day just for you. 

You can't make your blog as awesome as you want to if you don't have the energy to take care of you. 

Only then will you be on top of your game to take care of your blog or whatever else you need to do.

1. Remember the three C's

1. Consistency 

2. Connections

3. Cut it down!

Consistently putting our goals into little tasks will make life a lot less stressful and increase productivity but we were designed for a relationship so there will come a point where we can no longer do things on our own.

How does this apply to bloggers?

We can consistently create all the content we want to, but if we don't network we won't likely have any readers!

1. Building relationships is a beautiful necessity.

If your blog is your business, then I can understand why you feel like you want to do everything yourself I get it, trust me I do. 

It is your blog and you want to make it what you want it to be. That is more than fair enough, but if you reach out to other with different skills, and focus on your own strengths you will make some new friends, create a more professional feel on your blog and be less stressed because you have delegated those things you're not so good at to other people.

2. Mix it up!

Set some time to research how a bunch of different people handle juggling blogging and life, then cherry-pick the tips you like, find what works for you and create your own unique schedule that is perfect for you.

3. Preparation is everything

The one thing that everyone needs to do in order to have a schedule that will be productive is planning ahead. There are many ways to do this. 

Some people schedule their blog posts, others have life management files, others still use calendars, agendas or dairies and then there are those people like me that do all of the above. 

Whatever you decide to use to manage your life, make sure you do plan ahead. 

Knowing you already handled certain things frees up time to do other things and is an excellent stress killer!

4. See yourself as a whole person and plan accordingly.

If you see yourself as just flesh and bones and forget about taking care of yourself emotionally and psychologically then your body will suffer for this.

Make sure before you take on new tasks that you are mentally, emotionally and physically up to the challenge at hand. If not then don't be afraid to say no. 

We've come full circle, it really is super important to take care of you before you worry about all the demands of life.

5. Keep it simple.

You knew this one was coming, this entire blog is about simplicity after all!

 The key thing you need to remember when creating a plan to manage your life is how your plan is serving you. A good management plan should be simple, help you be productive and on task to complete your goals and NOT a burden! 

There is a big difference between being stretched or challenged and feeling overwhelmed or burdened, but that's a whole other post.

Anyway, I need to follow my own advice and look after myself and go eat something so I will leave it there.

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How To Handle Hard Times ( In A City Like London)

Disclaimer :The following post is written purely from experience, if you are going through a hard time and feel the need to do so, you should seek professional assistance from the reverent sources. I am not a doctor, counselor or therapist, if you choose to take my advise you do so at your own risk. 

Before I get into this, I need to say that although I have acknowledged the king of this blog, in so much as I have asked permission to do this, I act alone in the following...

The nature of what I am about to share with you, is not something that anyone else should bare the weight of, since this is my decision, based on my own convictions.

I am sorry this sounds so dramatic, but anyone who knew the old me in person will know, drama and Hayley Esther kind of go hand in hand. I admit to this fully, and it is for the purpose of leaning into a language I have taught those that love and support me, to expect from me, that I now choose to make my exist in a dramatic fashion as the writing of this post.

I have never been more sure of anything in my entire life.

You see the happiest day of my life was and is the day that I died.

For those of you in the UK you may have noticed that the closer we get to Brexit, the more uncertain things seem to be becoming, however even in these uncertain times, let me assure there is still hope.

All you have to do is learn to die.

Let me explain,

Often times, something has to die in order for something else to live. There are births and deaths everyday, these two things are the only certainties in our physical world. We humans like seasons, just think back a few weeks ago, the end of 2018 brought on the beginning of 2019. I'm not going to labor on this point anymore, but I think you get the idea.

The fact is in life, seasons change and so things have to come to an end in order for something to new to begin.

Bottom line is in order for you lead an amazing, abundant, joy filled life, you first have to die to some things that are no good to you.

Now I know this would be the perfect place to share my faith in Jesus Christ, but that's it. This short two sentences, does just that, if you die to the world and come alive to Christ, you will experience joy on a whole other level, message me if you want details, but this post is not about that. ( This is a note for our seasoned followers)

The gospel of Jesus Christ should never be for sale, therefore there are no affiliate links in this post, but if you do want to support us, so we can focus on creating great content for you, please consider either donating or checking out my store. Thank you. Now then let's get on with it.

Before we get into it, I need to first outline 5 things you should die to in order to lead a more joy-filled life. These are general tips, my London specific tips will be up later this week.

1. You Should Die To Perfectionism

This may seem like a obvious one, but honey you are not perfect, and trying to be is only going to frustrate you and deplete your energy. That energy can be spent better else where, and the fact is that irregardless of how close you get to the mark, you will never, ever be 100% pure in every sense of the word. For starters, you can't control the fact you have breathed air that is polluted at some point in your life, not to mention all of the icky feelings you have experienced over time. Emotion is a good thing, and keeping it disciplined is important, this is true, but the fact is you won't succeed with this 100% of the time. For your own sake, let your hair down and just be who you are, not who you are trying to be.

2. You Should Die To People Pleasing

This follows on from the last point and I know it's a hard reality to accept but we can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Diversity means compromise, and part of that comprise means you have a right to your own mind and voice irregardless of what you are about. You absolutely should be respectful, but if you feel strongly about something you have the right to back up your beliefs with words, and actions...and what's more, most of the time you should because evil only increases when good people do nothing.

3. You Should Die To Happiness

Happiness is fleeting, it is a feeling,but fulfillment goes deeper than that. You won't be happy every second of the day even if you are fulfilled, but you will be happier a lot more of the time, just by consequence of being true to you who you are, and building towards a life build on firm foundations. Building life on any feeling is not stable, but let me remind you at this point, joy is not a feeling.

4. Die To Legalism & Come Alive To Peace

My definition of legalism is anything that seeks to create unrealistic standards with rules and regulations that go beyond the basics of what is needed to maintain the illusion of fairness. This can be in organised religion, but sometimes its not. 

Apply this to your belief structure.

Results may be varied.

Point still stands for those of you I have aimed to communicate this point with. I know my niche on this point, but forget the points and geometric shapes, they are just as restrictive, I'm sticking to flowers!

Life is far more peaceful that way!

5. Die To Grace & Wake Up To Mercy

On the flip side, where are my white nights at?

Let me just make this crystal clear for you, even if your intentions  are the best in the world, in the end, grace won't save you, mercy will. Seek the one who offers mercy and you will find the abundance of security and life they promised you. Those who trade freedom for security wind up with neither, this is a fact, but it is also true those that rely on hyper gracious freedoms will one day wake up to find they were just as trapped as those they mocked for being trapped in legalism.

For us humans, extremes are rarely good. Mercy is for sure the way to go.

I feel like I have pushed about as far as is reasonable in this post and so I am gonna leave it there for now. Expect part two later this week.

Until then,  catch us over on social media.

At the moment, Pintrest is a massive part of our every day life, but we are also on Instagram, Facebook. DevientArt  and Twitter. 

Hopefully we will see you over on one of those.

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