This post is all about 11 realities you need to know about when blogging as a college student.
I think we all can agree that starting a blog is a lot more work than we all thought when we first started out.
Starting a blog isn’t just about writing a blog post, uploading it, and instantly getting 20+ views in a single day.
It is much more difficult than that and takes months and months of consistent hard work.
Do you know what makes the process even harder? Starting a blog while you’re a full-time college student.
Background
I have been blogging for a while now while also going to school (lol, not that long.)
Let me just say that my brain has wanted to explode so many times. Not because I couldn’t understand how blogging worked, but because I was having a really hard time managing my time and doing everything that I needed to do.
I had to follow my blogging schedule, get to class on time, do the assignments, and study for those classes.
It may not sound like a lot to you but for me, it feels like I never get a break.
On top of starting a blog and being a full-time student, I also work a part-time job. On top of that, I also try to maintain my social life. I have so much on my plate.
To be fair, I chose this life and I am trying very hard to make it work. But so far in this busy journey, I have had more lows than highs compared to what I wanted and expected.
I want to share my experience with starting a blog while in school to help you decide if starting a blog is the right decision for you. (By all means, start a blog because the stress is so worth it.)
This post is all about 11 realities you need to know about when blogging as a college student.
Disclaimer
This post is based on my experiences only. I am not an expert in time management and am trying to figure out how to be efficient and it’s a long process. It cannot be guaranteed that my tips will help you be successful with your blog while also having other full-time obligations, but I can at least tell you that you are not alone.
I will not be responsible for any consequences that come to you if you do decide to start a blog. I suggest doing more research before you decide to start a blog to make sure it’s the right decision for you. This post is in no way me saying that I am ungrateful for what I am able to do and how I do it. I just want to share my experience and what has happened during my journey.
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Let’s begin.
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11 Realities You Need To Know About When Blogging As A College Student
1. You Will Work For Hours Straight
Starting a blog while being a college student is SO time-consuming.
If you can’t already tell from the introduction section, juggling four different activities in your life is A LOT. And I know first hand because that’s what I’m doing right now.
There are days where I am doing school work and working on the blog for 12 hours out of the day.
And on the days that I work at my part-time job, I’ll work for the 9 hours shifts and come home to continue doing schoolwork or work on the blog.
I even spend my breaks during my shift doing work. It never ends!
It’s a constant nonstop back-to-back process of doing something just to make sure I don’t fall behind. But even with all this effort, I seem to be pushing my deadlines.
I work so many hours consecutively and I just wish I had more time to do it all. (I should become a vampire and never sleep.)
2. You Will Forget To Eat (In a timely manner)
When you’re trying to make sure you get everything done, you start scrambling enough to where you forget to eat.
Since I tend to work hours upon hours straight, I get deep in the zone of concentration.
I’m always afraid that if I stop even for 5 minutes, I’ll lose my train of thought and the process of finishing sooner would slow down.
I always think to myself “okay, get this thought down and you can get food right after.” But as soon as I get that thought down, another comes in and I continue working and adding to the process.
I actually have food in the microwave waiting to be eaten as I am typing this paragraph. (Let me go get that really quick.)
I know it’s really bad for my health to postpone eating but sometimes I just feel so flustered and feel like I have to do everything now. (Lol, I’ll get up to get my food out of the microwave now.)
3. You Will Forget To Drink Water
Drinking less water is my least favorite consequence of starting a blog as a full-time student.
I’ve gone 4+ hours without drinking water before. That was definitely accidental.
I also don’t notice how dry my mouth is until I finish an assignment. I should not be treating water as a reward and instead, I should be hydrating constantly to stay energized and healthy.
Even with my water bottle next to me, I was too afraid to stop drinking water because I still thought breaks meant a loss of my train of thought.
My lack of remembering to drink water actually makes me so upset.
I have been working so hard since 2017 to develop a consistent schedule of drinking water.
I strive to drink 64 fluid ounces a day and lately, it has been going down to 32-48 fluid ounces a day. It’s so bad. I can feel my body suffering.
Please do not forget to drink your water. Let’s take a sip together right now before we keep going with the list.
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4. You Will Eat Unhealthily
Eating unhealthy is another major one.
Since I feel like I don’t have a lot of time to get stuff done, I’ve just been going to the kitchen to grab the easiest thing to eat.
It could be chips, candy, dry cereal, cookies, anything that doesn’t require me to get out a pan.
Luckily, I can get meals while I am at school so I definitely use some of my downtimes at school to eat a proper meal.
But for some reason, when I get home, all my knowledge of healthy eating is swiped from my brain.
I actually ate half a bag of ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips with about 1/2 a cup of jar jalapenos (it’s so tasty).
Don’t be like me and fuel your body with nutritious foods like apples and peanut butter or something of the likes.
5. You Will Try To Hold Your Bladder For A Long Time
I am so bad with this one. But technically, I have always had this issue growing up. (I have peed my pants so many times it is not even funny, I’m literally a child that walks around funny with their legs crossed.)
I find myself sprinting to the bathroom a lot and barely making it to the toilet.
I know it’s very bad to hold your bladder because you can get infections but I just forget!
Again, it’s the fear of losing my train of thought again.
Cut me some slack. I am getting better I promise.
