Blogging on Low Battery: Rebuilding Productivity (Without Overdoing It)

I’ve been quiet around here lately, and if I’m honest, it’s because my body forced me to take a massive pause. Following a recent stay in hospital to manage my multiple chronic conditions, I found myself slammed right into a creative brick wall.

Between recovering from the stay itself, adjusting to multiple medications, and enduring the absolute furnace of this Rome summer, my daily reality has looked less like "hustling blogger" and much more like "lying completely motionless in front of a fan, praying for a breeze."

When you have multiple chronic illnesses, a creative rut isn't just a mental block; it's a physical boundary. Your brain wants to write, reply to comments, and design graphics, but the physical energy simply isn’t there.

So, how do we get back to being productive when our battery is permanently sitting at 10%?

Disclosure: The FTC Disclosure Provision is a law that requires influencers to disclose when they are being paid to promote a product or service. So please know that if I'm not making money through affiliate links/sponsored content on the post you're currently reading, it's an oversight on my part and will be corrected soon. Read the full disclosure about all the legal stuff here.

The "Slow-Mo" Re-entry Plan

The temptation when you start feeling even 5% better is to try and make up for lost time. You open twenty tabs, plan a month of content, and immediately trigger a flare-up that lands you right back where you started. Yes, I'm talking from experience.

To avoid that vicious cycle, I am using a much gentler, step-by-step approach to rebuild my blogging routine.

Step 1: Lower the bar to floor-level

Forget about writing massive, 2,000-word guides right now. Your first goal is just to show up in the easiest way possible. If all you can manage is a quick 15-minute "Book Tag" post or updating an old image, celebrate that as a massive win.

Whilst I really want to get back to posting daily again I'm just not in a condition to that right now. I will try to post at least once or twice a week and slowly build up frequency again as my health improves.

Step 2: Work in micro-bursts

Forget the standard 25-minute Pomodoro technique if that feels too long. Try working in 5 or 10-minute bursts from your phone whilst lying down. If the laptop feels too heavy or makes you too hot, use your phone's voice-to-text feature to dictate thoughts whilst resting.

I definitely can't deal with being on my computer for long periods of time at the moment. I am trying to keep up with emails and socials via the apps on my phone and logging on to my laptop for short amounts of time to work on drafts and graphics.

Step 3: Categorise tasks by energy level

On high-brain-fog days, do "mindless" tasks like deleting spam comments or organising your Pinterest boards. Save writing or editing for the rare pockets of day when your medication has kicked in and the heat has dipped slightly.

I'm definitely counting scrolling Pinterest as productive blog related work. It's given me a lot of ideas for new posts to do once I'm up for it.

Step 4: Set a hard stop

Even if you feel a sudden burst of creative inspiration, force yourself to stop before you feel tired. Leaving a post half-finished gives you an easy starting point for tomorrow and preserves your precious physical reserves.

This is probably the hardest thing for me to do. I'm not good at stopping. I have the tendency to push myself when it would probably have been best to stop sooner. I am trying to work on that aspect though as I learn to deal with my health.

Surviving the Heat & the Healing Process

If you are also struggling with a chronic illness, a flare-up, or just the exhausting weight of summer, please remember that rest is productive. Your body is doing heavy internal work to heal you, and that requires energy.

I’m taking things one tiny, fan-cooled step at a time. The blog will still be here, the draft posts can wait, and our health must always come first. I promise I'll be back with loads of new content for you soon.

Have you ever had to rebuild your routine after a health setback? How do you keep your creative spark alive when your body demands rest? Let me know in the comments below!

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Product Review: Schwarzkopf Gliss 4 in 1 Bond-Building Hair Mask

As I mentioned in my post Bleaching Hair from Dark Brown to Blonde Part 2, I was recently successful in my mission to discover a good bond-building product at a budget price. So let's dive into why the Schwarzkopf Gliss 4 in 1 Bond-Building Hair Mask is quite possibly one of the best hair products I've come across.

You might also like: A Guide To Different Hair Dye Colours: Tried and Tested

Product details

How to use:

Apply gently on wet hair after washing and leave-in for 2–3 minutes. Rinse thoroughly! Use 2–3 times per week. Leave-in: Apply a small amount into towel-dried or dry hair tips after washing your hair.

