Whether you’re creating content for a website or TikTok, the challenge can be that you feel the need to be constantly posting.
The TikTok algorithm, for example, encourages you to do this. Your page needs to have a regular stream of good quality content for views and engagement to remain high.
Stop posting, even for a day, and there’s the concern that your views with slump, and you’ll never get back to the same level of exposure you had before.
Although blogs and long-form content are not favoured as much as they once were – with video content now the preferred way of viewing content for many – the Google algorithm also likes to see websites updated regularly.
And when creating and posting content is something you love doing, as it is in my case, it can start to take over your life a little.
The balance of living your life and posting about your life, and your interests, can starts to shift in the wrong direction.
In the case of social media content, an extreme can be reached where your life is planned around the type of content you want to post, and that can determine how you spend your time.
It could be travelling to a café in London to taste a certain hot chocolate drink because it’s trending on TikTok, or travelling to a pumpkin patch for aesthetic images, even though you’d rather have a quiet day at home.
It could be cutting holes in a sheet and driving to a muddy field at sunset to get the right shot, photographing every piece of food for a What I Eat in a Day post, or setting up a tripod in the street to record your outfit.
Or it could be blogging about blogging, creating a TikTok about TikTok, or blogging about TikTok …
The point is reached when it starts to feel as if life is ruled by TikTok. Or by Google. The urge to create content can take over and become all-consuming, resulting in other areas of our lives becoming neglected.
It’s so easy to forget that the key is balance. It’s about managing work, relationships, health, content creation, and all the other areas that are important to us, in a way that allows each area to thrive without overwhelming the others.
That all-important state of balance also helps prevent burnout. It allows time for rest, social connections, and self-care. Life feels more manageable, less stressful, calmer, more considered, more enjoyable, happier.
This post is a note to self.
