Advice/Help How to balance work/rp/life/etc?

[esotericthing]

Hi! I know we have a very diverse web of people who roleplay, but I have some questions for people who might relate somewhat to my circumstances.

I work full time and a lot of overtime. Mostly I am outside and do not have access to a computer and only sporadically with my phone. Basically, I work a lot. How do y'all balance your work with other general life responsibilities and have enough time to roleplay? Especially when so many groups expect a post a week or even more or if you want to write advanced you need to have a page of writing. I grew up rping on various forums and for a lot of my time spent working in my younger twenties I just didn't have such a busy schedule, so I had the time and energy to post nearly daily. I'm coming back after a year or two of hiatus, but I'm scared to commit because I know there are going to be times I can't keep up. I love and miss this hobby dearly! I want to pick it back up, but it's not something you do on your own and I don't want to disappoint anyone.

 

[Caroline1539]

For me, I'm solely a 1x1 roleplayer. My partners and I all understand that we have busy schedules, and so we tend to just reply when we're able to. No schedule, no nothing, just when we have the time and energy. Of course, that's variable, but I think it's better to have partners who don't have a strict schedule in order to cope with the exhaustion from work. It's worked out well for me and mine so far!

 

[Onmyoji]

I'm also doing only 1x1 rp and warn my partners about my schedule. Also only one (2 max) rp at a time. Can't handle more. And trying to find something more casual, as I don't have energy to write novella anymore.
With a busy schedule, need to accept you won't be able to commit to rp as much as you used to do it when you had more time

 

[AnimeGenork]

There's no easy answer to this question, because it depends on each individual person and how their energy fluctuates. I'm almost exclusively doing 1x1 or small group things, all with people equally as swamped as I am by the responsibilities of that cruel mistress we call life. Even when I have time, I don't necessarily have motivation or energy to write up posts or characters, so sometimes I dally when I probably don't need to. Such is the way of hobbies like these!

That said, it might be a matter of finding someone who is equally as busy as you are! I have a 1x1 that's been going for 7 years now, but if you were to find the thread, it's only a few pages. My partner for that and I only give about one post a year, and the rest of the time we don't talk much. We're busy! But it's still going strong, and when we do post we gush to each other for a little bit and then go live our lives. We were actually just talking about how it's hard finding other partners when so many want weekly responses. I sincerely hope you're as lucky as I am to find someone like that who will have patience and, frankly, be too distracted by everything to be too pressed about posts.

This probably isn't terribly helpful as far as advice goes, but I'm sure you'll luck out and find a partner or group that will be a-okay with your busy schedule. There's always someone else who's super busy and won't at all be disappointed by that!

 

[nerdy tangents]

Everyone already gave the post schedule advice I would have. I personally haven’t done groups sense I graduated college specifically because it’s hard to keep up with rapid posts.

I also think something to think about is long term interests. It took me a long time to get over this tendency in myself.

I get very excited about a specific idea or show or book, immediately post an interest check and then inevitably loose interest before the roleplay starts.

Thats gonna happen a lot more often if you can only post once a month or so.

So try to stick to things that you have a long term interested in. Not necessarily because the story will last for a long time but because it’s going to be a long gap between posts and you wanna keep your motivation up.

 

[Dreamtique]

I can relate to how you feel a lot. It sucks a lot to realize for the past few years that I just can't realistically bring myself to participate in any rps anymore. I love and miss doing something fun on here as well :'3.

I think it's hard for people with demanding job or academic position to be constantly engaged with things... and commitment are scary... But I think most people here have an understanding that rps dying is just part of the process now?

I would say find someone that is just as excited about the story as your are. An active ooc I feel is often where most people derive their fun from these days. Wiriting and crafting stories is hard when you have a demanding job/academic obligations...Best of luck to ya

 

[Lucyfer]

I’m also a 1x1 roleplayer, though I do a TTRPG on Saturdays.

I don’t work a lot of overtime, and my schedule is set. I also don’t “take it home” with me, and I do everything I can to make sure my evenings are free, but I think the main thing that helps me is having a fairly consistent routine. It takes out a lot of the guesswork about how the week looks, which saves a lot on mental energy since I’m not debating so much.

I walk my dog in the morning before work, I exercise on lunch, Wednesday I see my mom, Thursday I pick up groceries, Friday evening is for video games, Saturday is for my personal writings and my TTRPG – and when those are done whatever I want, and Sunday is for preparing meals for the upcoming week.

I know this, and when something changes, I can usually work around it. Like if I want to do something else Saturday, I cancel plans with my TTRPG, and use Friday evening or Sunday for my personal writing day instead.

Mostly though, the best way to have time to write, is to have a routine. It’s the mental energy that you need to write, so if you know already what the day/week/month looks like – it’s easier to conserve a lot of that. You can also add in time to write! It doesn’t have to be a post completion, but just set aside “30 minutes before work” or something like that. You can go back to it the next day, fine tune what was written, etc.

 

[Nu Epiq]

First, welcome back to it. For me, I have that mindset real life always comes before roleplay so when everything on that front is handled, I carve some time out to write. Only when I have time. I think what helps is also looking for others with 1.) similar schedules that can be a bit sporadic and 2.) have patience and understanding. It also helps to communicate with whoever you are writing with. Be up front about time, expectations, etc. I only write 1x1 though.

 

[Idea]

I try to remain aware of what my schedule's needs are and how much time I may need for things in my life and hobbies, while making sure to always leave a decent margin in whatever plans I make. I try not to bite off more than I can chew (not that I necessarily always succeed, as I'm vulnerable to my curiosity and FOMO), and adding to these things my particular style of roleplay wants posts that are long and quality, and as a result I am willing to give up post rate. I can wait as long as needed, and so my 1x1 roleplays don't have a time requirement for the posts to come out. This is mostly intended to give my partners breathing room, but in turn it also gives me some breathing room.

 

[Pliades]

Like Chained Echoes said, I prioritize my hobbies (no matter how much I'd prefer to be doing them to other responsibilities in my life) lower on my list than anything else. There are things we have to do to survive, things we do for ourselves, and things we do to have fun. Survival comes first for me.