Advice for Burned Out Writers: Take a Mini-Vacation

I promise you’ll be more successful if you do

There’s a reason they call it the “daily grind.” This fast-paced and stressful world continually turns our existence upside down. And now, with the presence of a deadly virus hanging over our heads, we’re feeling a strange sense of nostalgia, wishing our lives were the “upside-down” of then and not the blood rushing to our head, drowning in our stress “upside-down” of now.

Yet, even during a pandemic that daily cripples us physically, emotionally, and financially, society’s self-improvement mantra of “do more…and then do some more…and then do more of the more every day” still remains set in stone.

And what creatives who embrace this workhorse philosophy don’t realize is that by subscribing to this mentality, they may actually be killing the very components necessary for the writing success they seek.

For example, when a writer gives in to internalized pressure to push past the limits of their body and psyche in order to write daily, they increase the likelihood that their creativity will be obliterated and their ability to think logically diminished.

And by refusing to do things that secure their physical and emotional well-being, they only up the odds that the excitement and inspiration required for writing will further elude them.

Signs You Need to Take a Break From Writing

I’ve taught for 23 years, and for the last week, I have literally been broken down to flesh and bone. A walking zombie with no enthusiasm and no creative spark.

Why?

I have been working day and night to learn new virtual tools for the online instruction I am doing. I wake up at 3 a.m. and can’t sleep because I’m not quite sure the three Google Meets with my classes today will run smoothly.

I have always gotten up early to get the dawn, but lately, it’s not the same.

This time of the morning used to be my quiet time, where the silence of my sleeping family and the mystical powers of that period between darkness and dawn wakened my muses and let them dance and sing for me.

But since this week began, I haven’t written one article.

All I can think about is the stress of turning on that computer and meeting with adolescents who see me as an Ice Age relic because they watch me bumble around the digital world like a ball in a pinball machine.

It also doesn’t help my self-esteem that my body is showing the effects of this stress and fatigue. Nice new dark circles and bags are forming under my eyes, and the scale is moving upward in a way of which I am not particularly fond.

And my workplace pressures and lowered self-esteem exacerbate my feelings of guilt and unworthiness as a writer because I know I have failed to complete the task that many writers say is the “golden rule:” the practice of writing every day.

Perhaps you feel the same way. Perhaps you feel your creative well is also empty and the words and ideas just won’t come.

Maybe it’s due to the stress of working from home when you used to go to a real place of employment. Maybe it’s caused by trying to teach your own kid algebra when their virtual classroom teacher is not quite up to par. Maybe it’s as a result of endless job hunting when no one is hiring and your rent is due in two weeks.

And if you do feel like me, I want to ask you to think about something.

Just for today, I want you to consider making a change to your writing schedule. I made this change yesterday, and it’s why I’m pounding away at my computer now instead of staring at a blank screen.

The change? Take a 24-hour writing vacation.

My Writing Vacation

My vacation started at 3 a.m. yesterday when I didn’t head for my writing station like I normally do.

I went back to bed.

I got the sleep that my body desperately needed to rejuvenate itself.

And when I did wake up, I still avoided my computer.

Instead, I proceeded to fill a glass with water and drink it. Then I poured myself another full bottle to take to work. I knew that in the middle of a to-do list that was much too heavy, I was likely becoming dehydrated.

And when I did some research to test my hypothesis, I found that there was a link between the stress I felt and the dehydration I was experiencing.

A Web MD article states that “You’re actually likely to get more dehydrated when you’re under stress, because your heart rate is up and you’re breathing more heavily, so you’re losing fluid,” and that, “during times of stress, you’re more likely to forget to drink and eat well.”

And by forgetting to keep myself hydrated due to stress, I was actually lowering my chances of effectively utilizing a writer’s most important tool: the brain.

How?

Cognitive Vitality reports that “if water levels are too low, our brain cells cannot function properly,” adding that, “the brains of dehydrated adults show signs of increased neuronal activation when performing cognitively engaging tasks, indicating that their brains are working harder than normal to complete the task.”

As a writer, I need my brain to work at peak potential, so I resolved today to do more than just give my body the sleep it needed, I decided to make extra certain it also had the liquids it needed to enhance my cognition function.

And the “vacation” didn’t stop there. I decided to go all out. I decided to visit places I hadn’t seen in a long while.

And one of those places was self-care.

I needed to go there because hitting my creative “rock bottom” reminded me that my muddled brain and inability to be productive as a writer was simply my body screaming it needed to power down for the day.

It needed balance. Peace. Rest.

And I also realized that the inspiration and imagination I so desired could only come back to me if I stepped away from my computer keyboard.

I knew that my state of mind and body were in survival mode, not creative mode.

So I made it a point to do things on my vacation to refuel my writing gas tank.

What were those things?

• To sip coffee on my porch and watch the sunrise
• To indulge in a long hot bath or steamy shower
• To fill a diffuser with lavender and other essentials oils and take a nap
• To light a flickering candle and place it on my coffee table as I read my latest book
• To take shameless pleasure in binge-watching a shallow Netflix series
• To pop popcorn and watch a Disney movie with my child
• To go to bed early instead of burning the midnight oil
• To take a 30-minute walk with my husband
• To have a Zoom meeting with my closest friend as I sipped my favorite wine
• To buy a meal with power foods for my brain, not the pizza takeout I normally consume

Post Vacation Writing Results

I went back to work today. As a writer. And I did so with my creative gas tank more full than empty. And I did so with a mind clear from sleep and a body nourished and filled with the elements it needed to create magic with the written word.

And when I sat down at the keyboard today, the words flowed from a well that had long been dry and an imagination that had long been lethargic.

The Bottom Line

Bestselling author Tony Robbins says in his book “Awaken the Giant Within” that “the difference between acting badly or brilliantly is not based on your ability, but on the state of your mind and/or body in any given moment.”

So when your mind and body are telling you to do less instead of more, listen to them. And then, my writing friends, poise your fingers over the keyboard and be brilliant.