A few months ago, I came to the realisation that blogging was no longer joyful. Since February 2013, I have been posting a blog every fortnight (more or less). I had enjoyed my espresso machine-like writing process – the sparks of insight, days of mulling, reflection, then the spurt of writing that in a matter of hours produced a blog. Each blog went with a prayer – “May this blog help one, may it help many”. I loved receiving feedback from readers about how it had touched them. I enjoyed ruminating on my posts for my own inspiration in preparing for a speech, workshop, or a webinar.
Blogging is an integral part of my work. It is where I develop my thoughts, one of the ways I offer my message to the world, and how I continuously serve my clients. Indeed, that was why I had started the blog – to continue to stay connected with and add value to my clients long after our assignments were over.
Yet a few months ago, I noticed conversations with myself like:
- “Next week – no-one will miss it this week”, as my blog deadlines would come and go.
- “I have no clue what to write about”. So, I started reposting old blogs – which is fine, except I was doing it out of desperation and not inspiration.
- Or sometimes just a great big “UGGGHHH!” as I agonised for days over the looming, and then missed deadline
More than these conversations with myself, were my feelings – for days I would be on edge, frustrated, upset and then frantic – a range of emotions except the one that is most important to me: joy. I no longer felt joyful about blogging. So, I stopped in September 2021. And here’s what I have learned about living, working, and leading with joy in the space I created:
- If you are not feeling joyful about some aspect your work, you need to stop. How? Just stop. Take a break. The break does not have to be as long as 4 months, as I took – it may be a day, week, or whatever time you need. You cannot move and improve if you are subsumed by frustration, upset, anger, fear, or any other negative emotion. Stop the activity that’s causing this so that you can:
- Create space to reimagine, assess, visualise what might be, and what would allow joy to flourish. Don’t fear the emptiness. Be patient so that you do not automatically fill the space with “stuff”.
- Wipe the slate clean – one of the things I considered was releasing blogging. Maybe it was time to stop altogether, and just archive my posts. Was blogging dead, passe, taken over by more sexy things like podcasts? I kept coming back to the quote by Shinryu Suzuki in his book “Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind”, that always helps me dig myself from a rut: “in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few”. I became a beginner again.
- You owe no-one anything except to be the best human you can be. And frankly, that is firstly for yourself. I was doing no service to anyone by posting blogs that I consider mediocre and that came from a place of frustration rather than love.
- People will understand – at least, the people who matter. Often this is one of the things that keeps us from releasing situations, activities and even people that are causing us angst – the fear of what people will say. Well, they may very well say nice things! I received many kind and caring responses when I posted that I was taking a break. Sharing my deep feelings with my readers was cathartic for me, and I believe, assured them that I was being authentic.
I am thrilled to start 2022 reenergised and excited about my sharing my insights on living, working, and leading with joy. I passionately believe that joy is our birthright. We are born with it. Over time, our awareness of our innate joy diminishes as the tenets of society tamper it down, and even stamp it out of us. And nowhere is this more evident than at work. That I am committed to changing:
- I want to see people skipping to work on Monday morning, delighted and thrilled to be contributing to the betterment of the world through their work. TGIM! Thank God It’s Monday!
- I wish to see leaders leading from a place of their own joy, and helping their team, customers, suppliers, and others who matter experience the best that they have to offer.
- I deeply desire to help others experience joy in all areas of their lives, by removing the lids, barriers, and hurdles that they have come to believe are “normal”.
And that’s why I am excited and joyful about blogging again …
Welcome back Marguerite and thanks for sharing as usual! I am reflecting on the action ‘just stop’ when you’re in the employ of others and the thing you may not enjoy is on your JD. I suppose that’s when the ‘stop’ takes on a different meaning esp. if there are more things on your JD that don’t bring joy than those that do.
Thank you so much Sarah. Yes, it’s not so easy to STOP and take a break when the activity is on your JD. But even a short break can help. Remember also that the JD is a static document that may not realistically reflect the important aspects of your job anymore. So it’s important to take a break by asking “Is this still relevant and important”? Taking a break might also help you to analyse the task to see what aspects of it don’t bring you joy, and what does. Then you can reconfigure to suit. And finally – should you be delegating the task? Maybe a rewrite of the JD is in order.