Ingredients:

Aqua (Water, Eau), Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Behentrimonium Chloride, Distearoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate, Isopropyl Myristate, Behenamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Hydroxypropylgluconamide, Hydroxypropylammonium Gluconate, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Parfum (Fragrance), Amodimethicone, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Lactic Acid, Isopropyl Alcohol, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Sodium Benzoate, Ceteareth-20, Trideceth-10, Linalool, Phenoxyethanol, Limonene, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Geraniol, Potassium Sorbate, Benzyl Alcohol

My hand holding tub of Schwarzkopf Gliss 4 in 1 Bond-Building Hair Mask

You might also like: Product Review: L’Oréal Elvive Bond Repair Leave-In Serum

Review

This stuff is amazing! Started using it whilst bleaching my hair and it has left my hair so soft. Considering I started using it during a period when I was doing things to my hair that can cause major damage, it actually left my hair feeling in better condition to before I bleached it.

The tub is 400ml and, as you only need a small amount, it lasts quite a while. Even when I've been using large amounts of it during my bleaching process, both when washing my hair and as a leave-in, the tub has still lasted a couple of months. Excellent value for money.

If you're looking for a budget friendly bond building hair mask this is it! A real must have! I seriously can't say enough good things about this product.

Schwarzkopf Gliss 4 in 1 Bond-Building Hair Mask on palm of hand

Do you know of other budget friendly bond building hair masks I should try? Let me know in the comments.

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Books: First Lines Fridays 10th July 2026

Ready for another First Lines Friday? It's that time of the week when we judge a book not by it's cover or even by it's blurb. Instead we will be judging it's ability to hook us from the opening lines. Let's see if this week's pick will have you adding it to your TBR list or not.

I'm participating in First Lines Fridays as I think it's a great way to highlight more of the books that are on my bookshelves.

What is First Lines Fridays?

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!

My Pick For This Week

The first lines of the book:

She sat, cross-legged on a worn oriental rug. Eyes closed. Palms up, a hand resting on each knee. Deep breath in. Long slow exhale. And another. And again. Nam myo ho ren ge kyo. Chanting these words until each melted into the next. Nam myo horen gekyo. Namyo-horengekyo. Concentrating, beginning to get in the rhythm of it, to recede into a darkness at the back of her mind when the sound of the buzzer broke through. “Shit,” she said, opening her eyes. “Shit.”

Do you know which book this is from? Scroll down to find out!

And the book is...

The Art Collector by Susan Bacon book cover

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DCGJ5D5S
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Porter Street Press
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 15, 2024
Print length ‏ : ‎ 356 pages

Book synopsis for The Art Collector by Susan Bacon

A Warhol protégé, a Manhattan murder and a long-hidden truth

It is February 1987. Seal Larsen is a photographer, denizen of New York’s downtown scene and the subject of one of Andy Warhol’s short films. When she dies in a suspicious fall from the 15th floor of her Manhattan apartment building, her friend and neighbor, Emma Quinn, is determined to find out what happened.

A history professor at Columbia University with connections to the intelligence community, Emma soon realizes how little she really knows about her friend. Exploring Seal’s life, her work, her past, Emma makes her way down to Memphis and to rural Tennessee, putting herself at risk. It’s there, on an isolated 2,000-acre farm, that she begins to grasp the tragedy that defined Seal’s life and the truth about her death.

A sequel to The History Teacher, Susan Bacon's award-winning political mystery, The Art Collector is an intrigue, a puzzle, a plot-twister. It is also an exploration of the value of art and the people who make it and of the culture that fueled Manhattan's art boom in the second half of the twentieth century.

Where to find The Art Collector by Susan Bacon online:

Get the book: The Art Collector Amazon affiliate link

Add to your shelf: The Art Collector on Goodreads

Have you read this book? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do these opening lines make you want to read the book?

You might also like: Books That Take Place in Bookstores or Libraries

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Bleaching Hair from Dark Brown to Blonde Part 3

Ready for another episode in the journey to take my hair from dark brown to blonde?