Go to the bathroom!
6. Your Head Will Feel Like It’s Going To Explode
My head hurt so many times during this process because I was so focused on how much stuff I had to get done and how little the amount of time I had to do it all was. I am so stressed all the time.
Even writing this post right now is making my head hurt.
I still have this blog going though because I love writing about my life and experiences.
I also know that my future self is going to thank me for sharing my past memories. (She might forget all this in 5 years.)
This blog is essentially my new time capsule. But going back to the head hurting idea, I have a bunch of school stuff to do alongside the blog.
If you want to know how busy I am this week: I have an exam in two days. I have a quiz today. (There is so much to do!)
I know I can do this despite my brain feeling like it’s being crushed.
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7. You Will Feel Tired All The Time
Remember when I said that there are lots of days where I am literally working on school, blog, or work for 12 hours at a time?
Yeah, that means I lose a good amount of sleep. This is because I also need time to eat and keep up with my bodily hygiene.
There are plenty of other non-negotiables such as exercising too and spending time with my loved ones too.
So far, I’m not drinking enough water, I’m forgetting to eat, I’m having a crushed feeling brain, and now I’m lacking sleep.
You can imagine why I am so beaver dam tired all the time.
8. You Will Be Busy All The Time
You’ll be working on the blog for hours. You’ll be working on school work for hours. Then you have to go to work, eat shower, exercise, return messages (well you don’t have to), and then do it all over again all day every day.
Do I have a social life? I try to maintain a social life for sure.
Am I stressed when I am trying to enjoy myself? You bet!
I honestly feel bad towards all my friends and family because they always wonder “When are you coming home?” Or “Are you busy on this day?”
And then whenever I get these questions and tell them “soon” or “sure” I have to scramble even more to get my work done so that I can go meet up with them.
All my priorities are just crushed up together into a giant ball.
I’ve also had to bring my work with me when I go out to be social (I do it a lot more often than I would like).
It kinda sucks but I really want to get everything done and this seems like the best way to go out and still be productive.
9. You Will Have Little To No Time To Yourself
On top of being too busy to hang out with my friends and family as much as I would like, I have little to no time to myself.
Before I started this blog, I would watch movies over FaceTime with my boyfriend. I would go out to lunch with my girlfriends. I even had time to do the time-consuming jigsaw puzzles (my favorite hobby besides writing.)
Blogging has definitely taken away the time I had to do all that.
I even started reading a book before I started blogging and I’m still only about 100 pages in (The Invisible Life Of Addie Larue in case you were wondering).
At least I can remember and think about all the things I used to do.
I guess I’m at a new chapter in my life where I am trying new things and doing new things.
Hopefully, when school is over, I’ll get some more downtime. I can’t wait for winter break.
10. Your Personal Hygiene Will Go Down
I touched on this idea a few numbers points ago but I’ll just say it again. Yes, my personal hygiene went down a couple of times.
There was a time I didn’t wash my hair for 3 days (ew). I still showered and washed my body at least so I wasn’t completely filthy.
But for some reason, my mind thinks spending 5 more minutes in the shower to wash my hair is too much wasted time when I could be getting work done.
So I spend those extra 5-10 minutes working on school or the blog instead.
I know. Disgusting. Sure, I am really motivated and persistent but you can see by now that I probably look like and sound like a crazy person with no off switch.
I also feel bad for the people that had to see me like that.
11. Your Mind Will Make You Think You’re Dying In You’re Sleep Tonight
I laugh at this one now because obviously, I didn’t die in my sleep since I’m able to write and upload this post right now. But it was still a scary time!
I was staying up super late, my head was hurting, my body felt like it was pulsating all over.
I was mostly afraid that if I released all my tension and just let go, my soul would just pass out of my body and I’d be dead.
Staying up really late at night makes your mind literally go bonkers anyway (I’m trying to get out of that habit).
Thinking that I was going to die in my sleep was one of my bonker thoughts.
Ending Note
So I actually thought up this blog post idea about a month ago when the load really hit me hard. I am doing much better now.
I look back on how I felt a month ago and I really thought I was ruining my life. But I know now that I am only stronger now because of that experience.
I have since made adjustments to my day-to-day life when it comes to juggling a blog, schoolwork, my part-time job, and my social life. Now, I am aware of what I can and can’t handle at once.
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I do not regret starting my blog in any way, shape, or form. Despite me getting a significantly low number of views and visitors that I had originally anticipated, the content that I write, edit, and put out makes me feel successful in my own right.
I am able to keep going because I know that, eventually, my hard work will pay off.
I am also still learning how to run a blogging website and will most likely be learning forever. There are always ways to improve.
I hope you liked this post. Hopefully, you relate to it in some way.
I am assuming you kind of do if you decided to read this all the way through.
If not, then I thank you for having an interest in my stressful experiences.
Let me know what you think I should do to help myself and whether or not you’re going through the same thing. Have a good day!
This post was all about the 11 realities you need to know about when blogging as a college student.
Caroline says
I definitely relate to a lot of these! I often put off going to the toilet, though I recently heard it can cause kidney stones so I’m really trying not to. Drinking more water is another thing I need to do.
Lily-Anne says
I heard about that causing kidney stones too! I drink water like crazy though so hopefully that’s enough 😅