Amanda's LifeSelf Improvement

5 Things I’m Struggling with Right Now

posted on September 13, 2017 | by Amanda Holstein

5 Things I’m Struggling with Right Now

As much as I love giving advice, it’s not always easy to take that advice myself. So I thought today I’d get a little vulnerable and share with you some of the things I’m struggling with right now — things that I’ve given advice on in the past, but that definitely still come up for me. Hopefully, sharing this with you will help you feel like you’re not alone in what you’re going through! We all deal with internal stuff that isn’t always apparent on the outside, and that’s okay. It’s what makes us human! And here are some of mine:

1. Daily Anxiety

One thing I deal with regularly is anxiety. I’ve spoken about this before, but it’s definitely something that’s always present for me. I tend to wake up anxious. The day ahead always feels daunting right when I wake up in the morning. That anxiety does go away as I dive into my day, but it’s such a struggle to feel that every single morning. If I were to give someone else advice on what to do about this, I’d tell them to do something right when they wake up that makes them happy. That could be yoga, reading, taking a bath, drawing — anything really. But for some reason, I haven’t quite found that thing that makes me look forward to the mornings. It’s something I’m definitely still working on!

2. Not having a schedule

I think this one actually relates to my daily anxiety. To be honest, I hate having a set schedule. I don’t like being forced to do something at a certain time if I’m not in the mood. So I’ve gone the total opposite direction and thrown away any sort of schedule whatsoever. What I’m now realizing is that I do need some sort of structure so that I don’t feel overwhelmed first thing in the morning. I’m still figuring out what that looks like, but so far it entails planning my day the night before.

3. Working solo

The downside of working from home is that you experience very little social interaction throughout your day. As an introvert, I didn’t think this would be much of a problem for me. But it turns out, connecting with others gives me the energy I need to keep going. But when I’m alone all day, I find it difficult to push myself to get out there and be social. It’s a vicious cycle — the more I’m alone, the worse I feel, and the more I want to be alone. Recognizing this has definitely opened up my eyes and made me prioritize my social interactions. Whether that’s planning more coffee catch-ups with friends or attending more events, I’m definitely working on bringing more social interaction back into my life.

4. Finding passion in what I do

I’m not gonna lie — sometimes I don’t like what I do. Shocking right? I mean, I get to work for myself, be creative, and pretty much do what I want. But it’s still a job, and no job is perfect. I’ve been blogging now for 7 years (can you believe it?!), and it’s bound to lose its spark at some point. Currently, I’m trying to really look at what it is I like about blogging and what it is I don’t like, and hopefully bring back the things I like to the forefront. I also know that, for me, new projects are what excite me. So maybe I need to take things in a new direction or add a new project into the mix. More to come on that as I dig a little deeper!

5. Pressures of social media

Oh, Instagram. What a pain in the a$$ you can be. As much as I love you, I also hate you sometimes. A lot. Why? This is what I’ve been trying to figure out lately. As a blogger, I don’t have a boss telling me when I’ve done a good job or rewarding me with a raise to validate my hard work. Unfortunately, I’ve found myself looking to numbers to validate that for me, and those numbers happen to be on Instagram. It really sucks that all the work I do every day gets minimized to a dumb number on just one of the many platforms I work on. I know it makes no sense, and I hate that it affects me so much (and then I get down on myself about it, which only makes things worse!). What I need to remember is that 1) Instagram isn’t everything. It only represents one small part of my business and is not a reflection of all the work I put in every day. And 2) I cannot let the success of my business define my self-worth. I’ve talked about this before, but it’s definitely something that continues to come up for me.

Well, thanks for letting me vent, guys! I needed that.
And if you have any advice for me, man would I love to hear it!!