Avoiding Blog Burnout

It seems like likely a lot of long-established bloggers have been slamming their doors lately, closing up shop for good either through frustration at poor traffic, the always popular “not enough time,” or just general disillusionment. I suspect that this stems in some part from a sense of futility; you pour your heart into a cogent, well-reasoned analysis full of editorial splendor…and get three comments, all from trolls or spammers. Or even worse…no comments at all.

Thing is, if you’re serious about political blogging, and are actually crazy enough to enable your comments section, you’ve got to be ready to take your licks. What’s more, I submit that you need to approach political or social editorialism with much the same philosophy as that of a religious evangelist.  Now wait, before you scoff and snort, let me explain.

Like many young, idealistic pastors, a lot of neophyte bloggers enter the blogosphere thinking that they will hold forth with such insight, brilliance, and deering-do that they will sway throngs of people to their point of view in waves and droves, a great revival of philosophical repentance that will bring the wayward political sinner to his knees in a sudden epiphany of revelatory glory. 

‘Cept, it never really happens that way, does it?

Newly-minted evangelical pastors think that they will wade into the great, unsaved masses and “win this town for Christ!“, drawing in droves of new parishoners with their impassioned exegetical zeal. This euphorical bubble bursts after a while as they struggle onward with only their Faithful 20 every Sunday, often leading to deep disappointment and eventual disillusionment. Some even leave the ministry, questioning their calling and doubting themselves.

A more seasoned pastor, however, realizes that he is in fact more of a sower, a tiller, a cultivator, a nurturer. Your goal should not be to save auditoriums full of frenzied sinners swept up in a moment of spiritual euphoria, but instead to work to plant a genuine seed deep in the soul, where it will wait, germinate, sprout and grow…all in its own time and its own way.

You may never even see the final result, may never witness or even hear about the salvation that such a soul experiences one day, perhaps years later; but you will have played a part, were a piece of the puzzle. 

By the same token, earnest, commited bloggers and editorialists must understand that the blogosphere is swamped with thousands upon thousands of other sites. The likelihood that any one blog will make a sudden, sweeping impact is mighty slim.

What you CAN hope to be is that sower, that cultivator. Your ideas may not win millions to your cause or viewpoint, but they may still plant a seed of doubt, or of curiosity, or a pause of thoughtfulness that, when combined with a string of others, might lead a reader to some insight or epiphany down the road one day; a paradigm shift in which you played your own small part. That should, at the most, be your goal.

Anything else will lead to burn out and disillusionment, resulting in your “parish” closing it’s doors, and your few faithful attendants left to wander in search of another “pulpit.”