Is Blogging Hazardous To Your Health?
Given the death of two big-name bloggers and the near-death experience of a third, I’ve certainly been more mindful of my lifestyle lately. In addition to my day job–where I work at home for the most part–I also spend a significant amount of my off-hours blogging.
Leave it to the New York Times to shine a light on the lifestyle of serial bloggers. Now granted, I’m not writing for a site like Engadget or Techcrunch where I am trying to get a scoop. I do occasionally get a scoop, but usually it finds me, instead of the other way around.
However, I do blog a lot. It is not uncommon for me to have at least two or three articles a day with my byline show up in someone’s RSS reader. Sometimes it’s filler, other times it’s distilled passion. Some days, I can crank through posts like it’s nobody’s business. Other times, it’s a struggle.
And that’s not just the time it takes to write. In order to write, I have to do a lot of reading, researching, and sometimes experimenting in the lab. All of this stuff takes time and is stuff that doesn’t always have an immediate payoff. But it’s all part of the blogging job.
I’m sure I am not doing my health–or my marriage–any favors in these endeavors. I’m sure those late-night snacks are going straight to my waistline. Yes, I work out three days a week, but you know how hard it is to take weight off once it gets on there.
One thing I am conscious of is my ability to bite off more than I can chew. As a result, whenever there is a possible change in the work I’m taking on, I evaluate it carefully. I have been burned in this regard over the past few years. I don’t need–or want–that kind of stress in my life.
For me, blogging is a spare time activity. It is not my livelihood like it is for Om Malik and Michael Arrington. I already have a great-paying job. I and have no illusions that I will make a ton of money at blogging.
I’ve been blogging for a while without getting paid to do it, and I’ve enjoyed it. Getting some extra cash out of the deal is a nice bonus, but it is not worth risking my livelihood over.
photo credit: allaboutgeorge
