Thanks Milena for this beautiful insight into your inner world here on Substack! I bet a lot of writers will recognise themselves in it - I clearly do.
I think until a month ago, I felt pretty overwhelmed, too. Now I realise that this "fear" was fueled by noticing HOW MUCH time I spent (telling myself at this point "wasting") away on Substack. However, now I realised I a) had this time and b) needed to spend this time to familiarise myself with Substack, identifying what I like, finding first steps towards my voice, my writing, my posting, my interactions... Mainly by consuming at this time. And I think that was okay.
Right now, I feel I am at a stage where I am more free to have ebbs and flows in my interactions, reading and writing.
I never use open tabs for anything. I only use saved posts. And whenever I feel I want to read something, I browse through my saved ones like a decent book shelf and pick one or two I feel like reading at that time.
Can't agree more that it is indeed fear that's behind it all. In my case probably fear of missing out on the imaginary wave of relevance of posting on impeccable schedule and replying to comments ASAP 😅 But I'm quite hopeful that I'll also reach the stage you are referring to where I can more easily go with the flow 😊
Love your approach around saved posts, I will try to reframe it for myself too! I think my biggest issue is I'm painfully aware that anything not saved in the last week or so will never get read unless I go through some of the saved posts on the top or start looking from the bottom 😄
I feel you and your fears of the scheduling + fears of not reading what you wanted to. It’s tough to let these things go, but maybe just take small steps ☺️
Thank you for this post. Already implemented a few of these strategies but lots of good options. Mostly I've stopped feeling bad about what I don't read.
Glad to hear you're already on your way to reign in the overwhelm on the platform. Agreed that acceptance around how much we are actually able to read and write is the best approach on here, but it is proving a tough one to teach my mind 😅
Each and every word of this post, felt resonating with me, Milena. Yeah, Substack at times can be an overwhelm. But I realize that I keep coming back to it because I don’t feel strange and alone here. Because as you said writers are open and honest here, making me feel connected. The overwhelming part for me is as you said not being able to do justice for all of them by reading and engaging with their posts. I used to binge on these stories when I started but now I made some changes. I have a substack app time limit, reading 5 posts a day 3 from the people whom I’ve subscribed to and 2 from new.( This is not a strict ratio, I change this according to my interest that day)
Limiting this way lessens the overwhelm to a bit. But never did I ever feel that I’m wasting time here coz I learn so much in this space.
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the post, Shanjitha! I also keep coming back, so in the end I'm getting more value out then overwhelm, which is a good sign :)
And we do have a say in how much we allow to be overwhelmed by the platform, your approach of a daily post limit sounds like a great idea! We have to accept we don't have the time and energy to do it all, but that doesn't mean we should give it up altogether. The community is truly amazing, and we also get the good overwhelm of kindness and feeling seen 😊
Thanks Milena for this beautiful insight into your inner world here on Substack! I bet a lot of writers will recognise themselves in it - I clearly do.
I think until a month ago, I felt pretty overwhelmed, too. Now I realise that this "fear" was fueled by noticing HOW MUCH time I spent (telling myself at this point "wasting") away on Substack. However, now I realised I a) had this time and b) needed to spend this time to familiarise myself with Substack, identifying what I like, finding first steps towards my voice, my writing, my posting, my interactions... Mainly by consuming at this time. And I think that was okay.
Right now, I feel I am at a stage where I am more free to have ebbs and flows in my interactions, reading and writing.
I never use open tabs for anything. I only use saved posts. And whenever I feel I want to read something, I browse through my saved ones like a decent book shelf and pick one or two I feel like reading at that time.
Thanks for sharing all these insights, Fabienne!
Can't agree more that it is indeed fear that's behind it all. In my case probably fear of missing out on the imaginary wave of relevance of posting on impeccable schedule and replying to comments ASAP 😅 But I'm quite hopeful that I'll also reach the stage you are referring to where I can more easily go with the flow 😊
Love your approach around saved posts, I will try to reframe it for myself too! I think my biggest issue is I'm painfully aware that anything not saved in the last week or so will never get read unless I go through some of the saved posts on the top or start looking from the bottom 😄
I feel you and your fears of the scheduling + fears of not reading what you wanted to. It’s tough to let these things go, but maybe just take small steps ☺️
Yes, starting small is always a good idea 😊
Thank you for this post. Already implemented a few of these strategies but lots of good options. Mostly I've stopped feeling bad about what I don't read.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Lisa! 😊
Glad to hear you're already on your way to reign in the overwhelm on the platform. Agreed that acceptance around how much we are actually able to read and write is the best approach on here, but it is proving a tough one to teach my mind 😅
That's indeed a good one!
Each and every word of this post, felt resonating with me, Milena. Yeah, Substack at times can be an overwhelm. But I realize that I keep coming back to it because I don’t feel strange and alone here. Because as you said writers are open and honest here, making me feel connected. The overwhelming part for me is as you said not being able to do justice for all of them by reading and engaging with their posts. I used to binge on these stories when I started but now I made some changes. I have a substack app time limit, reading 5 posts a day 3 from the people whom I’ve subscribed to and 2 from new.( This is not a strict ratio, I change this according to my interest that day)
Limiting this way lessens the overwhelm to a bit. But never did I ever feel that I’m wasting time here coz I learn so much in this space.
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the post, Shanjitha! I also keep coming back, so in the end I'm getting more value out then overwhelm, which is a good sign :)
And we do have a say in how much we allow to be overwhelmed by the platform, your approach of a daily post limit sounds like a great idea! We have to accept we don't have the time and energy to do it all, but that doesn't mean we should give it up altogether. The community is truly amazing, and we also get the good overwhelm of kindness and feeling seen 😊