The scarcity of time and finding a balance. My eternal struggle

This issue may sound familiar to you. You want to do 100 things, but your day just isn't long enough.

My daily struggle is to balance my time between my day job, working out and doing stuff in "real life" with friends and family, all while being active on Steemit. I have loads of people I want to actively follow and engage with, in addition to writing or filming my own content. But somehow it seems impossible to do it all in one day. I sometimes wonder how others are doing it, living their regular offline lives, and also being extremely active online.

The pressure to produce...

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Many Steemians drop off the face of the platform because of the disastrous crypto market. They see no more value in posting so they just stop, but this is not my case.

Many times, I tell myself Eve, you need to sit down and write something, but it's not the motivation that is lacking

I feel that if I don't post at least every other day, my blog will lose value, I will lose credibility as a "serious" steemian, and my viewers will forget about me. I become nervous when I reach day two after my last post, feeling the withdrawal from that rush you experience when you publish new content. The Ginabot alerts telling you who upvoted you, and who commented. It's addictive.

I admire those who are able to be extremely productive online and offline. I know it's possible, but I would have to sacrifice sleep (which is a no-go for someone like me who likes to sleep at least 8 hours per day), or become a hermit. I did fall into this trap a few months ago, and have decided that I simply can't do it anymore.

Time that is wasted, never comes back.

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You'll tell me that writing and creating content here is not wasting time, and perhaps I didn't choose the correct words. What I mean to say is that it's a trade-off. The hours that you choose to spend online are inevitably lost elsewhere.

On Sunday, our internet connection broke down for most of the day, and I found myself wondering what the hell I should do with my life. It's scary to see how dependent we have become of the internet. It was cloudy and it threatened to rain, which is why spending the day at the beach was out of the question. I had to occupy myself at home somehow.

I couldn't watch a movie because Netflix requires an internet connection. I couldn't read the usual quantity of steemit posts, which I usually catch up with during the weekends.

I felt frustrated at first, but then decided to do all the things that I had postponed before, and that were long overdue.

These things included cleaning the house, catching up with friends with a real phone call, walking my dog for longer than just 5 minutes, making a new batch of deodorant. I had run out several days before, but had been too occupied to bother making more (no worries, I always have a commercial one in reserve, so I didn't smell...). Taking care of myself is also something I've neglected to do (waxing my legs, proper skin care and other stuff I normally never do when I'm in a hurry). I even worked a little in the garden, after making a new fitness video, which is something I meant to do for a while but always put off doing. Finally, I also got to reading a book I had bought a while ago and never finished.

It felt good!

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It was great to be disconnected for a few hours and do things in the real world. The internet frees us in many ways, but it also imprisons us in others and traps us, keeping us away from forming relationships, taking part in social activities, or from simply being otherwise productive.

I wondered, when was the last time I invited a friend for lunch or dinner? With my connection gone, I suddenly felt the need to see people. Relationships require work, and once you stop putting in the effort, they fall apart. I know that spending time online is what keeps me from being a better friend sometimes. And it's not just me! All you need to do is look around the room when you go to a restaurant. How many couples do you see glued to their phones without actually talking to each other?

You might tell me but Eve, on Steemit we form real relationships and friendships too!

While that may be true in the long run, and especially after meeting people IRL at events such as Steemfest, these are not the people we would call when we need a favor or when we need a shoulder to cry on. At least not yet. Again, relationships require time and effort. Most of us live on opposite sides of this planet, hence we couldn't count on each other in the event of an emergency even if we wanted to.

Sometimes I ask myself who my real friends are, here in Bocas del Toro where I live. The thought is quite depressing, because the number I come up with is extremely small. But isn't that all my own fault? If I socialized a little more, if I had accepted some of the invitations that finally stopped coming, if I spent less time online, could I fill that void? Probably. I will just have to find out at the expense of my Steemit reputation staying glued at 63.

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What about you? Do you struggle with time, motivation and balancing your real life with your online one?

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