What do you do when you’re too sick to blog?
I’m not talking about when you’re sick and tired of blogging, but rather when you are in physical pain and are experiencing health problems that prevent you from doing your “job” of writing blog posts and answering comments; when you are literally sick; when you’re ill and just cannot keep up with the demands that blogging brings.
You may not think that this will ever happen to you. And it might not. But what if it does? What are you going to do? Can you put your blog on hold? Can you “pause” your blog?
Expect the Unexpected
Imagine this: You’ve just been in an accident and have to undergo surgery. Your healing process is going to be arduous and painful. Are you really going to feel like blogging? Think about it – accidents are called accidents for a reason. They are unexpected. So how do you keep your website or blog running in your absence?
Now imagine this: You fall asleep and wake up in pain. The right side of your neck and right shoulder hurt so bad that you don’t even want to move. You try taking various painkillers and anti-inflammatories (Tylenol, Advil, muscle relaxants, etc.) but they don’t help. You try using a heating pad with a built-in massager in hopes of alleviating the pain, but to no avail. You apply medicated ointments that have little effect, even though they promise results you’ll love. You even try a new product but it burns your skin and causes it to become so red and painful that you cry for five minutes straight while a family member helps you wash it off and then applies honey to your burnt skin to take the sting away. Your initial soreness remains and continues to aggravate you for over a week. You feel miserable, fall behind in your work, and don’t want to do anything because it hurts so damn much.
Now imagine this final scenario: You’ve just been to the doctor’s office and have been told that you have to undergo surgery next week. You’re recovery process is expected to last a couple of months. Are you really going to be in the mood to blog?
The last two scenarios are those that I’ve been unfortunate enough to experience quite recently. These experiences prompted this post, by the way. 😉 The first scenario is kind of true, too, in that I was in an accident that required two operations and six months of healing time. Fortunately, I wasn’t blogging at the time.
Of course, your accident might cause you to start blogging.
7 Solutions for Coping with the Unexpected
Whatever the scenario you are envisioning yourself in, my point is that you need to expect the unexpected. We don’t live in a perfect world. People get sick. They have accidents. They endure pain. And yet, our websites remain. So how do bloggers deal with the unexpected, and how are we supposed to run our blogs when we’re ill or in pain?
- Have some pre-written posts in reserve that can be scheduled to run at any time. Obviously, the more you have in reserve, the better, in case it takes you a while to heal.
- Outsource your posts with either free or paid guest posts. Invite readers to contribute, ask some of your blogging friends to help you out (like this blogger did) or hire a writer to help you.
- Hire someone to run your website for you until you recover. (Good if you have money to do this!)
- Have a plan in place for when emergencies arise. This relates to point #1 to a certain extent, but includes other ideas like closing comments until you are well enough to resume your blogging duties.
- Run scheduled posts as you normally would. (You do schedule your posts, don’t you?) Your blog won’t suffer any interruption, you won’t have to put your blog on “pause,” and your readers won’t even know you are having health issues!
- Suspend posting until you are better. This is not a great option, but it puts your blog on “pause” until you are able to continue blogging. This also ties in with point #7.
- Be honest with your readers and inform them of your situation. Most people will understand and even sympathize with you. This is what I did when I wrote my post I’m Having Surgery Today. And yes, this is one hundred percent true. 🙁
Of course, you could always work through the pain. However, you should realize that your health is the most important factor in the blogging equation. Put your health first and your blog second. You can’t blog if you’re dead!
What do you do?
What else could you do to cope with unexpected health issues? Have you ever had to run your blog when you were really sick? I’d love to know what you did. Share your thoughts in the comments, please.
Photo Credits
Guy blowing nose – photo credit | Guy kneeling – photo credit | Comforting girl – photo credit