It's been a while since my last update in this DIY hair adventure and with good reason. Whilst you might be thinking 'she finally used good sense and decided to give her hair a proper break before jumping in with yet another round of bleach' unfortunately that's not quite the case. My willpower is not that great. I was forced to leave it alone.

I was in hospital for two weeks due to a bad flare up of multiple chronic conditions all at once. It has not been fun. I am home again now though fortunately and working hard to get myself back to something that can pass as normal life again.

My time in the hospital meant that not only could I not work on getting rid of the orangey phase my hair was in after part 2, but I also got quite a bit of regrowth on my roots. Add to that the fact that I couldn't brush my hair most days due to being on constant IVs day and night let alone wash it, my hair was not looking it's best.

After a few days back home I sent my son out on a mission to buy supplies and I was finally able to start on part 3.

As with the previous times, I used 20 volume developer and bleaching powder and left it on for about an hour. I didn't want to push my luck as given my current bad health (I couldn't eat or drink for about 10 days and then even with all the iron transfusions, IV drips of various natures etc and all the meds I'm on) I wasn't sure how well my hair would withstand another onslaught.

My bleaching kit:

20 volume developer
bleaching powder (three packets as I have a lot of hair and it's important to make sure you cover all the hair with a good amount. When in doubt, always buy an extra packet)
gloves
mixing bowl
brush

This is what I started with:

Jo Linsdell Before hair showing roots and orange tone

Very orange tone especially from mids to ends and dark root regrowth. Not my best look for sure.

When bleaching it this time round I started by covering my mids and ends (the orange parts) as this is where I still have stubborn pigments from the darker hair dyes I'd done previously. I also didn't want it going on the light blonde parts for too long to avoid breakage. As we've previously discussed, the roots always develop quickly due to the natural heat from the scalp and so should always be the last part you put product on to.

This is after one round of bleach:

Jo Linsdell hair after one round of bleach - roots and top very light blonde, lengths still yellow

The good news is that the roots blended almost perfectly and there was no notable hair loss at all. This is a big win! The bad news is that the more orangey tones are still sticking. It did lighten it quite a bit but I need the whole hair to be the colour of the top part and for now, I'm still two-toning it between a very light yellow blonde on top and an orangey yellow down the length.

I could have removed the orange tones a lot easier by using a higher level developer. Even a 30 volume would have made a difference. I didn't want to risk the damage though especially given my recent health and so opted for the safer choice of 20 volume. A 20 volume developer usually lifts 2-3 levels at a time so I was prepared for the fact that going from such a dark brown colour to such a light shade of blonde was likely to take a while when I started on this DIY hair journey.

As with the previous times I bleached my hair, the tone of blonde depends a lot on the light I'm in. If I'm outside in the sunshine it definitely looks closer to the tone I need it to be but inside with warm lighting the orangey tones are still showing through. I talk more about this in my post Understanding Blonde Hair Undertones: How Light Affects Your Shade if you're interested in knowing more.

I also trimmed a little off the ends as they were looking pretty dry.

Just as a reminder, this is the goal I'm aiming for:

AI generated image of Jo Linsdell with long layered ash blonde hair

I used the Gemini app to create an AI version of what I wanted so that I'd have a clearer image in my head whilst bleaching my hair and so that I have an accurate image to take with me to the hairdressers when it comes time to cut it. I obviously still have work to do to reach my goal. I am getting closer though.

Before, currently and goal:

As a recap, here's a reminder of how the journey from dark brown to light ash blonde is going so far:

As you can see I've come a long way in quite a short space of time. My starting colour was a very dark brown, almost black. I started this DIY hair journey from dark brown to blonde on 1st June. This means that all this change has happened in just over a month (two weeks of which I was in hospital). I shared part 2 of this journey on 10th June. Thinking about it like this I'm amazed at how much I've managed to accomplish. I'm actually not far from my goal colour now and my hair is still in pretty good condition. Once I get the final hair cut done it should get rid of any dry ends I have left.

