Accepting Reality and Managing Expectations

There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don't know how...to keep my blog posts under 3 million words.

Accepting Reality and Managing Expectations
Photo by stefan moertl / Unsplash

OMG three blog posts in one week.

WHAT IS HAPPENING!?

I can’t answer that question because I honestly don’t know. That said, I thought now might be a good time to write a post about Accepting Reality and Managing Expectations. Consider this a follow-up to my 2022 Goals series. You know, the series that didn’t know it was a series but became one because I write too much…sometimes…this week apparently.

I’ve just felt like writing this week. I even sent an update to my email subscribers that I just now decided counts as a fourth blog post, especially since I just linked to it. Remember, I make the rules here.

Speaking of rules, I’m pretty sure I broke all of them on Instagram today when I participated in a Calm Strips* giveaway AND confessed my current hatred of Instagram all in the same post. Whoops.

A quick note to my email subscribers (especially the newer ones who decided to sign up for my mailing list when I wasn’t writing 500 blog posts a week and are now like OMG SO MANY EMAILS):

Don’t worry. This probably won’t last. Or maybe it will. I don’t ever really know so I’ve done you a favor and segmented my mailing list.*

What that means is that you can choose whether you’d like to receive every single thought that pops into my head or just a few of them.

That also means if you subscribe through an RSS reader, you can sign up for my emails to just receive newsletters and shop updates/promotions and not blog posts. Your choice. You can even unsubscribe if you want to…you can leave my blog behind...OK. I’ll stop. Just know that, if you do nothing, everything will stay the same. That was deep.

WOW, that was not a quick note at all!  But it’s OK because it brings me to the theme of this blog post: Accepting Reality and Managing Expectations (Yours and My Own).

There are many, many, many reasons I loved Jaclyn Paul’s book Order From Chaos: The Everyday Grind of Staying Organized with Adult ADHD, but one thing that has really stuck with me is her mantra:

You Must Make Peace With Reality
Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf / Unsplash

Here Are My Realities When it Comes to This Blog

Sometimes I write. Sometimes I don’t.

Sometimes I’ll post 500 blog posts in one week. Other times you won’t hear from me and will wonder if I’ve quit blogging forever and that’s honestly a fair question because I have a history of quitting blogging forever. But I always come back.

The truth is that my energy to write ebbs and flows. To be honest, my energy to do anything at all ebbs and flows. Sometimes, I can do 10 things in a day. Other times simply existing exhausts me. What makes it even harder is when I set unrealistic expectations and then pressure myself to meet them. I need to make peace with reality.

“Normal” productivity tools don’t work for me. I know that other bloggers have content calendars and stick to a certain number of blog posts a week/month/year but I’m not other bloggers.

I Can’t Promise Consistency Because My Brain Isn’t Consistent

This is one of the many ways that being Autistic clashes with my ADHD and other mental illnesses. I am impulsive yet crave structure. I like having a routine but hate being boxed into any one commitment. I like to know what to expect of others without ever really understanding what to expect of myself. That is my reality.

I’m Not Good With Brevity

See I'm all about them words. Over numbers, unencumbered numbered words. Hundreds of pages, pages, pages for words. More words than I had ever heard and I feel so alive.

Yes, I just quoted a Jason Mraz song to describe how I feel about words. No, I’m not sorry. But I am wondering how the f that song is 20 years old? What is time? I don’t know.

What I do know is:

There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don’t know how.

Except I actually do know how. I just wanted to confuse you with song lyrics again.

What that should actually say is:

There are many things that I would like to say to you but I don’t know how…to keep my blog posts under 3 million words.

That’s what that Oasis song is really about, right? The length of my blog posts…in 1995…when I was 8? Don’t question it.

I mean, I tried to write a quick note to my email subscribers to inform them of a broken link in a previous email and it turned into a whole other blog post. I’m not good at keeping things brief because I write the way I talk and those who know me will tell you that I can talk…a lot.

I Don't Care About The 'Shoulds' of Blogging

For a long time, I cared about all the shoulds of blogging: Keep things short and skimmable. Don’t ramble. Include lots of photos to keep your readers’ attention. But that’s not me.

I have a lot to say. I ramble. Sometimes I have a lot of photos to share and other times I don’t.

That’s my reality.

Sometimes I write serious blog posts about my mental health. About being diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, and OCD. About the fact that I’ve struggled with body dysmorphia and disordered eating and exercise addiction since I was 22 years old. About losing my father when I was 24. About missing my home.

Other times, I write about silly things. I share my ridiculous sense of humor. I post stories about the things that happen in my day-to-day life without trying to wrap it all up with a nice little bow because I’m a real person.

Through my words, I drop my mask. I show you who I really am:

A writer.

A storyteller.

A human living my life and sharing it with strangers on the Internet.

That’s my reality. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

As always, thank you for reading!

♥︎♥︎♥︎