How to Stop Anxiety from Ruining Your Freelance Blogging Career

You stare at your computer screen as your heart rate picks up speed. You can’t help yourself when it comes to your fear since this is how you always react.

Your cursor has been blinking at you for quite some time. You’ve been trying to figure out how to convince someone to use you as their freelance blogger.

It doesn’t make any sense. You’ve tried every way imaginable to calm yourself down. You’ve also tried to convince this person that you are the better blogger over the other person.

Won’t they use someone else in the end anyway? They’ve already asked you this question themselves. You conceded to this fact as you let this client walk away from using your services.

You’re worrying yourself sick with anxiety about this situation. You know you aren’t the best at convincing prospects to use you as their freelance blogger.

Here’s the problem I see with your anxiety, my friend. Anxiety shouldn’t be the determining factor in your decisions for your blogging business.

Let’s break down how to stop anxiety from ruining your freelance blogging career.

Anxiety and Freelance Blogging: 5 Things to Consider

Being someone who deals with severe anxiety, I know exactly what you’re going through. The thought of making more money is always a great dream to have but sometimes it gets pretty damned stressful.

That’s why I want you to read on while I break down 5 things you need to consider. I want you to use these tips to help rake in the money you deserve. I know you want to fulfill the dream you have of being a full-time blogger. So let’s make that shit happen!

1. Get your mind in the right place

There are times when the anxiety tries to take over your mind and run things for you. I know those times when the anxiety seems to make you overthink things.

These are the worst times to be a freelance blogger. It gets even worse when you’re pitching to prospective clients. It was hard for me to pitch this post because of it.

There is a way to get around this problem, though. The main thing you need to realize is that your mind must be in the right place for things to work out.

One thing I always do to get my mind in the right place is to listen to music that helps me jam out. For me, the songs are by the band called “Of Monsters and Men.”

Their music is upbeat and always has me dancing around the house. I know it may look weird to people but it always helps brighten my mood when the anxiety tries to take over.

According to PsychCentral, music has a tremendously relaxing effect on our minds and bodies. It absorbs our attention and gives us that distraction from anxiety that we all need.

This is why I use music to calm me down but also to get me into the relaxed mindset I need to push myself forward to making more money.

The right mindset can make things go a lot smoother for you as a freelance blogger. The difficult times will still come but stick with it and it will get easier.

2. Don’t let fear take a hold of your choices

You’ve been wanting to raise your rates with a client for quite some time now. You’re scared out of your mind and have a feeling the client won’t go for it.

You’re terrified the client will think your new rates are too steep and will go to someone else because of it. That is what has been keeping you back from approaching them about the new situation.

But you must also make the money that will pay the fucking bills you have stacking up behind you. Your current rates are far too low to give you that opportunity.

You know this fact but you’re still terrified. That fear, my friend, is the anxiety talking. You CAN’T listen to it because it’ll hold you back from what you’re capable of!

How to Stop the Fear

I know this from experience since this same fear has kept me back from knowing what I’m capable of myself. I know the fear very well since I go through it time and time again with my current clients.

Having this fear is normal but getting past it is a different matter altogether. Let’s look at how to stop the fear from making our choices for us.

Rushing into a situation that you aren’t comfortable with is a death sentence. You’re also killing your blogging career if you’re not raising your rates.

You might not believe it but it is quite alright to take a self-care day when you are feeling the fear. You can do things to calm yourself down, such as taking a walk outside or listening to music.

Sometimes you need to step away from the computer and give yourself a much-needed break. You aren’t going to help yourself or your career by letting that fear overwhelm you, right?

3. Take baby steps with things that are frightening

Having severe anxiety like mine can make certain tasks a complete chore. Raising my rates on a consistent basis is one of those scary tasks. I’m sure you can relate, my friend.

This is one of those situations where the clichéd term comes in for us: take baby steps. Taking baby steps with situations that might be a painful experience is alright to do.

If you’re trying to raise your rates, then you can broach the subject with the client. You might say something like “this is what I’m thinking about doing”. You don’t have to do it immediately, though.

This can be a good experience for you if you’re frightened about it. It also serves as a warning for the client so you won’t shock them when you do raise your rates.

You won’t get everything done in one step so don’t let that bother you. The more you let that thought bother you, the more worked up you become. That ends up in a situation where you’re anxious.

That kind of defeats the purpose of the exercise, doesn’t it? You don’t want that to happen so don’t think about how long a task might take you.

4. Don’t think about the big picture

Sometimes you have huge tasks that come up in your to-do list. What about that blogging project you took on last week? You know the one I’m talking about, don’t you?

That project where you need to write 5 blog posts that are 5,000 words each. You have SO MUCH research to do just to write the posts and you’re now wondering why you took it on.

You begin to hyperventilate as you wonder how you’ll get it all done in the allotted amount of time. You have a couple weeks to do it but you wonder if even that’s enough time to complete it.

Your anxiety begins to take over your thoughts to the point where you can’t think around it. All you can think about is that concern that you aren’t good enough for the project.

Those thoughts need to stop right now. They won’t help you and all they’ll do is make the project harder to complete. I don’t want you to think about the big picture.

Instead, I want you to think about only the task at hand. You should only be thinking about the task right in front of you. You can even break the project up into smaller tasks that are easier to complete.

By doing it this way, the project won’t seem as big to you and you’ll be able to complete it much quicker. You don’t want to focus on the big picture when that mindset may damage your self-confidence.

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or opinions

What about that problem you’re having with a client that isn’t paying your invoice to them on time? What the hell do you do about that?

You have no idea how to handle this new issue when you’ve never had this problem before. The issue is even causing quite a bit of stress in your life, not to mention anxiety.

You don’t know what to do since you’ve exhausted all the other options that you can think of. The client is STILL not paying their bills and it’s causing quite a bit of anxiety for you.

You think about asking for help from other freelancers but are unsure of how to broach the subject. You are in Facebook groups for freelancers, thank God, and you’ve learned a ton.

You’ve never reached out to the groups before because of your anxiety. You’re terrified about asking for advice on your situation because of your shyness.

You decide to ask anyway, despite your anxiety about approaching the group. This decision makes me proud of you since you would never do so in a normal situation.

Asking for help from other freelancers is not the worst thing you can do. In fact, it’ll help you learn quite a bit in your own journey as a freelance blogger.

In fact, according to the CalmClinic, talking to people you trust can help improve your sense of relaxation during times of stress. I don’t know about you but that sounds pretty damn good to me!

Plus, people in these groups can give insight into the situation that you would never have thought of yourself. I’ve asked questions in groups before and it has given me so much insight into my own freelancing issues.

Even if you are unsure about asking your questions, you should ask anyway. Who knows? You might even get more information than you were hoping for!

Food for Thought

Knowing how to stop the anxiety from sapping your creativity can go a long way toward a better freelance blogging career. Stopping the anxiety from preventing your full potential is key to a very successful career, doing what you love.

Have I given you food for thought about your anxiety about freelance blogging? That’s great – I’m glad I could help you!

Do you have further thoughts about how to not let fear ruin your blogging career? Put them in the comments below!