I do not recommend doing this yourself unless you have a good understanding of your hair. Even more so if you suffer from health problems. Luckily I do know my hair and how far I can push it as I've done this multiple times before. If this is your first time DIY bleaching your hair go slow and use low volume developer to avoid doing any serious damage.

My next update should hopefully be with the final result.

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10 Ways to Celebrate World Social Media Day

Tuesday 30th June 2026

Social media has become part of everyday life—how we connect, create, learn, share opinions, and build communities across the world. Love it or loathe it, there’s no denying its impact.

World Social Media Day, celebrated on Tuesday 30th June 2026, is the perfect opportunity to reflect on how we use social platforms and to celebrate the positive ways they bring people together. Whether you’re a blogger, content creator, small business owner, or simply enjoy scrolling, here are ten meaningful (and fun) ways to mark the day.

1. Share Your Social Media Journey

Take a moment to look back at how your relationship with social media has evolved. Perhaps you started blogging years ago, joined Instagram during lockdown, or recently discovered TikTok.

Share a post about what social media has given you—connections, creativity, confidence, or even career opportunities. Honest reflections tend to resonate far more than polished perfection.

2. Support Fellow Creators

One of the best things about social media is the sense of community. World Social Media Day is a great excuse to shout out creators you admire.

Share their posts, leave thoughtful comments, recommend their accounts in Stories, or create a dedicated appreciation post. Supporting others helps strengthen the platforms we all rely on.

3. Start a Conversation

Social media doesn’t have to be one-sided. Use the day to spark genuine interaction by asking questions, running polls, or inviting followers to share their thoughts.

Conversation-based content often feels more human and less performative—and that’s something worth celebrating.

If you’re stuck for content ideas, revisiting posts like 365 Blog Post Ideas for Book Bloggers can help spark conversations that feel natural rather than forced.

4. Try a New Platform or Feature

Been curious about Threads, YouTube Shorts, or a new Instagram feature but haven’t taken the plunge? World Social Media Day is the perfect excuse to experiment.

You don’t need to master it overnight—sometimes simply trying something new is enough to reignite creativity.

5. Share Behind-the-Scenes Content

Polished feeds are lovely, but behind-the-scenes moments help remind us that real people exist behind the screens.

Share a glimpse of your workspace, creative process, planning notes, or even the outtakes that didn’t make it to your grid. Authenticity builds connection.

6. Reflect on Your Digital Habits

Celebrating social media also means being mindful of how it affects us. Use the day to reflect on your digital habits.

Are you scrolling with intention? Do certain platforms energise you while others drain you? If you’re considering a healthier balance, The Benefits of Digital Detox and How to Start gives a practical next step without dismissing the value of social platforms altogether.

7. Revisit an Old Favourite Post

Scroll back and reshare a post that still means something to you. It might be the one that started everything, a personal milestone, or a piece of content you’re still proud of.

Adding context about why it mattered then—and why it still does now—adds depth and meaning.

If you’re planning ahead, inspiration lists like 101 Blog Post Ideas For Book Bloggers are ideal for identifying evergreen content worth revisiting and resharing.

8. Educate or Inspire

World Social Media Day is a great opportunity to share something useful. This could be a tip you’ve learned, a lesson from your journey, or advice you wish you’d heard sooner.

Helpful content reinforces social media’s role as a place for learning and inspiration, not just entertainment.

9. Celebrate Global Connections

Social media shrinks distances and connects people across cultures, countries, and time zones.

Highlight friendships, collaborations, or conversations that would never have happened without social platforms. It’s a powerful reminder of the good social media can do.

10. Log Off (Briefly) and Appreciate the Balance

Finally, celebrating social media doesn’t mean being glued to it all day. Sometimes the healthiest celebration is stepping away—if only briefly.

Post something thoughtful, then log off and enjoy the real-world moments social media helps us document and share.

Final Thoughts

World Social Media Day on Tuesday 30th June 2026 isn’t about chasing likes or going viral. It’s about recognising the connections, creativity, and conversations that make these platforms meaningful.

Whether you celebrate loudly or quietly, the most important thing is using social media in a way that feels positive, purposeful, and true to you.

How will you be celebrating World Social Media Day this year?